[Dixielandjazz] Re: the life expectancy of dixieland (and the world)

[Burt Wilson]

This has been an interesting thread. I give "Dixieland" a few more years an=
d then that's it. My son is a good example. He loves Dixieland because I pl=
ayed it in Shakey's when he was growing up. I dare say the people who were =
brought up on Dixieland or banjo/piano music at Shakey's--or some other typ=
e pizza parlor--will like it too. But it's not mainstream to them. It's nos=
talgia. After the Beatles, the chorc changes of Dixieland became too old ha=
t. If we see evolution as progressive, as I'm sure is hard to do given the =
state of the world today, then we must understand that the ear changes, too=
. We may even have quarter-tone music replacing rock and rap in the next fe=
w years. My son now likes all kinds of music and especially classical music=
. He is a music maven--loves the Squirrel Nut Zippers and introduced me to =
them. All the youth movements do is let kids have some fun with Dixieland b=
efore they go off to other things. And I don't blame them. My focus is on t=
he remaining musicians. We ought to be able to play out our string in digni=
ty, recognized for our contribution to the evolution of music. I think this=
 could be done in Europe or Australia, but I give it little hope in the US.

Burt "Celebrating 55 years of playing jazz" Wilson
Silver Dollar Jazz Band