[Dixielandjazz] Stage Business

[Steve barbone]

Henry Mason <hcmsjo at gmail.com> wrote: (polite snip)
Question re "Stage Business"

> from time to time some "stage
> business" or gags of one sort or another find their way into
> performances to add a visual dimension or sometimes just because they
> are funny.     I would appreciate it if some of you veterans would
> describe such for some of us neophytes.   I know you guys have
> invented some pretty interesting and funny ideas and I for one would
> love to know some of the better ones.
 
> We are a long way from doing festivals so you are not likely to see
> any of your tricks played back at you any time soon,

Dear Henry & List Mates:

Barbone Street has a million of them. (little tricks, that is). Here are
just a couple:

1) When introducing Guitarist Sonny Troy I point out that he toured the West
Coast years ago with Peggy Lee and that "Ms Lee was not only a wonderful
jazz singer who treated jazz musicians well (unlike some diva's today), she
was a also composer. She wrote a song about Sonny called "Is That All There
Is."

Big laugh from audience, as Sonny jumps up and says: "No No, it wasn't 'Is
That All There Is' it was 'Fever'." I then go issue a mock apology and blame
old age for my mental lapse.

Thereafter during the set, Sonny will wag his finger at me and say, or mouth
the word "Fever". This continually delights the audience.

2) We hand out, throw, or I go out into the audience and drape Mardi Gras
Beads over the women. Getting a kiss (sometimes a flash) in response. I
announce that the colors are significant. White means no sex tonight. Red
means no sex tonight except with members of the band. Green means sex with
my escort and Purple means sex with anybody or everybody who asks.

Now we do this for "young" audiences because the bulk of our work in is
front of young audiences, not old folks at Festivals. And the young of today
are the same as the young of 100 years ago as far as jazz is concerned. The
like sex, booze and double entendre.

However we also do some Upscale Retirement Communities CCRC's) and for the
old folks when I introduce our oldest band member, Bassist Ace Tesone (75),
after his bio, I say:

3) "Ace is typical of us older folks. We are not afraid to speak our minds.
He walks in Swarthmore Arboretum to keep fit and yesterday happened to sit
on a bench for a breather. A young man with spiky hair, you know, some red,
some green, some purple, sat down on the other end. Ace stared at him and
the young man said: 'What's the matter old timer, didn't you ever do
anything wild and crazy during your lifetime?" PAUSE (a few will laugh)

"Ace smiled and said: "Sure kid, once about 20 years ago I got crazy drunk
and had sex with a Parrot. I thought you might be my son." (BIG LAUGH)

Trick is to CONNECT with your audience. So we tailor our patter to that
audience. We have a whole routine about how lucky we are to be aging jazz
musicians and why we were the great lovers of the 1960s. (Women's Lib,
Xaviera Hollender, "J" and other reasons) Too long to post here.

Any "working" band members will probably agree that "music is a transaction
between artists and audience, through the medium of sound, to share a
vision." (forgot who said that originally, but it is posted on my office
wall) It is helped immensely by an effort to connect with that audience via
a simpatico stage presence.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone