[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Insularity

[Stephen Barbone]

Are we talking "Jazz" insularity, or OKOM insularity?

There is, around the world, a great amount of "Jazz" to be heard. Much
of it original, like what is coming out of countries like Norway etc.,
etc. Most of us on the DJML don 't want to say that's "Jazz".

Most of us on the DJML all over the world are not even aware of it. Nor
are we aware of the totally written out "Jazz" that's coming out of the
clubs in New York City.

I think, if we must generalize about insularity, then we are all
insulated against what is going on in the jazz world today. We are
Xenophobic, not about our countries, but about any jazz that is not
OKOM.

Yet OKOM is barely visible on the radar scope of jazz these days. It is
passe, and badly played by many.

Django may have been the only non American innovator a half century ago,
but that is no longer true. On the "Jazz" scene today there are lots of
innovators, from countries all over the world. On the OKOM scene how
many innovators are there in the world, much less the USA?

In OKOM if one innovates, like say Dirty Dozen Brass Band, they get
panned by us. Canal Street in Madrid? Heck, we know Kash plays "modern".
Barbone Street? Don't even start.

So, we old farts see jazz dying, less interest in it. Especially in the
USA because it and we have been around so long. On the other hand, there
is a whole group of young folks out there who follow bands like Dirty
Dozen and Canal Street. For them, jazz interest is growing. And it is
also growing for the followers of "Norway" modern jazz, NYC modern jazz
and all that stuff we don't like, all over the world but is still jazz.

Maybe we should look in the mirror. Have we become our own Grandparents?
Or Great Grandparents? They hated ODJB and all that 1920s American
music, played by reprobate jazz musicians people with no focus in life,
low self-esteem, and who are basically lazy and without any other
marketable skills? Drinkers, Druggies, Smokers and Fornicators. Little
has changed among the innovators from 1920 to 2003. Are they playing
bullshit in Ab or have we just grown old and mystified by it all?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone