[Dixielandjazz] Dancing - pro or con?

[David Palmquist]

Perhaps not quite OKOM, but Ellington would once in a while feature a 
number where the band would build from the rhythm section to the full 
band.  The piece would start just with the drums, then the bass vamping, 
then the piano, then a trombone, and another, and so on, until everyone was 
wailing away.  This would have been very "showy," of course, but perhaps 
somewhat educational as well?

I have a notation processor which allows playback.  I showed a friend the 
effect of adding the playback of successive instruments, rhythm, low brass, 
reeds, in a piece I was transcribing.  He's not a musician, and for the 
first time he gained an appreciation of the various elements that go into 
making a song.

David in Delta

.

At 11:11 04-01-03, Jeanne Brei wrote:
>As an entertainer who started dancing at the sound of the very first
>downbeat I ever heard (while still in Mom's womb!), I disagree with Pat when
>she says that dancers "are simply not interested in anything that's not
>danceable" -- as with all generalizations -- this one goes too far. I love
>many kinds of music -- from Dixie to swing to disco and I've been going to
>Dixieland festivals since I was a teen in 1982 -- (my first was Bill
>Oakley's festival in Colorado where I heard Banu Gibson and the New Orleans
>Hot Jazz Orchestra (with Steve Yocum & David Sager!), Carol Leigh & the
>Salty Dogs and Pat Yankee with Turk Murphy's band -- and what an
>introduction it was! I admit I'm partial to showbands -- from the Titan Hot
>7 (I'm heartbroken that Louis has gone to heaven!), the Sorta/Kinda Dixie
>Jazz Band, Don Neely's Royal Society Jazz Band, Vince Giordana's Nighthawks,
>Uncle Yoke's Black Dawgs to Igor's Cowboys (and my prayers are still with
>his recovery) and MANY OTHERS because I enjoy the shtick as much as I do the
>music. The Dixieland circuit is so fortunate to have some of the best
>"entertainers" as well as the fnest musicians in the land (yes, I'm thinking
>of Bob Draga, Jeff Barnhart, Steve Yocum, Banu Gibson, Tommy Saunders, Mike
>Vax, Danny Coots, Tom Hook, Dave Gannett, Bob Leary, Big Mama Sue, Fast
>Eddie, Jeff Gilbert, Cami Thompson and SO MANY MORE!) I wish that there were
>musical variety shows on TV today like there were back in the 50's where
>more of these fabulous entertainers could perform for a national audience --
>like Steve Barbone says, it's not that young people don't like the music --
>it's that most of them have never HEARD the music!!
>     But back to disagreeing with Pat -- she's right -- many of the dancers
>DO talk and are very sociable people -- but I wonder if lots of them aren't
>like me. They LOVE the music! They LOVE the people! They LOVE the
>entertainers and the shtick...but they don't necessarily know what they're
>listening FOR....one of the reasons that I don't like modern jazz is because
>  I can't hear a melody EVER -- and I never feel like the music is going
>anywhere -- it seems like it's stuck in an endless loop of nothingness. At
>least in Dixieland, the melody starts and finishes every song, nearly every
>song seems to build and climax to the ending and the soloists seem to soar
>with feeling (they may have left the melody but they haven't left the
>building!) I had an interesting privilege a few years back, the fabulous
>reed man Jim Buchmann (from the Rhythm Rascals in Florida) sat with me
>listening to a marvelous band (it may have been Bill Allred's or Buck Creek)
>and EXPLAINED to me what they were doing musically and harmonically. It was
>fascinating! Now, perhaps it's because I've studied piano and saxophone as a
>kid, perhaps it's because I sing with bands every chance I get -- I loved
>understanding the music at a deeper level than I had before...and I wonder
>if some festival might not consider for an early morning "set" having a
>music theory/appreciation class taught by someone like Jim Buchmann -- to
>explain what you're listing to and for...don't have it scheduled against
>other bands but do it at 9 or 10 AM when there's nothing else
>happening...I'd love it if they could bring videos/tapes of some of the
>early jazz recordings and use those to discuss/teach it -- so often when
>musicians refer to Kid Ory  or Joe Venuti in their introductions -- it'd be
>so nice to have heard the originals! And yes, I have done some of that -- I
>was fortunate enough to have stayed with the wonderful Tom & Bronson
>Saunders (former tubist with New Orleans Hot Jazz) once in New Orleans
>listening to a WALL of records by everyone from Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys
>to the Boswell Sisters.
>     And that's one of the reasons I love being on the DJML -- it's so
>interesting to understand the music and the musicians at a deeper level --
>from the discussion of the "key of Love" being F -- to stories about touring
>and other musicians...it's a treat! And always knowing when John Farrell has
>put up his latest piano roll on his website! But please don't think that
>just because my body won't stop dancing when I hear the music that I don't
>LOVE and appreciate the music -- I do!
>Jeanne Brei
>Tin Pan Alley Cat Entertainment
>Las Vegas, NV
>http://hometown.aol.com/jmbrei/myhomepage/resume.html
>
>P.S. In New York, the Swing Dance Society used to host a different big band
>every Sunday night -- and the entire ROOM was filled with dancers -- and you
>could FEEL how much the dancer's energies were energizing the musicians and
>really got the orchestras going! (The listeners were relegated to the sides
>and the bar). They've since moved to a venue where there's an upstairs
>balcony and that's where the listeners go to listen -- so the dancers have
>EVERYWHERE else!
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "John Farrell" <stridepiano@tesco.net>
>To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com>
>Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 6:43 AM
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Dancing - pro or con?
>
>
> > Pat Cooke said :
> >
> > >    When dancers sit one out, or are not actually dancing, they talk.
>And
> > > they try to talk over the music.  They are simply not interested in
> > anything
> > > that is not danceable;  and there were always a number of them sitting
>one
> > > out, trying to shout over the music.  To them it is more of a social
> > > gathering than a cultural event.  I, and the rest of the listening
> > audience,
> > > found them to be most annoying.
> >
> > During my one and only visit to New Orleans, Steve Pistorius (great
>pianner
> > player) picked me up and took me to a jazz club located well away from the
> > French Quarter
> > tourist traps. The resident band was called the New Orleans Repertory
> > something-or-other, the large room was packed to the rafters and as each
> > number struck up everybody, but everybody got up and danced beautifully.
>In
> > particular I
> > remember one gorgeous high steppin' blonde gal strutting her
> > stuff who I later learned was a ballet dancer.
> >
> > While the music was playing nobody was a noisy pest, everybody obviously
> > enjoyed themselves without interfering with the pleasure of others, if
> > anybody was alcoholically over-served (love that Ingle
> > expression!) they kept it a secret. It was an unforgettable experience.
> >
> > BTW, if you like a dram or two don't stay at the New Orleans Howard
>Johnson
> > on North Rampart
> > as I did for seven long days - it is a temperance establishment, a policy
> > which they
> > enforce with the utmost vigour. Other than that the only downside to my NO
> > visit was that I had my first, and certainly my last encounter with grits
> > for breakfast - beats me why people eat the stuff, it is quite disgusting.
> >
> > John Farrell
> > stridepiano@tesco.net
> > http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm
> >
> >
> >
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>
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