[Dixielandjazz] Grammy Awards and OKOM

[Stephen Barbone]

Dan Augustine writes about the Grammy Awards and OKOM; (polite snip)

Where the hell is 'Dixieland' or 'Traditional Jazz'?

Dan & :List Mates:

Sad to say, Dixieland or Traditional Jazz (OKOM) is not big enough to
register on the radar scope of "Jazz" let alone music these days.

Dr. Michael White would likely be named as a character on "ER" (The US
TV series about a hospital emergency room), before being named as a trad
jazz clarinet player by most people in our land.

And why should a Grammy Award be given out for sounding like someone
else? Lordy, imagine all those Elvis Impersonators lining up for best
"Retro Elvis". Do impersonators deserve awards? Not in my book.

We need to face the fact that past is past. OKOM is great music, but we
ain't setting the world on fire with it. We have no mass audience for
the genre. Most of us who play it, give it away and that is an
indication of it's value, no?

Jazz is here and now music whether we like it or not. OKOM is there and
was music whether we like it or not. There are but two choices as I see
it. Play the old stuff, like the old guys, be an "artiste" and moan that
the great unwashed have no soul because they pay no attention. And give
it away, OR Seek your own voice in the genre. Modernize it like
"horrors" The Dirty Dozen modernize Brass Band Sounds. That it may not
be the authentic 1900 N.O. Brass Band sound is not important. If you
want to hear the original sounds, buy the the original records, they are
begging for an audience.

Listen to Jim Cullum, whose band plays a little different book and whose
members make a living at it. Isn't he playing OKOM? Of course he is.

Would Louis Armstrong do it any differently today? No, he would be
playing for the audience, like he always did. Who are we to argue that
it is/was wrong?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

PS. If Louis were alive today, he would be winning Grammys for whatever
he was playing, no?