[Dixielandjazz] Starting as Waltz--Ending as Fox Trot

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In my opinion folks:

Jazz is Jazz, just like speaking English, we all do it but we all have 
different accents depending upon where we live and that I believe is what makes 
Jazz, Jazz  the freedom to express any feelings you have musically inside to 
communicate it to the listeners, and hope that they appreciate your efforts enough 
to pay and come and hear you again, and or buy your interpretation of the song 
however you play it.

That will tell you quicker than anything whether or not you are playing Jazz 
correctly.

There is no Rule that we must follow to play Jazz that makes it Jazz, nor any 
particular song, any song can be played in Jazz style of some kind if you so 
desire that is what makes Jazz.  It is improvisation and the freedom to play 
it any way you wish.

Anything other is the equivalent of eating mush and oatmeal for breakfast 
every day of your life, eventually you will or at least should get tired of it 
bored and move on to something else.   

The same thing happens to your audience if you stagnate your repertoire and 
style to just one sound every time you play.  People like change and hence the 
many forms of Jazz as it progressed into different styles because the 
audiences embraced each new interpretation we now have the freedom to play many styles 
of music as Jazz and adapt the best songs to our own personal style of 
interpretation.

OKOM means Our Kind of Music, I prefer to say I Play Their Kind of Music for 
the audience and most of the time I find it is also My Kind of Music.  If I 
tried to play just Dixieland music all the time I would go out of what is left 
of my mind, even good Dixieland gets boring and sounds repetitious to some 
folks, especially to folks who have inquiring minds.  If this were not a fact then 
I would not even be playing OKOM since it was popular long before I was born 
or had been exposed to the music at least consciously.

In my further opinion a Professional musician should be capable of playing 
Any style of music to at least enough of a degree to potentially be employable.  
If we don't like that style of music we have many other musical roads to 
travel down thankfully, Jazz is just one of them.  Unfortunately currently because 
mainly to our own isolation of it, it is the longest and often loneliest road 
for us, because so many of our former audience have been turned off and taken 
the off ramp.   Bottom line folks There are currently Far more Jazz Musicians 
than there are Jazz audience members and ticket buyers, We have a choice, 
play what we want to ourselves or play to the audience and what they want or the 
unthinkable alternative, Don't play at all.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins