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

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/7/04 12:25:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
johnpetters at tiscali.co.uk writes:

> 
> We are in a strange position with early jazz because we have recordings by
> the greats which other earlier music forms did not have. Without the
> phonograph the music may not have survived. As jazz musicians, we either
> decide to follow the holy grail or go off and do something else. Fine - but
> don't call that something else Dixieland or traditional jazz 'cos it ain't.
> 

Hi John & All:

I have no quarrel with John's opinion, and certainly not with his success as 
a top Traditional Jazz Band leader in the UK..

I do not however agree with John that it the music is not Dixieland or 
Traditional Jazz, it certainly is, just a different arrangement of it.  The tunes 
are Traditional Jazz, Music evolves whether we like it or not, and it goes in 
circles, go around the circle long enough and you will run into Dixieland or 
Traditional Jazz again, it is there it has not gone away and it never will go 
away.  It will sound different to different generations of music fans because 
they want it to, and if we don't play it to their liking we will soon be playing 
to smaller and smaller audiences, as most of you already know.

There is a vast world of great music out there to tap into and enjoy, if we 
limit ourselves to only one specific genre it is a matter of choice and there 
is nothing wrong with that at all, but do it long enough and you will be 
playing and listening to an audience of one sooner or later.

What I am saying is that we younger guys who came from a different Jazz Camp 
all together or more likely just stumbled into a jazz camp while wandering 
through the vast dark woods Forrest of Rock and Roll, Be Bop, Latin etc. do not 
put ourselves into any one category to try and make a living in the 
music/entertainment business.

It has been proven time after time that there is indeed room for all kinds of 
music in the public's eye and ear, some good and a lot bad.

I have never called my band a Dixieland Band although we certainly can and 
often do play some Dixieland music and could do so any time we thought there was 
a market that would pay us to do so.   

I too used to play Hoagy tunes, Nat King Cole tunes, etc.and a lot of 
Standard Jazz tunes that everyone else was playing back in the 60, s however the 
market for that music pretty much dried up in the early seventies in  San 
Francisco and when great guys like Turk Murphy can't make a living playing it where he 
played it most if not all of his life then it is time to move on if you wish 
to make a living and support your family.

There will always be guys who try to hold onto the old styles verbatim, and 
there is nothing wrong with that, I personally think it is wonderful and admire 
them for doing so.  But they usually have other sources of income than music 
and many of them are just doing music for a hobby.

I can't speak for the UK, but int he USA there are far more of those type 
players than real honest to goodness touring Traditional Jazz players.  I also 
believe that if more of them and guys like myself do not make adjustments to the 
old music to update it to get the attention of the younger generations they 
will never get exposed to it in our lifetimes.

The crust of the problem lies primarily with the purchasers and programmers 
of music today.  They are mostly people who just like the young audience have 
no clue what Traditional Jazz is, so they really don't care for it (at least 
they don't think they care for it) what is worse is that they don't think 
anybody else cares for it.  Therefore; they continue to purchase and hire what they 
personally like and have been exposed to and believe to be JAZZ.  (TKOM) Their 
Kind of Music.

Case in point: Take a look at the S.F. Jazz Festival lineup for this year:

Michael Brecker, Jane Ira Bloom, Caetano Veloso, Mariza, Al Di Meola, Stanley 
Clark, Jean Luc Ponty,  a Movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon" with/live 
accompaniment by the Jazz Passengers ("A hard bop group as imagined by Frank 
Zappa"), Etta James, The Conga Kings Candido "Patato" Valdes & Giovanni Hildago, 
Plena Libre, Michel Camillo trio.

The closest thing to Traditional Jazz will be a Fats Waller 100th. Birthday 
celebration with Ruth Brown, Dick Hyman and Jay McShann playing Fats Waller 
tunes.  At least they are giving Traditional Jazz one performance night.  However 
it is a shame that with all the Dixieland Bands and Traditional Jazz bands in 
the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento that there are none of them 
included on the bill.  I don't understand why there is not a Turk Murphy Tribute, or 
a Clancey Hayes Tribute on the bill.

The list goes on: with,  Don Byron, Ivey Divey, Jason Moran, Jack DeJohnette, 
 VIJAY Iyer & Mike Ladd w/multimedia ensemble, Yosuke Yamashita, Brad 
Mehldau, Ojos De Brujo, Allen Smith and friends,  Sex Mob, Monksieland, featuring 
Roswell Rudd, Dave Douglas, Marty Ehrlich, Jessica Williams, solo piano,  Mark 
O'Conners Hot Swing trio,  B-3 Organ summit with Jimmy McGriff, Masters of 
Groove, Reuben WIlson, Grant Green Jr, Bernard Purdie,  Dianne Reeves,  Dimitry 
Metheny Group, Hermeto Pascoal, Monica Salmaso, Eddie Marshall, (who is on the 
board) Gonzalo Rubalcaba trio, and Gary Burton Quartet.

The Chicago Tribune calls this the "Crown Jewel  among American Jazz 
Festivals"

Where are the voices of the Traditional Jazz Societies all over N. and S. 
California?  You guys should be kicking and screaming and protesting to Randall 
Kline for omitting Traditional Jazz and not nurturing it and exposing it to the 
younger diversified audience, not to mention it's preservation.  Bye the way, 
these are all individual ticketed events and set to pay their own individual 
overhead.

The lineup fairly represents most of the population of the San Francisco bay 
area, with the exception of any Traditional Black Gospel shows, and other than 
the Fats Waller Celebration the none existence of Traditional Jazz or 
Dixieland.  This is what happens to Jazz festivals around the world when they come 
under the auspices of Jazz Critics and Jazz Literati and the Academic mind set 
Jazz aficionados.  They program what they like and hire their friends and peers 
which for the most part do not include OKOM acts, as is quite obvious.

This event is run with your Tax dollars as well as sponsors.  

Why are there no Traditional Jazz folks int he lineup at these festivals?

Because the Traditional Jazz bandleaders do not go to the Jazz Conventions, 
and hang out with the IAJE crowd and network long enough to let them know that 
there are still some great acts out here playing Traditional Jazz that should 
be included in these major festivals.

Dick Hyman and Jay McShann do that folks and that is one of the reasons they 
stay in the circuit of the major jazz festivals around the world, not just 
because of great talent, they work the market, and of course Dick Hyman plays any 
kind of music he wants to play and makes a great living at it too. 

If we ever expect Traditional Jazz or Dixieland to get any bigger and gain a 
respectable place in the marketplace again we (YES We) HAVE TO GO OUT AND MAKE 
IT HAPPEN, go play where the younger folks are anyway that you can.  I 
believe that with the starting and operation of so many so called Traditional Jazz 
societies around the world that many of you well meaning folks actually 
contributed to the omission of this music from the major Jazz events.   

Rather than fighting to keep it in the mainstream marketplace and competing 
with all the other forms of Jazz you isolated it into small private clubs and 
parties for the so called Jazz elite.  Now that your marketplace has 
substantially died off, and nobody wants to work hard to get it back into the mainstream 
except for a few dedicated guys, like John Petters, who has found a 
comfortable niche and works it, everyone keeps lamenting that the music is dying.   

Cheers,
 Just my opinion,????

Tom Wiggins