[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 7, Issue 18

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/8/03 6:25:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:

> PS. BTW. What is a sophisticated festival goer? ;-)
> 
> 
> 

One who plunks down his or her money and pays for what they want to hear and 
see, not someone who looks for everything FREE and paid for by Government 
grants, which last time I looked folks was not Free at all, since we all pay taxes 
and those grants come mostly from taxpayers money, many of whom do not even 
know what OKOM is and who's fault is that.  Probably George Wein's I suppose.

OKOMer's along with many other jazz ilk's are guilty of the same thing folks, 
exclusionisim, to all those who do not like or embrace the very same kind of 
music we do or believe that Bix was the greatest.   

Monogamy is not a prerequisite of musical enjoyment folks, and certainly in 
Jazz, get over it, and if you can't learn to explore and appreciate all styles 
of music and use it for what it is worth when you listen to it, are you not 
depriving yourself of an exciting adventure in life that can take you beyond 
your fence even if only for a little while.  You can always have your roots in 
OKOM but if you do not approach music with an open mind you will indeed become 
stagnant in your own personal view of music and the world around you.

I have gone through many genres of Jazz and OKOM just happens to be one of 
the last ones, and I am now understanding why just reading the posts on this 
list every day.

I am sorry to disappoint many of you but OKOM is not considered to be THE 
definitive and ONLY form of Jazz, it has evolved well past the original offerings 
of our great heroes, They indeed had their day and no doubt expressed 
themselves by proclaiming that nobody else has my sound or my technique, and I am the 
greatest that ever lived, etc., etc.  But alas they too were mere mortals on 
this great musical journey that we have all embarked upon.

Without their honest intentional or non intentional contributions to the 
process and evolution of Jazz we would certainly be suffering the same fate as 
many Symphonies, the demise of their original audience and support from their 
elitist followers whose trust funds ran out and government grants for mediocre 
orchestras and Art for Art's sake dried up because taxpayers balked at paying 
for it and corporations stopped making mass blind donations to ever increasing 
budgets for ever increasing mediocrity  with ever increasing administrative 
costs and expansionism of projects that would never grow into their new buildings 
with attendance or revenues to support them.

I have said it before and I will say it one more time, Jazz ran away or drove 
away most of it's loyal followers and supporters by it's own egotistical 
notions that we were more important then the audience who paid to come and hear 
and see us.   

The more things change the more they stay the same.

We have agreed to disagree once again, many of us no doubt live in two 
different worlds, and while I have performed at World Class Festivals like George 
Wein's around the world with the biggest names in Jazz Blues and Rock I also 
attend the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and while I enjoyed myself, it is quite simply 
not even in the same category as a major International Jazz Festival.   

I would invite you folks to travel a bit and attend:

The Pori Jazz Festival in Pori Finland,
The North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague,
Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland,
Any JVC Jazz Festival in the World organized by George Wein and his 
organization.
Jazz A Vienne Festival in France

Or any number of other non strictly OKOM festivals in Europe, where they know 
more about American Jazz than we have even forgotten.  We created it and gave 
it to the world as our only contribution to World Culture and then turned our 
backs on it and took it for granted and let it die for the most part as a 
vital entity of our American Lifestyle.

Sold off all the original masters of the recordings of Blues and Jazz to 
European labels who thankfully are keeping it alive.  The next time you want to 
buy a great recording of a giant of yesteryear in American Jazz walk into a 
record store and try to buy one.  What you used to get for $3.00 or less will now 
cost you $30.00 or more from a European or Asian label.

We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band and stuff.