[Dixielandjazz] The New Audience For Dixieland

[Steve barbone]

Just back from our Annual Louis Armstrong Birthday Bash at Sydney's Jazz
Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Scary!!!

Friday night was slow and guest trumpeter Dave Robinson, was no doubt
thinking that we fed him, a line about how exciting the gig would be. Seems
that excessive heat and heavy thunderstorms had delayed the travel of lots
of folks and so our audience was limited, and mostly older. Fun, they
enjoyed it, but nothing like the crowds of previous years.

Saturday night was the opposite. Full dining, full front bar area. Many
young folks, mostly women. We went into high gear with beads, lacey bikini
bottoms saying "Love those Italians", and copies of "The Happy Hooker" by
Xaviera Hollender and  "The Sensuous Woman by J".

These props backed up our show of New Orleans roots & lore, The wonderful
Italians in the band, and how Women's Lib Movement starting in the 1960s was
responsible for making hip jazz musicians like us, the great lovers of the
20th century. ;-) VBG.

Connectors to the audience included:

One young dancing lady LOUDLY asking: (direct quote) "Do I have to show my
t**s for these beads?", much to the delight of the band and about 50 people
who also heard it. She then added laughing and embarrassed, I don't believe
I said that out loud, but the last time I got beads was in New Orleans. You
can guess the rest. Also used my own patter for bead color explanations.
like "You get white ones which mean no sex tonight, except if with a band
member." Or "Green means anything goes tonight". etc.

A black lady kissing me after I sang "Someday You'll Be Sorry" to her and
used the lyric; "There'll never be another, who'll treat you like a brother"
while pointing to her husband. (Note to non-Americans and/or square
Americans, "brother" is slang among blacks for another black man)

An open armed hug from another black man 350 lbs, when I was touring the bar
draping beads on women. He grinned and grabbed me in a bear hug and asked
for beads. I whispered in his ear. "Hey man, I'm not that kind of honky." He
about fell off the bar stool laughing.

Our famous "Butt Love" Song, with references to "Funky Butt Dance and
Dancehall." (Always a hit in Rehoboth with it's gay friendly locals, after
announcing a very famous song . . . "Butt Love" which first gets a quizzical
gasp from the audience.)

Young lady reading from page 116 of Sensuous Woman over the microphone. Very
big hit. Then several women demand to know if band has read "The Sensuous
Man", which followed the original ,book. "Are you kidding?, we wrote it."

Etc., etc., etc.

Yes, all that connecting (and more) PLUS some of the hottest Jazz ever heard
in this part of the world to the screams, cheers, hugs, kisses of the mostly
young listening audience and the delight of the dancers.

Yeah, yeah, I know, most of you band leaders out there couldn't possibly do
that sort of thing. Yet it is no different from what jazz was really like
(Visceral & Sexy) before the pseudo artsy crowd got a hold of it.

If anybody out there is interested in more details of how to reach the new
audience with this music, write me off list. Yeah, yeah, I know, most of you
band leaders out there couldn't possibly do that sort of thing.

Meanwhile, I'm going to bed tired and happy after gigging my butt off since
March, because we have to do it all over again these next few months. We'll
do over 200 Jazz gigs in 2005, how about you?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone