[Dixielandjazz] Grammys - getting their due? -- what to do?

[l.swain at comcast.net]

I share much of my listmates' lament over what is currently "hot" 
(is this an archaic term?). My wife and I continually share the 
question "and they call this MUSIC?".

When I was in high school (1948-1953), a few of our Boston-area AM 
radio stations (that we listened to most afternoons) were fully 
involved in the Dixie revival of the time, and my dad, a Benny 
Goodman fan, was introducing me to BG's chamber-music stuff (trio, 
quartet, quintet, sextet, septet -- was there ever an octet?), and 
I was playing my heart out after my year of studying piano (from 
age 10 to 11) -- how to play with chords and a 1-note melody 
(classic fake-book stuff)-- thanks to my teacher, a great guy who 
played in movie houses to accompany silent films.

So I came to music (still now a fan of classical, esp. chamber 
music, which is a bit like OKOM, in a number of ways) as an eager 
(from age 10 to 11) receptor of "what's next?".

Steve Barbone has offered us much good advice about how to hook 
today's kids -- at the high-schol level -- on OKOM, if you are a 
band.  

I have a new granddaughter as of a couple of days ago, thanks to my 
41-yr-old son's finally falling in love, and would love to help 
her, through her infancy and beyond, hear and learn to love, OKOM. 
I'll play for her whenever I can, on my keybord or my piano, 
(thanks to local connections, after 45 years of not playing gigs, I 
have become the piano-player of last resort for a few Boston-area 
OKOM groups), on records, off the Web, or whatever.  

Any suggestions for how I can enhance this connection through her 
childhood years?  Looking for suggestions that might be useful for 
other listmates with grandkids that they would like to inculcate 
with OKOM?

Larry Swain


Laurence Swain
l.swain at comcast.net
617 (571) 7885