[Dixielandjazz] Letter on Sacramento Jubilee

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

Who ever wrote the letter made some valid points, but is obviously not in 
tune with the entire picture.  Especially the part about the Straw Hats if what 
you say is true that you did not see a Straw Hat anywhere.

The writers letter does however reflect exactly what Steve Barbone and I have 
been saying for a couple of years about Jazz Societies and Festivals of 
Traditional Jazz in the USA.

The writer apparently has joined that set of folks in the Jazz audience that 
has grown bored with the Dixieland Only music Genre being passed off as 
Traditional Jazz, and being mostly what is offered at an event called "The Jazz 
Jubilee."  To omit all other forms and genres of Jazz is simple Discrimination and 
refusing to enter the 21st. Century.

White Dixieland Jazz is only one genre of Traditional Jazz and there 
certainly is no shortage of that in the Jazz Jubilee.  However one has to look long 
and hard to find any True Traditional Jazz played by True Black Traditional Jazz 
Musicians.  Much less any Real Jazz Artists that are popular or have been 
popular past 1940, Bebop, Latin, or otherwise. 

  It has been said on this list in the past year by Jazz Society programmers 
that there simply are no Black Bands available to play Traditional Jazz at the 
Festivals, and I have repeatedly told them that they are absolutely wrong, 
and they just are not looking for any seriously to play at their events.

How they managed to start admitting Zydeco and Blues is still a mystery, but 
probably goes back to Bill Borchers day.  I have also noticed that the Blues 
and Zydeco Bands hired are also predominately local White Players offering 
their interpretations of Zydeco and Blues with an occasional Black player in the 
Band.  One would think that the substantial Black population center in 
Sacramento might support the Jazz Jubilee if you offered them something that put a 
little back into their culture and economic structure.

The History of Jazz has long been debated and agreed upon that it started and 
came from New Orleans the Mecca of Jazz for musicians all over the world, yet 
the organization that calls itself the World's Largest Traditional Jazz 
Festival continues to ignore the immense wealth of talent available from New 
Orleans year after year and opts for the local mediocre Dixieland bands that abound 
in Sacramento and on the West Coast.

I attended the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans this year in April as 
did over 400,000 other folks from all over the world and it was Free, and by 
far much more exciting and musically rewarding then any Sacramento Jazz Jubilee 
I have attended.

I think perhaps the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and the Society that puts it on 
have fallen victim to their own press releases, and if the decline in 
attendance this year does not open their eyes then probably nothing will.  Because 
those who came this year and got less than last year will no doubt not be back 
next year, especially if you did not offer them something better for the lack of 
volumne in sheer numbers of bands.

Try getting some real Headliners next year in all genres and see what a 
difference quality makes,  People will always pay top prices for Quality that will 
make events profitable but eventually they will all stop coming for mediocrity 
even if it is for Free.

This reply will no doubt upset some of my friends in the Society and the 
Festival but so be it. With a purported waiting list of 900 + bands to play the 
Jubilee it would be about 3004 before I would get a call to play there anyway so 
it really does not matter to me since I will more than likely be dead and 
gone long before then anyway.

Don't be surprised when Clear Channel buy out the Jubilee next year and turns 
it into a Smooth Jazz Festival which you can buy an all events badge to and 
watch in the comfort of your air conditioned living room on your computer and 
download the live CD of each performance thirty seconds after the group 
finishes their set of electronic musical gyrations.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band
Ambassadors of American Culture 
Real American Jazz