[Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz for the young / new / audience

[Steve barbone]

Hi Dan & List mates:

Pardon me if I smile a bit and think "I told you so". Yes, this music done
with an eye for the young is successful. Even in the cultural desert of mid
Texas.

No, one does not need to listen endlessly to OKOM in order to become a good
OKOM band. One needs only to be a jazz musician, (more than a musician who
also plays jazz) THIS IS RELATIVELY SIMPLE MUSIC

Preaching to the choir? Sure, but then the choir has sinners too.

Yep, this type of OKOM is well below the radar of most of us on the DJML.
Because we are old, uninterested, and content to bitch about youth since we
can't be there. 

Meanwhile, those who do things instead of complaining, find that there is
indeed a young audience for OKOM. And that would be TRUE IN EVERY CITY IN
THE WORLD, if a jazz musician in that city wants to make it so.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 


Dan Augustine wrote:

> Shades of Eddie Condon!  Here in the musical-outback of Austin,
> Texas, tonight at The Elephant Room i heard a local jazz band--the
> Giant City Jazz Band (http://www.giantcityjazz.com/)--play, and i
> could almost put myself back into the 1940's, sitting in a dimly lit
> bar in the basement of a downtown store, listening to unamplified
> (except faintly, for the guitar and vocals) band, with few (but
> enthusiastic) listeners.
> The band (a sextet, with trumpet, clarinet, guitar, piano, bass,
> and drums) opened with "Ballin' the Jack", went to "Blues My Naughty
> Sweetie Gave to Me", and continued with songs from the jazz repertory
> of the 1930's and 1940's.  Solos were short and harked back to the
> main melody, and nobody applauded after each solo.  Almost nobody in
> the audience was over 50 (except yours truly and a few others), and
> few over 40. The guest artist was Stanley Smith on clarinet, who
> heads the usual Wednesday-night gig of The Jazz Pharohs, and his
> expert solos displayed an intimate knowledge and appreciation for
> this style of music.
> The band's style reminds one of the early Condon groups,
> especially since the guitar/banjo player calls out instructions as to
> pairings, accompaniments, and formats much like Eddie Condon did (and
> in an impromptu style similar to that of Tex Wyndham and his Rent
> Party Revellers).
> Upon being pressed for an explanation of how he came to be
> the one calling out the changes, the band's guitar-player (J. D.
> Pendley) merely said that he'd been listening to some of the Hot 5
> and Hot 7 and similar recordings, and just called out changes of
> players that he thought might be different and attract the attention
> of the audience.  He said he hasn't heard that many recordings of
> Eddie Condon and his various groups, even though he seems to be
> following a similar path to the one they trod 60+ years ago.
> Maybe all is not lost in central Texas for jazz of the
> pre-bop era.  (I hesitate now to call it "traditional jazz", a term
> that i think Turk Murphy was one of the first to use.  How about
> instead 'PIJ': Polyphonic Improvised Jazz?  This would obviously be a
> subset of OKOM, and would by that designation not include
> non-polyphonic, non-improvised jazz like 'swing' or ragtime or later
> developments.)
> This music is of course so far below the radar of the current
> media (print, TV, and internet) that it's gopher-music, but all the
> sweeter for that.  Imagine being in San Francisco in 1940 and hearing
> Lu Watters' band for the first time, or in Chicago during the 1930's
> (or New York in the 1940's) and hearing someone play the drums by
> pounding on an empty suitcase.  Would be a curiosity, no?, until this
> style of music became wildly popular and a nationwide fad and
> enthusiasm.
> Is it time for another revival?  Are there similar bands in
> YOUR city also below the radar doing the same thing?  How would you
> know unless you go out on a weeknight and take a listen to a new
> band, one you've never heard of, one you think in advance might be
> antagonistically punk or rap or worse?  (How could it be worse?)
> There was the traditional open instrument-case on the bandstand,
> salted with a few preliminary dollars, and it was obvious that this
> band wasn't playing anything more than respect, usually grudgingly
> doled out.
> Come on, give a listen.  As i think Roger Sessions said, what
> the contemporary composer (or band, in this case) most wants is "a
> willing ear".