[Dixielandjazz] Rules?????

[Goggin, Brian (Dublin)]

Agreed Steve.
I kept out of this 'til now as there's been a lot of hot air and big words
being ejaculated by people.

Rules Schmules. As old Bubber Miley said "It don't mean a thing if it ain't
got that swing". Fair enough?

I saw Frank Wess playing in Cork in 2000 - he was 78 then and looked 60
under. Sharp as a pin and a fine player. 
Got talking to him - the nicest, friendliest, most down to earth guy you
could meet.
He gave a master class the next day in the afternoon and some plonker who
loved the sound of his own voice (there's always one) says something like
"Mr Wess, how do you, ah like ah, define your approach to improvisation?"
and he looks funny at yer man and says "Man I don't define nothin'!!"
Another sensible person asked him to just demonstrate and he played a
beautiful unaccompanied swinging 3 minute solo.


Brian (Let's cut this over-analysis crap and get back to listening) Goggin.



> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Stephen Barbone [SMTP:barbonestreet at earthlink.net]
> Sent:	Friday, January 24, 2003 3:02 PM
> To:	Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
> Subject:	[Dixielandjazz] Rules?????
> 
> "Rules?  We don't need no stinkin rules!"
> 
> To paraphrase that great line about badges in a Western Movie some years
> ago. (Badges? We don't need no stinkin badges!)
> 
> Whoa, much too much has been posted about who does what, what cymbals to
> use, or not, etc. Much to much for this old head to learn, forget, or
> follow.
> 
> If you want to re create old timey music (some call it OKOM, others
> Dixieland, others Authentic Jazz, etc) follow exactly the way it was
> played 80 years ago and kiss the audience goodbye because they are all
> dead.
> 
> If you want to create music (some call it OKOM, others Dixieland, others
> Authentic Jazz) then play what you feel like playing.
> 
> What cymbal to use? For every rule one quotes, there are countless
> exceptions. Guys who play the ride cymbal to perfection. etc.
> 
> Just simple rhythm out of the drummer? For that rule there are also
> countless exceptions of guys from Wettling to Gene Krupa to Tony
> DiNicola to Elvin Jones who can make a band swing and still throw in a
> lot of embellishment.
> 
> Etc., etc., etc.
> 
> What is Dixieland? Listen to Mr. Beebe. He was playing it, and playing
> it well, before most of us rule minders were in long pants. "Polyphonic
> - Counterpoint".  Is that, perhaps, the only rule one needs?
> 
> Aren't we talking about music that has defied the "rules" for 100 years.
> Both rhythmic and harmonic. And that's all it is, "music". To the
> listener's ear it is either good or bad and that's the bottom line.
> 
> And speaking about "the listener" that doesn't mean individuals, but the
> group. Often what we as individuals think doesn't mean a damn thing in
> the general scheme of things.
> 
> Musical content? "You're So Vain You Probably Think This Song Is About
> YOU."  Trust me, it isn't.
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
> 
> PS. Do we think for a moment that Bolden, Bechet, LaRocca, Armstrong,
> Beiderbecke, Spanier, Manone, Picou, Condon, Davison, Mole, Dickenson,
> Higginbotham, Davern, Russell, Beebe, Hull, Hooks, Cooke, Krupa, Kenny
> John, Sbabaro (Spargo) and all the others who play or played this music
> were even slightly concerned about rules?  Just listening to Sbabaro
> with ODJB, and then again 30 years later at Nick's in NYC as Spargo, and
> hearing the differences in his playing should be required listening for
> Dixieland fans and musos alike.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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