[Dixielandjazz] Re: Bad Music - Was Tribute Bands

[Jim Beebe]

Right on, Tom.  You said it beautifully.

I was with a traveling group that did a lot of school and church shows.  We
thought that the school band directors would welcome us. WRONG.  They
resented us.  We could actually get out a play a show that was entertaining
and most of them couldn't. We did a variety of stuff but our core was
dixieland jazz.  They were almost all Maynard Ferguson disciples.

We figured out a bit that interested band-music students.  We would show
them how we worked out a number for our group.  We worked out a routine
showing how we selected a tune, explain why we picked it, go over the
melodic line and chords and rehearse it down, explaining and demonstrating
things all during this.

For those of you who may do school clinics this is a very good thing to do.

Jim Beebe


> In a message dated 11/5/03 11:15:20 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:
>
> > ".  Even the sidemen in many bands seem bored, and have that look on
their
> > face that says "Gee, I wish I was someplace else." In this instance, the
> > kids are
> > smart enough to realize that much of it is simply bad music.
> >
> > And that, IMO is why there is not much of a young audience in the USA
for
> > most of the
> > bands playing this music called Dixieland.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Steve Barbone
> >
> >
> About a year ago I introduced a hot young trombone player to this list,
who
> was on his way to Berklee on a music scholarship.   I first heard him
playing
> Dixieland charts given to him by his music teacher in high school, he had
been
> heads up enough to have formed a little five piece band of other buddies.
>
> They started getting a few bookings from around their local community for
> more money than most  professional OKOM bands around here in California
earn for
> a gig.  Like $600.00 to play at house parties in the neighborhood which
> encouraged them to stay in music, but did not give them any sense of the
reality of
> the working situation for professional musicians around them.
>
> Unfortunately they sounded just like many of the semi pro bands around
here
> playing Dixieland, why?  because they had been introduced to it and taught
and
> supplied the fake books or charts by a tired old Dixielander with no fire
in
> his belly or fight in his blood to go out and make a living promoting
himself
> and his band and the music when it was  still HOT in his youth.   Now mind
you
> this teacher was under 40 years of age, and I have known him for at least
> twenty of those years.
>
> He was going to school to get a teachers credentials while all of the rest
of
> us were out playing live music and earning a living.   He never got a job
> playing with any organized bands that I ever heard of and went form
college right
> into teaching high school kids.
>
>  I once went to one of his Jazz Band concerts and heard the kids playing
his
> terrible original charts that were boring at best, the parents in the
audience
> sat through it out of respect and glee for their kids in the band, but
were
> totally bored.
>
> I saw these kids in less than six months snatch decent gigs and make
enough
> money to buy themselves cars playing Dixieland, simply because they went
out
> and put out flyers and knocked on doors and found places to play and get
paid.
>
> The last time I heard them at a gig they got $600.00 for for two hours
they
> sounded bored and said that they hated playing that old Dixieland stuff
and
> could not wait to get to College to play some Jazz.   The charts they were
> playing were indeed obscure songs that were not good the first time
around, but
> thought to be hip by their teacher in high school.
>
> I asked them to put away the charts and improvise and play what they felt
on
> the same music, and they could not do it, none of their solos said
anything,
> this in my opinion is the fault of the teacher and mentor who misguided
them.
> I am not saying that ALL music teachers fall into this category, but a
great
> many of them have and do today.  There are some very fine teachers out
there
> that do inspire these kids, but damned few that I have come across at
least in
> California who ever give Dixieland and Traditional Jazz more than an "O
bye the
> way this is old timey jazz kids, nobody wants to play this anymore because
we
> are hip and avant-garde now and have advanced jazz to greater heights."
>
> These teachers missed it in their youth so how can we think they can
inspire
> the kids behind them to anything other than what they were taught and
exposed
> to by their teachers.   They can't even spell Woodshedding!   Most of them
> beleive Jazz started with Miles Davis, or John Coltrane or Ornette
Coleman,  some
> of them Chick Corea, and Kenny G.
>
> They could however step out and play some Blues and R&B tunes they had
heard
> on the radio and played them with real enthusiasm and blew away their
audience
> of old folks, their parents and grandparents and neighbors they were
> definitely not into Rap, or Hip Hop, these kids were serious about playing
Jazz.
>
> I still say we need to get back into the schools and teach and expose this
> music to young kids and educate them properly about music and the history
of it
> as we teach them to read and play it.  Waiting for them to learn it in
College
> is a terrible waste of young budding Jazz geniuses.
>
>  In my opinion the reason we don't have new Eddie Condons and Bix's and
Louis
> around anymore is that somebody dropped the ball folks.  I am not looking
to
> place the blame, but somebody needs to pick up the torch and go light some
> musical fires in these kids.
>
> Blues societies all over this country are operating Blues in the Schools
> programs very successfully, with little or no money, there is no reason
why we
> can't do the same thing with Real Jazz or OKOM.
>
> There are many Jazz grant programs available in this country for these
kinds
> of projects, why aren't some of us going after them and putting them to
good
> use.  Now is the time for all good Jazzers to stand up and be counted, put
> something into the industry except lip service.
>
>   Hate him or not Ken Burns started a fresh movement for jazz it and
opened
> many doors of opportunity for Jazz again, if we do not collectively go
through
> those doors then we do not deserve to be in the industry anyway, and
should be
> relegated to sitting at home listening to our old record collections and
> dreaming about how it could have been.
>
>
> Now if you think I am all wet, somebody take your horn and go down to your
> local grammar school today and sit out on the playground at lunch time and
play
> five or six tunes and watch what happens.  Don't bother to ask the
principal
> for permission, tell him/her the jazz society sent you, If you ask for
> permission it will take them six months to decide who has the authority to
give it to
> you, and is it covered by insurance, maybe even check you out with the
Police
> to make sure you are not a Pervert unless you are a female.
>
> I am headed over to the local pre-school for lunch with three snare drums
and
> two bass drums and sticks and beaters to give about forty kids their first
> drum clinic.  Taking my grandson along with his own bright red snare drum
too.
> And forty Kid size "Jazz for Kids T-shirts" as a reward for their trying
to
> play the drums.  Bet we find some budding undiscovered talent too.
>
>
>
> Cheers, and go get em.
>
> Tom Wiggins
>
> Stamp out Bad Music, Hire a good band
>
> "Nothin' but the Best and Later for the Rest"   ...John Lee Hooker R.I.P.
>
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