[Dixielandjazz] Listening to Dead Musicians

[Stephen Barbone]

List mates and John

John Petters and I pretty much agree on things musical. Just that we
approach them from a slightly different perspective. And we are both
gentlemen. :-)

Like he asks if I listen to dead musicians, Coltrane, Parker and Brown.
The answer is rarely. I've overdosed on listening to them, and seeing
them when they were alive. For each, I may put on a CD (remastered ;-)
VBG) about 5 or 6 hours a year. I do listen to a lot of other dead guys,
but only a few time like above. I just about never listen to dead
OKOMers, again having overdosed on them too, a half century ago. I do
listen to current OKOMers, Classical, and Modern Jazz forms, basically
stuff I am not too familiar with, and or of heroes like Kenny Davern who
every time he issues a new CD, I buy it and listen.

Most listened to these days. Current musicians and my all time jazz idol
Thelonious Monk who never gets old in my ears. He is still full of
musical surprises.

At this time in my playing life, the Oliver records no long hold much
interest at all. Ditto Hot 5 and 7. I've heard them many many times in
my life, intently from 1945 to 1960. No, I don't think I can learn any
more from them.

Point of disagreement is the complexity of OKOM. It is the simplest form
of jazz you can play.
I'm not talking about many notes as in Bop. Teach any kid how to play
the blues (not necessarily Dixieland Blues) and he can then play OKOM.
Hell, Tex Wyndham used to have a program during jazz festivals where he
took high school musicians who could read chords, but never played
Dixieland to any great extent. He put them on stage, gave them their
parts, and in a short time had them playing acceptable Dixieland; under
his direction.

I also play in a rehearsal Dixieland Band. We've been told we are the
equal of most US West Coast Dixieland Bands. In the top 15 one
knowledgeable listener said. Of the band personnel, I am the only one
who works more than 10 Dixieland gigs a year. How hard can Dixieland be?

There are many reasons why there are no bands today that equal Morton,
Oliver or the Condon Gangs.

1. There is no money in OKOM. When I grew up in New York City, there
were at least 12 nightclubs that featured OKOM 6 nights a week in the
city, and another 20 within a 50 mile radius. Jazz players MADE MONEY,
enough to live on, playing Dixieland at Ryans, Nick's, Condon's,
Child's, Central, Plaza, Stuyvasant Casino, Melody Lounge etc., etc.,
etc. Until 1945, The BEST Jazz Musicians were playing New Orleans Jazz
and/or Dixieland because it was lucrative. Then slowly the clubs went
under, and the money shrank and slowly but surely the BEST jazz
musicians started to play where the money was. Same thing happened to
Bop, by the mid 50s. today, with some exceptions, the BEST jazz
Musicians do not play OKOM because they cannot make any money doing so.
Working musicians follow the money.

2. In those halcyon days, Jazz Band personnel were fairly constant.
Condon et al had a working band and so the band coalesced, producing
GREAT ensemble and GREAT soloing. That is not true today. Most bands
work so infrequently that they are little more than pick-up bands. Even
the Independence Hall JB, a great band by List mate accounts is really a
pick-up band. When we compare today's bands, with rare exception, they
are far below The Condon Groups, Wilber DeParis, Phil Napoleon, Billy
Maxted, Yerba Buena, Turk Murphy, Pee Wee Erwin and others. I mention
these because I saw them live frequently half a century ago and played
with a few. How can a pick-up band, including even today's GREAT
musicians compete with what the guys played 240 days a year in the
1950s? Who comes the closest? Jim Cullum's band. Why? Because it is a
working OKOM band.

3. See the Max Kaminski quote from a few digests ago. There was
something in the music and the musician, that does not exist today. The
raw life, the sex, the visceral guts of OKOM jazz , the booze, the
Mafia, the overall naughtiness. Perhaps it changed because of the
nattering nabobs of negativity who sanitize the music, the records, and
talk about "Art Form Dixieland". We've gotten away from the functional
roots of OKOM. We now play for a dead or dying audience instead of for
the kids and so the music slowly stagnates into tricky arrangements of
obscure tunes. (not unlike bop in concept though the style is quite
different)

So, instead of "inventing" as they did, we are preserving, which is not
necessary because the music is already preserved in various museums
around the world.

OKOM started out as popular music, serving a function. It is no longer
popular music. We may like to think that all good things are timeless,
but that is not the reality. Bach, Mozart? Their audience is shrinking
too, and not very large these days. They have the same problem OKOM has.
Both will stand the test of time, ending up with a very small audience,
but neither will ever be like it was in the old days.

So, what do musicians do? Like your band they can re energize the older
songs by understanding Oliver et al, but not copying. And they can do
what my does and play updated songs and specifically target the younger
generations. Both ways are fine if they work.

Sorry to be so long, just back for a gig. University Party for college
kids. They danced and carried on, cheered us loudly and made me think
about how real this music was, and how real it still should be.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone