[Dixielandjazz] Separation from Audience was Danceable Jazz

[Stephen Barbone]

Kash wrote: (polite snip)

"Actually, anything that separates the band from the listening audience
is a drag.  A too high stage can be a chasm that creates a "distance"
from your listeners.  We once played a gig in a park with a LAKE in
between us and the audience.  A swan swam up in front of the band, and
kept itself directly facing us during the complete gig.  It swam off
after the encore, but didn't applaud or leave a tip.  :>    I dedicated
songs to it finally, as it was much closer than our audience!"

Kash & List mates.

True, separation from the audience is bad, but it is something a band
has to get used to. Like Jim, we played a gig last year on a 20 foot
high band shell, with a 75 foot wide lake in front of us, resulting in
100 feet of separation between us and the first row of the audience.
Total audience was about 3500, seated on lawn chairs, blankets, etc on
an upward sloping grass hill. Beautiful to look at park environment.

None of us liked it. However, we had a very professional sound crew.
During the first number I ran out to where the audience was to check
sound and was pleased to hear how good it was. Just made it back to the
shell for the last chorus and before the 2nd tune told the band how good
it sounded out there. That helped us feel better about being so far away
and the concert was a smash hit.

We often perform in High School and College auditoriums where the
separation is from 20 to 40 feet (size of a dance floor) and have gotten
used to that. Never the less, those formal concerts are just a little
less fun than the club environment where you get real close and mingle
with the audience. Or at a performance where the dancers are up close
and personal.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone