[Dixielandjazz] Fantastic Gig - "connecting"

[Stephen Barbone]

Hi Nancy & List Mates:

Thank you. Good to hear an opinion that the joy of jazz connecting with a
general audience is not totally lost among those who would sniff
"commercialism". The "artistic"  payoff is that when we're flying like the
other night, the creativity of the music also soars. The audience energy feeds
back to the musicians who then play things that were previously thought
impossible. The instruments seem to play themselves, directly from mind to
sound. It must be, I think, close to an "out of body" experience.

The only downer is that it takes me 4 or 5  hours to come down after a gig like
that and sleep is short, making the next day a little dodgey. String several
days together like that and it's a problem. Luckily, no gig last night,
however, we now have 5 gigs in the next 4 days through next Tuesday. All with
younger audience groups (21 to 40 mostly) with a high percentage of females who
seem to enjoy our performances. (most of our gigs are booked by females) Had to
rush reorder many gross of beads to make sure we don't run out by the time our
performance with The Preservation Hall  Jazz Band gets here on June 17.

Cheers,
Steve (Zen anyone?) Barbone

Nancy Giffin wrote: (politely snipped)

> From: Stephen Barbone
> "... raucous jump blues solos and girls laughing, dancing and rubbing
> against us. I have to tell you, the crowd went absolutely bonkers and we, of
> course, did too. Again, I had to yell it out because,
> no amplification. But that made it more fun. The whole street was jumping.
> The end at 9:30 came much too soon."
> "... The band got 2 more gigs from last night's performance, plus an invite
> to the balconied apartment for a couple of drinks. But like true blue
> conservative older musical artists, we chickened out."
> [end of excerpt]
>
> Hi all,
>
> (To rehash an old thread...) Steve's gig is an example of "what it's all
> about" in entertainment: "connecting," not with a microphone to an amp, but
> with your heart and soul to an audience, opening yourself up and letting the
> good vibes flow, connecting with people who let it flow back to you. It's a
> rush, it's a charge, it's when you're flying, they're flying, time is
> flying, too. Personally, I feel that connecting is what we're all here to do
> in this world; it's when we feel some of our greatest joy. Some crowds
> aren't as receptive as others (all jobs have their challenge), but one can
> still connect with their band mates and just have a great time playing.