[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 28, Issue 40

Steve barbone barbonestreet at earthlink.net
Wed Apr 20 20:19:56 PDT 2005


"Richard Stevens" <thejazzfactory at ozemail.com.au>
 
> Hi All,
> 
> I guess that it's like many festivals which pay lip service to "Jazz" This
> one maybe should drop the "Heritage" from the title. That word infers that
> there is some historic background to the great looking festival.
> 
> BTW for any non Australian band hoping to be in Australia early in March,
> can you contact me off list about the Gold Coast Jazz Festival (only jazz).

Hi Richard:

You are sounding one eyed like Bill Haseler. (Just kidding Bill & Richard).

As Dave Richoux says, there is more jazz at NO Jazz & Heritage than at most
other OKOM festivals in the USA. There is also more music there than most
music festivals in the USA. They draw 650,000 people. (Not as many as
Bethlehem Musikfest which draws 2,000,000)

By one eyed, I mean that there is a lot more "Heritage" in New Orleans than
"Dixieland" Jazz. There is also more "New Orleans" music at NO J&H than at
any other festival anywhere in the world.

New Orleans Music in addition to OKOM includes Zydeco, Cajun, Blues, Gospel
etc. And, New Orleans Heritage includes a lot more than just being the
birthplace of jazz. NO J&H presents more of both than anyone else.

In terms of total Jazz presentations, including the modern guys, NO J&H is
in the first tier, world wide.

Comparing the typical 100% OKOM festival that presents 10 OKOM bands, and
the Heritage festival presenting 40 OKOM bands, I think shows the Heritage
Festival gives more attention to OKOM than the smaller "exclusive" festival.

It seems to be fashionable here in the USA to knock N.O. J&H and that, IMO
is really a tragedy. Like Ken Burns' program did for jazz, it does more for
jazz than most "pure" jazz festivals. Simply because, like Burns, it gets a
"non Jazz" audience to hear the music when most "pure" festivals do not. And
that audience is mostly between 25 and 55 years old. Prime marketing targets
for the perpetuation of OKOM, rather than us old folks who while seeking to
preserve jazz, are for the most part, embalming it.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone








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