[Dixielandjazz] Opening for national acts.

[Steve barbone]

Tom Wiggins tcashwigg at aol.com. wrote (polite snip
 
> The Dirty Dozen was an inspiration for my band of course, but I reached
> back and took ideas form many other Brass Bands as well and try to keep
> a balance between the Traditional sound and repertoire and the more
> modern approach of Dirty Dozen, I am more inclined to stay in the
> commercial vein than to keep pushing the envelope like they do often
> over the edge and the heads of the audience.   Great players just
> different  musical ideology.    They do a mean funeral however and can
> be as Traditional as anybody else if they want to .   I just don't
> think they want to anymore.
> 
> On the other hand Preservation Hall is stuck trying to be strictly
> Traditional and just don't reach the younger fast paced audience of the
> jazz oblivious.  In my opinion they should be headlining Folk festivals
> and play on some Blues  & roots festivals rather than Jazz festivals
> which long ago outgrew them and their style except for the occasional
> well artistically balanced event.

To be fair about our success opening for the above bands, we were playing at
MODERN JAZZ FESTIVALS. Our brand of Dixieland is updated with amplified
guitar, string bass and a reformed Rock Drummer. And guitarist being a
modern jazz player, had never played Dixieland before he joined Barbone
Street. So we have a rather unique sound compared with the usual Trad Band.

These jazz oriented audiences responded better to what we were doing. Both
DD and PH did their usual thing which was not as well liked.

IMO, both are great at what they do, but what they do is pretty rigid
and formulaic. Thus they do not appeal to certain audiences and that was the
case when we played with them.

I think likewise that our style of Dixieland is much more appreciated by the
modernists and the general public that most of what you hear at OKOM
festivals. Just a difference in style and audience focus.

Like Mike Vax said about his band a while back. We know we are really
cooking when the more uptight blue hairs start leaving the room. :-) VBG.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone