[Dixielandjazz] Modern Jazz Listen - Mainstream?

[Randy Fendrick]

A couple of years ago, the California Academic Decathlon group choose 
jazz as a topic for the music portion of their competition.  The 
Bakersfield Symphony has for years played a concert each year 
demonstrating the music to be tested over and then giving a lecture 
that helped young people understand what the music was.  This year, for 
instance, the music was from the 19th century and generally things that 
most symphony orchestras play.
For the jazz presentation, the committee presented me with a CD and 
asked if I could replicate the groups. This included Armstrong, Parker, 
Dizzy, Miles, Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and 
Charles Mingus.  The first thing that I had to explain to the Symphony 
was that the soloist were not playing written parts, but were 
improvising, that is creating for the moment. Which is really foreign 
to many symphony types.  The first tune that they wanted me to recreate 
was a Louis Armstrong version of St James Infirmary.  Upon hearing the 
tune, I found that it wasn't Louis playing and singing but  rather Jack 
Teagarden.
  Anyway, to make a long story short, one of the tunes that we played 
with the big band that morning was Sing Sing Sing, the Benny Goodman 
arrangement.  I still have the video of 16, 17 and 18 year old kids up 
and dancing in the isles as we played the tune.  When it was finished 
they screamed for 5 minutes for more.  During the morning, they heard a 
dixie band playing Bill Bailey, a bebop group playing Donna Lee, or is 
that Indiana? and so on.
A year or so later, I ran into an music educator who said that he was 
at a conference where one of his colleagues stopped him to say that he 
had been at that concert and thought that there was more learning going 
on there than you would ever get in a classroom.
This music is made to dance to,  look at the young kids of three and 
four that are dancing in front of the band when playing for a store 
opening or somewhere that real young people can hear it.
I would agree that if you want to kill this music, then stop the 
dancing.  I must admit, however, that when we play venues where dancing 
is shunned to the rear on in another room, like Pismo or Three Rivers 
in California, the band has more fun as it is easier to connect with 
the audience.   In Modesto and Fresno where dancing is more acceptable 
this sometimes removes the band from the audience or, at least you feel 
that you aren't connecting with your audience.  We always try to play 
tunes that are pleasing to who our audience is.  When dancers are in 
the forefront we try to take tempos that they can dance to.  Some 
tempos are much too quick for dancers.  Our version of Naughty Sweety 
is played very fast with a vamp in 3 that keeps returning.  Very 
difficult to dance to but enjoyable to listen to.
Anyway, its late,
later,
Randy Fendrick
Southside Chicago Seven
Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra