[Dixielandjazz] RE: MAYBE THE MESSAGE IS THE MEDIUM FOR OKOM

[Rick Knittel]

Dan Spink;

I believe that player of Rachmaninoff was Dick Wellstood.

Rick Knittel - JAZZBONE
37 Ship Channel Road; South Portland, Maine 04106-5136
Bus. Phone; (207)-741-2407; fax 2409; Cell: (207)-233-3480; 
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On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 07:24:26 EDT DWSI at aol.com writes:
> Hey, Steve Barbone, you do have a  way with words (and probably music 
> too). I 
> learned a lot in this exchange,  and I hope others got something of 
> value 
> from it. As far as John Farrell  goes, why should we leave his music 
> off the 
> question list? Defining stride is  just as elusive to me as trying 
> to define 
> Dixieland, ragtime, or just  plain jazz when we get down to the 
> nitty gritty of 
> structure. Having said that,  I know that someone will step up and 
> disagree with 
> me (again) but that's  okay. The DJML can always form a committee to 
> 
> officially define any of  these terms and decide should be appointed 
> to the official 
> Dixieland  Police.(Do you carry a gun or a washboard?). 
>  
> Trying to be serious for just a moment,  there might be a useful 
> approach to 
> defining something we can live with.  Let me try this one out: I 
> propose that 
> what we think of Dixieland, (or for  that matter rap, or cool jazz, 
> or even 
> stride piano), as "styles of playing" or  MEDIA (the plural of 
> medium). I like 
> that word because I can then quote  Marshall McLuhan's famous 
> phrase, the 
> medium is the  message, when talking about our favorite music. Isn't 
> that  what 
> most so-called "types" of music really are? We all know that you can 
> play  damned 
> near any song in a Dixieland style. Well, you can also say that you 
> can  play 
> almost any song (maybe even any song) in the classical style, 
> ragtime  style, 
> danceband style, and many other styles as well. I read a story  once 
> of a 
> well known ragtime performer playing Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C#  
> Minor in 
> ragtime, in the presence of the great composer himself, who later  
> came up and 
> commented; "Nice melody but you got the rhythm all  wrong." 
>  
> Thanks to all the comments and support, I  see the style of the 
> medium as the 
> most defining part now. Thanks,  guys.
>   
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
>  
> Dan (piano fingers)  Spink
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> 
> 


Rick Knittel - RK Associates, LLC
Film Extrusion Engineering Services
37 Ship Channel Road; South Portland, Maine 04106-5136
Bus. Phone; (207)-741-2407; fax 2409; Cell: (207)-233-3480; 
Home; (207)-799-6382; E-mail; Knittelsportland at juno.com