[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 8, Issue 22

[Stephen Barbone]

> John Farrell wrote:
>
> Steve Barbone said :
>
> "Well, we could. Just like Ken Burn's "Jazz" I can see it now, the day
> after all segments of "OKOM" air. We would have hundreds of people
> commenting:
>
> (snip to)
> It is a great idea if only we could all get behind it and leave our personal
> preferences out of it. Like considering the genre first, and not our own
> biased views about it."
>
> Pie in the sky Steve - jazz musicians are by their very nature subjective
> individuals biased towards their favourite styles, musicians, instruments,
> tunes etc.Some who are in the public eye (Marsalis & Co. for instance) try
> to kid us that they embrace it all with spurious demonstrations of how
> musically liberal they are, but if truth be told - t'ain't so. These guys
> have to justify their jobs and funding, hence their insincere simplistic
> preaching to the OKOM ignorant masses.
>
> These false messiahs are individuals just like the rest of us with their own
> opinions and leanings. The important difference is that I am free to express
> mine without any fear of retribution, they are not.

John & List Mates:

Yes, exactly what I mean. Everybody has an agenda. That's why we'd have a hard
time getting a sponsor. I agree completely that John's description is the
reality of the situation.
So that no matter what we do as working musicians, or as musical educators, or
as presenters, there will always be people who tear down what the doers have
done, or are trying to do. That is the way of the world.

Like the Burns program. It had many flaws. But . . . the bottom line is that is
was good for jazz and that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. All of us
who play jazz are better off after the program then we were before it aired,
because it has expanded the audience.

Like Joshua Redman (modern sax player & working jazz musician) said, "It was
not a complete history of jazz, but it opened a doorway to many who knew
nothing about jazz. Whether or not they choose to proceed, learn more about
jazz etc., is up to them."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

To Be is To Do  -  Sartre
To Do is To Be  -  Camus
Do, Be, Do, Be, Do - Sinatra