[Dixielandjazz] Straw hats, Garters, Vests, Etc.

[Ministry of Jazz]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

I have also jumped into this thread in the past, but I'll say it again. I
ENJOY performing in costumes. It gives me freedom to get out beyond my daily
persona and be a performer, not just a guy who plays music. I like the
response from the audience, and my band gets lots of nice compliments on our
appearance, as well as on our music. At one party the host told us we don't
have to play, since we brought the party atmosphere with our outfits. Then
we frequently get the best compliment of all (on our appearance, that is),
people wanting to be photographed with us.

As I understand it, the striped vest and straw hat came out of one of the
revival periods, either the 50s or the 70s, both of which our sage Tom
Wiggins stopped short of in his historical survey of band outfits. This look
is now part of the sacred history of our music, even if it's not out of the
original time and place, so why fight it. It's one option for how to dress
the part.

I have pix of my group playing on the street with and without costumes, or
worse, some in costume and some not. A picture is worth a thousand words.
All you have to do is have one look at the difference in impression and
there should be no questions left.

As I see it, we're giving paying customers a few hours of enchantment, a
magical journey out of the real world and into a place of relative calm,
stability, peace and happiness. I'd say the very least a band can do is
agree on a color of shirts and pants and wear clothes that match. You might
argue that it doesn't affect the music, but I think it does. Dressing alike
adds to the impression -- hopefully also the reality -- that we like one
another, and enjoy being together and performing together. I find that at
some level it pulls the music together too. Even in uniform, if you get one
guy who looks like he'd rather be in Peoria because he thinks the costume is
silly, it takes away from both the look and I think, the sound of the band.

I've been lucky to have recurrent summer work in India, where I have had
some elegant silk and satin outfits made for my group at a relatively low
cost. We wear red silk vests with gold flower patterns embroidered on them,
usually with white shirt and pants, and a red stripe down the pants legs,
also with gold flower pattern. Add white shoes and straw boater hats, or
white Panama hats, no ties, and we have an impressive outfit that ran about
$70 per man, less than the pay for one gig. I maintain a few extra sets for
side men, and my regular guys buy theirs from me for cost and maintain them
for themselves. We also have blue satin shirts with white or black or blue
pants (NOT JEANS!), gold vests and blue berets for a different look. And a
few times we've appeared in black shirt and pants, with or without one of
the vests. So for not much money we have a variety of looks. I have several
others for myself, but not for the whole band, including a tux with tails
and a ruffled silk shirt and black top hat.

Well, that's probably enough about that for now, except to note that the
happy look and sound seems to keep the terrorists away. In 10 years there
has never been a terror incident on my watch in Jerusalem.

Blessings from Israel,

Elazar
Dr. Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
+972-2-679-2537