[Dixielandjazz] Another view of "Tribute" Bands

[Stephen Barbone]

Jazzjerry at aol.com wrote:

>    In a message dated 2/11/03 2:45:12 pm, barbonestreet at earthlink.net
> writes:
>
> > That being
> > said, it offers one man's view of one of the things he thinks is
> wrong
> > with jazz these days and parallels can easily be drawn about OKOM.
> IMO,
> > worth the read whether you agree with it or not.
>
> Steve,
>
> It seems that the writers who make the sort of comments have one very
> important premis behind all of their thoughts and that is that jazz
> must reach out
> for 'new music'. As the anonumous writer says "They're pursuing a
> long-lost,
> gentle-age ideal, and stubbornly refusing to engage what's happening
> around
> them." I will always dispute this premis and would go so far as to say
> that this
> trendy outlook is what is actually killing the music.

Actually, isn't it what made the music in the first place?

> Why is it that a
> performance of Wagner's 'Ring Cycle' at a music festival is considered
> as great music
> and 'art' whereas the performance of the complete recorded works of
> (For
> example) King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band would be considered as "like a
> threat to the
> very health of the form." Very odd.

"I'll bite", said he tongue in cheek,  "why"?  Basically you are
comparing apples to oranges. First of all. Wagner recorded nothing.
Secondly, not everything of King Oliver's on record is worth listening
to. His later stuff is awful. Think Glenn Gould and the Bach Goldberg
Variations. He recorded them twice, a decade of more apart. The exact
same music, yet the two versions are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. And both are
stunning. So too, I suspect are the various "Ring" performances when
done by different performers. Therein lies the difference between
listening to the same music. If done with a competent performer's own
interpretation rather than a copy job of Bix, or Oliver or other
versions, then it probably is well worth listening to.

> I mentioned that I had promoted a gig the other night which was billed
> as a
> 'Tribute to Chet Baker'. It consisted of a singer and quintet (all
> excellent
> musicians) playing their interpretations and variations of original
> arrangements
> of tunes associated with Baker. They were not copying his playing
> but
> paying a tribute to him. It was really a peg on which to hang a
> selection of tunes.

All of us at one time or another do a tribute to someone. Barbone Street
did Louis Armstrong Tributes in 2001. But we are not a "Tribute Band" in
that we do not go around trying to play like Louis Armstrong. We paid
homage to his genius and explained why he was the seminal force in 20th
century jazz. Sounds like your concert the other night as similar in
nature. Not really a "Tribute Band" as described in the first article. A
"tribute band" in that sense is a band that copies, like an Elvis
Impersonator, and has a niche reprising past heroes.


> This evening I attended an excellent concert by a lady jazz singer and
>
> quartet at a local theatre which consisted of her singing a selection
> from the Great
> American Song-book. No original material but just over two hours of
> excellent
> jazz singing and playing. To suggest that these sort of gigs are
> killing jazz
> is absolute poppycock.

Re the American song book, that is besides the point. That is performing
works by composers, not previous artists who sang the songs of these
composers. It may well have been "new". Depends upon how it was done.

> What is killing jazz is the sort of Emperor's New Clothes music
> described
> from the same article as:-

What's killing jazz is lack of audience. This isn't "New Clothes" music,
it is a Tribute album. Which gets back to my point. Most tributes
deliver less than the original, are bad copycat versions and have no
socially redeeming musical value except to stroke the failing memories
of old folks into a state of deja vu for something they no longer
remember accurately. This reviewer took that phase of it firmly to task.

> "The strings and horns are tangled in a heap. They wail like wounded
> animals, afraid and brutalized, in an outburst designed to decisively
> punctuate James Carter's version of "Strange Fruit," the Billie
> Holiday
> classic about racial lynching.
>
> The sonic punishment lasts more than a minute, and as you listen, one
> thought is inescapable: This is, without a doubt, the 2003 edition of
> "Strange Fruit." Loud and outsized. Raw. Extravagant in tone and
> temperament, it's a sharp contrast to the desolate, sorrow-filled
> silences Holiday used more than 50 years ago to tell the tale."
>
> Judging by these couple of paragraphs an evening listening to this
> pretentious tripe sounds to be about as much fun as a bout of
> dysentery and it is highly
> unlikely that it improves one iota upon the masterpiece it allegedly
> dedicated to!

That is, no doubt why the reviewer panned the CD. He completely agrees
with you on the last point. The CD in question may indeed be the type of
music that is killing jazz. It is a "Tribute" gone completely awry. How
many more "Tributes" are there in the pipeline that are doing exactly
the same thing? How many are OKOM Tributes?  Why are there so many
contemporary "Swing Bands" out there today that don't swing? Etc., etc.,
etc.

Case in point is the gigs I book with swing dancers. They always accept
them.,  They come, paid a cover, and dance free at many other of our
other dates. Now I get them in free of cover charge, or we don't accept
the gig. That's the least I can do. One of our dancers at Dover DE
yesterday came all the way from Boston (300 miles) where she attends
University. "Why?" I asked. "Because no other band in Boston, or
Philadelphia swings like you do. You are an absolute blast to dance to."

"Yeah" I said, "hey we were swinging in the 1940s when it was popular
the first time".

What's killing jazz is bad jazz bands. My wife just returned from a
business trip to a major city in New York State. (Not NYC) First thing
she said tonight 5 minutes ago was: "I heard the worst Dixieland Band
ever last night at the" --------------. (A major convention / hotel /
show) "And you know if I recognize it as bad, then it really was bad."
That's what's killing jazz, especially OKOM. Since Eddie Condon's death,
folks have been conditioned to think that bad music is Dixieland Jazz
and they don't like it. Can you blame them?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone