[Dixielandjazz] Drummers

[Stephen Barbone]

>
> From: "john petters" <jpettjazz at btinternet.com>
> .
> Perhaps this is the nub of the original thread that most Dixieland around
> today is polite, lacking drive and conviction. It is mainly a problem caused
> by drummers.

At the risk of pissing off every drummer in a "polite" Dixieland band, I wholeheartedly
agree. Many of these guys sit there, looking bored as if they wished they were someplace
else, playing a soft 2/4 or 4/4 ad nauseum. Why? Because that's what they heard in that
style. And the band leader, no doubt, thinks that is the way it should be played.
Personally, I can't stand it either and think it is the root cause of lack of drive in a
band. (But I would blame it on the leader because that's what he/she wants)

> Someone forwarded my comments to Hal Smith and we have had some
> great fun discussing drumming from a drummers point of view off list. Hal
> sounds the way he does because he understands the jazz drumming tradition.
> That is why his recordings have that ring of authenticity about them that is
> seldom heard on either side of the pond these days.

Only seldom heard in the UK because you do not have access to hearing all of the GREAT
current drummers playing Dixieland on the East Coast of the USA. They are too busy making
money to attend all of those "dead music" OKOM festivals that are fast disappearing in the
rest of the USA. They (Ascione, Di Nicola, Metz Jr, et al) certainly understand the
tradition, but put life into bands by adding to it.

See/Hear Joe Ascione at Ascona in Switzerland this year. Not positive, but I believe he
will be there.

Cheers
Steve Barbone