[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 8, Issue 36

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/25/03 8:56:40 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:

> And as I hear it, the beginning was 4/4 New Orleans time as applied to 
> ragtime tunes.
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve
> 

Nope, you guys have all missed the mark entirely:

Jazz was invented by Burger King, (not to be confused  in any way with King 
Oliver),
"HAVE IT YOUR WAY"


Jazz is playing any song anyway you want to play it, total musical freedom, 
make it swing or don't make it swing, that is not to say that it is still not 
Jazz to somebody's ears.

It should not be difficult to understand if we remember that many of us hear 
music differently than others , and some folks listening to exactly the same 
recordings talk about them as if they were two different recordings.

I have heard guys trying to play Jazz charts that they think are really hip, 
but the sound they produce would not swing on a ROPE, because either the 
charts were stymied by the arranger, or the players just could not put any feeling 
into the music.  Both situations cause awful Jazz, but then again they may be 
the guys who think Jazz just does not have to swing to be Jazz, just boring 
mundane compositions to show of brilliant technique.

Cheers,

Tom (Bad Ear)  Wiggins