[Dixielandjazz] Preservation Hall

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/13/03 9:05:38 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:

> Much as I love him, I disagree in part with Tom Wiggins' assessment of
> Preservation Hall. There are some very fine musicians associated with
> this band.
> 
Folks I in no way meant to totally trash the PHJB, they are indeed a piece of 
History and should be kept alive and working,  I will however stick by my 
humble personal opinion that the band should be a whole lot better than it is, if 
they are going to keep maintaining them as a Legendary Group or OKOM or 
Dixieland SuperStars.

Some good musicians no doubt, but not any better than many OKOM musicians all 
over the country in lesser known bands.


In Steve's earlier post he admits that he personally thinks that Barbone 
Street out played them, and this comes a now surprise to me and only verifies my 
opinion as stated.

I can sit here and play the Barbone Street CD and any one of three PHJB CDs 
next to my desk and the difference in music and intensity is like night and 
day,  I maintain that the PHJB suffers from that one big problem that many OKOM 
bands suffer from>

NO FIRE IN THE BELLY, not much excitement happening to attract and keep an 
audience coming back for more which is what you need to build and maintain a 
real fan base and following in any genre of music.

> Frank Demond - Greg Stafford - John Brunious - Fred Lonzo - Joe Lastie
> Jr - Don Vappie - Lucien Barbarin - Dr. Michael White - Maynard Chatters
> for starters.
> 
> IMO, these guys would be a welcome addition to any OKOM jazz festival.
> To me, the myth is: that "Preservation Hall JB is a bunch of old black
> men who can't play". Sorry, but I vehemently disagree with that. They do
> a better job, as I hear them, musically, than the majority of bands
> around today in this genre. And, they are one of the few that play a
> "New Orleans" style. In effect as I hear it, it is the "folk music" that
> jazz was in the very beginning.

Herein is probably what we are disagreeing about, yes they do play FOLK 
MUSIC, of yesteryear and the old style which is no doubt why they call it 
Preservation but I maintain that if they want to push the music further and really 
preserve it they should make it a lot more exciting to attract that younger 
audience and turn them onto OKOM.

I also hate it when the National Endowment for the Arts categorizes BLUES 
music as Folk Music, Blues long ago expanded thankfully far beyond and old 
Drunken Black guy chain smoking and playing wrong chords on two string guitar that 
had not been tuned since he found it in the dumpsite.  Unfortunately the 
musicologist and Blues Aficionados want to keep perpetuating this MYTH around the 
World as TRUE REAL BLUES.

Just pick up a copy of Living Blues Magazine and look at the cover photos, or 
almost any other European Blues magazine, this is a classic example of what 
drove many great Black American Blues artists out of the Blues music genre.  
Nobody wants to look like Willie the Wino anymore, and they certainly don't want 
to fly thirteen hours on an airplane and be trotted around Europe as a Living 
Blues Legend backed by a European white wannabe blues band for $100.00 a day 
and a bottle of Wine.
> 
> The musicians in the band that I spoke with both times we played along
> side them were quite competent, clearly enjoying themselves and
> certainly not as Tom pictures them.
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve
> 
We more than likely simply did not see and hear the same line up of players 
on our dates of encounterment.  And yes, They should be booked on every OKOM 
festival in the world, because they are indeed still better than many bands I 
have heard trying to play OKOM, and they do bring some semblance of Authenticity 
to their presentation.

As I said in an off list post to another member, I wish I owned the name and 
could build the band to tour under it, I would be delighted to put the Fire 
back in their Bellies and make them the Super Group they could and should be.

But that is just my personal opinion, and it might not be met with total 
enthusiasm by every one in the OKOM field, and I respect that and their opinions 
of the style of OKOM that they like personally as well.  We all have our own 
taste and favorite bands and players. 

  I just remember having conversations with several list members at the 
Sacramento Jubilee as we were watching and listening to OKOM groups of varying 
styles, and I commented on how I really liked a couple of the bands and what they 
were doing with the music. One or more of my friends commented that they did 
not like them very much because they did not play straight Dixieland and 
performed other non Dixieland songs in their shows.  Every song they played was 
played in Dixieland style and it certainly sounded like Dixieland to me, or at 
least how my ears think Dixieland should sound to keep me coming back to hear it 
or play it. 

  If we limit ourselves to only one style of music and played the same way 
every time, how boring life would be, this has caused a great deal of the demise 
of OKOM music over the years I would probably guess, and in my opinion that 
ain't Jazz.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins