[Dixielandjazz] Playing Loudly

[Steve barbone]

Hear hear, for Mike Vax's comments.

Soft or Loud? IMO play the way you want. Like forget all this dogma about
one or the other being the only way to play, and or create.

It all works and there is audience for both loud and soft . . . IF THE BAND
IS A GOOD ONE.

Do it YOUR way, not somebody else's way.

Thought about that yesterday at the Showboat, where we play 2 numbers at one
end of a slot machine room that is 800 feet by 300 feet, with the machines
emanating a constant C Chord hum.  No band amplification. Yep, in that case
LOUD IS GOOD. So is ultra high register! The audience? THEY LOVE IT and
that's what counts, not what Lester Young said half a century ago in a very
different musical environment.

Maynard would be retired by now, and there would be no market for Mike Vax,
or me or countless others including Kenny Davern and Arturo Sandoval if LOUD
was wrong.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone