[Dixielandjazz] Why Most Music Critics Don't Like OKOM

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

Steve and all:

The primary reason that most Media Crtitics don't like OKOM is very simple.

They Don't even know what the Hell it is, most of them don't even know who 
the Beatles or Elvis Presley are, for God's Sake.

The four hundred folks on this list are probably the only people left on 
earth who know what the heck OKOM is or even care.

The young generation of young jazz singers are searching desperately for 
something new, and where do they have to go but backwards to discover something so 
old that it is new.

When Jazz took a decided turn towards the perpetually avant garde it left 
behind the OKOM exposure necessary to educate and stimulate future generations, 
(mine included) so we grew up on rock and roll and bebop and discovered Blues 
in college and R&B at the dance parties.  What Dixieland?? Traditional Jazz was 
Stan Kenton, Ramsey Lewis, Vince Guaraldi, Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Cecil 
Taylor, Ornette Coleman etc.  There simply was no Jazz before that as far as we 
were ever taught or exposed to on the radio.  Oh maybe a Dorsey Tune crept into 
the scene once in a while.  I can remember my utter delight at discovering 
Harry James, AL Hirt, Pete Fountain, Ray Charles, Count Basie, and yes Duke 
Ellington, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, long after they were 
old men and women.  Or worse Dead.

These new kids have no place to pay their dues, like we did, remember, the 
joints are all closed and gone.  They are too young to have ever lived enough 
life to FEEL a Billie Holiday tune or a Dinah Washington tune.

Norah Jones is the daughter of an Indian Immigrant Sitar Player, Ravi Shankar 
who I remember from the sixties being embraced by the Hippies in San 
Francisco and the jazz literati of Berkeley.  Obviously he exposed his daughter to 
some pretty good music to allow her to develop her style, ( like it or not) it 
catapulted her to popular stardom and gave another new voice to jazz vocals to 
ride the crest with Diana Krall.   At least they have melodies.

They may not be our kind of jazz, but they both speak volumes to the new jazz 
generation that we are not reaching, so whose fault is that?

As to Rock Rhythms and Latin wastelands as they were called by listmate John 
Petters, try to do it sometime and see if it is as simple as it seems, those 
Latin wastelands have so many counter rhythms going at once that it is 
frightening.  I have been fortunate enought o play concerts and on festivals with some 
of the great ones and I assure you they swing their asses off.

Don't take my word for it go see Michael Camillo with his trio, he gives new 
meaning to the word swing.  Tata Guiness from Cuba at about 85 years old does 
more with his hands on a set of congas than most Jazz drummers do with a whole 
kit.

I think many of us on the list simply live in too small a musical world to 
broaden our horizons and insist upon dying with the style rather than embrace 
the present here and now and compete on a level playing field.

This music can compete on that field folks, but more of us have to get off 
our butts and take it to the field before everybody else forgets it exists.  
They are all too busy doing their own thing or searching for their own thing to 
pay any attention to this music.

So If I have to put it to a rock or Latin Beat to get their attention so be 
it, I have a very funky rendition of Summertime that gets airplay all over 
Europe and is always requested at our concerts, and I guarantee you we can also 
play it as a ballad and make it swing just as good as anybody else can.  The 
difference is about 5000 people who paid $30.00 to get into the event Vs  50 in 
the audience at an OKOM event who paid $5.00 to get in.

"The only good critic is a Dead Critic"

We don't need critics we need reviewers with a positive attitude to encourage 
musicians and young singers to keep trying and get better at their craft.


If you want to train your dog to do tricks, you reward him with treats for 
doing it right or close to right, he eventually masters the trick and you and 
the dog are both happy, keep kicking him when he does not do it right and 
eventually he will bite your ass, or give up and run away.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins