Re: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Simultaneous Appearances - Was Riverboat Schedule

[Jazzjerry at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/7/03 12:04:10 am, barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:


> The MOST POPULAR
> DIXIELAND BAND IN THE WORLD
> 

Steve,

Unfortunately popularity does not necessarily equate with quality. I have 
visited the Preservation Hall website and indeed there are excellent musicians 
listed but I found the whole site extremely depressing. It appeared to me to be 
a calculated and rather cynical attempt to cash in on the great stars of the 
past. I have only visited Preservation Hall once and that was back in 1987. 
Even then I was dissappointed at what I found. It simply seemed to be a tourist 
trap rather than a place to hear high quality music. I also heard the 
'Preservation Hall Jazz Band' when it toured in the 1970s with the Humphrey Brothers, 
Cie Frasier etc. and it was a good band.

I admire a number of the musicians who play in the band such as Wendell 
Brunious (who has just had an excellent album issued here on which he plays with 
Lars Erstrand, Totti Berg and Jan Lundgren), Michael White and Freddy Lonzo but 
somehow I cannot help feel that the perpetuation of a myth is the object of 
the whole Preservation Hall organisation. 

I would ask a fairly simple question. Is the PHJB 'popular' because of the 
name and the myth or because it plays good jazz? I suspect that irrerspective of 
the quality of the music which might be very good it is simply the name which 
makes it The MOST POPULAR DIXIELAND BAND IN THE WORLD.

Cheers,

Jerry,
Norwich,
U.K.