[Dixielandjazz] Dead Musician's Society

[Stephen Barbone]

List mates:

Thanks to Allan & Mike for clarifying the comments about my approach to
the music. I love both you guys. BTW Mike. I'm sure you heard my 2 bar
adaptive quote in the bridge to Monk's Hackensack, (Gershwin's Lady Be
Good) of the Alphonse Picou adaptation of the piccolo part to "High
Society". So it's not that I have never listened to dead guys, just that
I no long do much of it, after 15 years of doing it in my youth. (kind
of like sex)

My band plays what I call "Evolutionary Dixieland". I suspect most folks
on the DJML would not like it, being older and set in their ways. Indeed
they listen mostly to dead musicians and I have no quarrel with that. By
the same token, the folks on the DJML are not my targeted audience, so
it makes little difference. The audience our band plays for are mostly
younger and more likely have broader tastes in music.

Don't misunderstand me, the dead guys are great. But how did they become
great. Think about it just for a moment. Did King Oliver spend all his
life listening to dead guys? Not likely, as there were none to listen to
when he created his music in that fertile period in Chicago. Why is it
then, that we must listen more than a few times to King Oliver to absorb
what he teaches us?  Especially if one is not playing "his" tunes?

Seems to me that his lesson #1 is "BE ORIGINAL". And lesson #2 is yes
this is great music, but it is not the holy grail. In the perspective of
all the jazz that has ever been played in the world, it ranks high, but
there is so much more jazz that bears listening to as well.

If anything., it was the later music of King Oliver that was less
interesting than the early stuff. Hmmm. Could it be he was then starting
to listen to some dead guys at the end of his career. NAH, just bad
teeth.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone