[Dixielandjazz] OKOM & Jazz At Lincoln Center

[Steve barbone]

Listmates:
Some excerpts from the Media.  Apparently the only people who think OKOM is
not appreciated by the "jazz oblivious" are old us folks who are neither
hip, nor hep to what is going on all around us.

Bottom line, Jazz at Lincoln Center is, like Burns' PBS series, a huge boost
for all of us who play the music if we are  (1) SMART ENOUGH TO REALIZE IT
and (2) SMART ENOUGH TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Start promoting what your band can supply to those office workers and
jitterbugging kids in the jazz oblivious universe. (see reference below)

Quit bitching about disdain for beads, audience noise, ignorant kids, rap
and all those other distractions. They are meaningless excuses to justify
inaction and failure.

Best advice? Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are
right. CARPE DIEM.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

CBS  Video 
New Center Launched With Parade, Festivities

Oct 18, 2004 9:12 PM US/Eastern Time

NEW YORK (AP) Led by Wynton Marsalis, a swinging group of musicians belted
out "When the Saints Go Marching In" as they strutted down Broadway to kick
off the opening of the new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Office workers clapped from open windows, and other onlookers tapped their
feet. Some even started to jitterbug on the street as excitement of the
traditional New Orleans-style parade of saxophones, trumpets, tubas and
trombones filled the brisk air.

"I just had to be here for this," said Igor Butman, a sax player from
Moscow. "This is the first real jazz center in the world."

It was an event that Kiyoshi Koyama, a jazz music writer from Tokyo, didn't
want to miss either.

"This is one of the major events in the history of jazz," Koyama said.

Derek Gordon, who took over as executive director of Jazz at Lincoln Center
last summer after 12 years at the Kennedy Center in Washington, where he
created its jazz program, said the new center was "dedicated to America's
classical music, perhaps the only uniquely American art form."

"This represents a higher level of acknowledgment, a new embracing of jazz
as an art form," he said.


Other excerpts from the Print Media.

NEW YORK (AP) -- As jazz enters its second century, the music that had its
humble origins in street parades, dance halls and brothels is moving to one
of the world's most prestigious addresses. . .

The new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center is the $128 million Frederick P. Rose
HalL It's just a block from the site of the former dance hall where, in
1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band gave the first public jazz
performance in New York City. . .

In an homage to their roots, Marsalis and members of his Lincoln Center Jazz
Orchestra will kick off the dedication ceremonies on Monday, October 18 --
also the trumpeter's 43rd birthday -- with a traditional New Orleans-style
street parade starting at the Lincoln Center plaza's fountain. They will
march five blocks down Broadway to their new home. . . .

Lorraine Gordon, owner of the venerable Village Vanguard club, which in
February will celebrate its 70th anniversary, wasn't afraid of competition
from the city's newest jazz venue.

"It's a welcome addition to the cultural scene where maybe jazz is elevated
another step upward," she said. "I don't think it can hurt jazz." . . .

"The heart of Jazz at Lincoln Center is about swinging and playing the blues
... because we feel that's the heart of what jazz is about," said Marsalis.
"We're not against any type of improvised music playing ... but we have a
core program and values that we stick to." . . .