[Dixielandjazz] Uniforms - Public Perception

[Larry Walton Entertainment]

Well thought out Steve as usual but you didn't answer the $24K question 
and that's what is cool. You seem to know what isn't.  So let me pick 
this apart a bit.  Got some web sites to visit?

Steve barbone wrote:
> Uniforms:
>
> They've always been with us, always will. Bill Gunter said it several years
> ago, something like; Even if you don't have the same uniform in a band, that
> in itself is a sort of uniform. Yes indeed, it is a "look". And that "look"
>   
OK what is it?
> should relate to your audience as others have opined. If you are playing
>   
That seems to be jeans and a T.  Frankly we (I) would look like hell in 
that.  Is it the bands job to try to look like the crowd?
> nostalgia for older audiences at retirement homes etc., you might do well to
> adopt a retro uniform.
We do a lot of that kind of playing.
>  Though we do not, making sure to inform them that we
> are geared to today's audience not yesterday's and our old audiences are hip
> enough to understand that.
You actually have to explain to older audiences that you are hip!

 Well that's OK to say but again what's Hip.  I would love to see Tom's 
group and from his web page he is "hip" but if I copied him we would be 
a bunch of old white guys trying to look black. Not a pretty picture and 
it wouldn't float.
> Simple as, what works, works. And BTW, the
> original thread was not really about uniforms, but about the public
> perception of Dixieland. (in the USA)
>
> Public Perception:
>
> general public perceives "Dixieland" as older, white musicians, dressed in
> old time outfits, playing yesterday's corny music.
Guilty although I don't think it's corny.  I took in the Preservation 
hall band in New Orleans several years ago and it wasn't corny at all 
just badly performed by guys that were way over the hill.  Not that I 
have any objection to that actually but not in a venue that's supposed 
to be a showcase .  The group that day sounded like a  green sheet job 
to benefit retirees.  There is one band around here that is really bad 
also but they seem to work a lot.
>  They do not see its
> relevance as jazz, some have never heard it. And the music critics avoid
> reviewing it because they perceive it as passe. 
I used to think that way too
> That is the baggage
> "Dixieland" carries. If we intend to get more attention by the public, to
> Dixieland, then we must change that perception.
>   
Trad is generally ignored here although in all fairness so is a lot of 
other jazz too.  It would be hard to characterize St. Louis as being 
anything.  Typically we don't have many headliners hit here.  As you 
point out  good reviews don't come very often.  We do have some 
fantastic players working some of the venues.
> They
> dressed in uniforms of their present times, not the past.
>   
We are back to T shirts and Jeans.  Just wearing a tie is no longer the 
norm and as someone suggested that bands of the past dressed elegantly 
in white tuxes and tails.  Yes that's a fact as many photos suggest.  I 
suggest that those bands had to dress that way just as society bands 
dress in tuxes today.  I put on my tux every Saturday night.  There is 
another angle and that was that they wanted to be accepted as more than 
street musicians and they did it through often elegant clothing.
> On the other hand if you are in venues that like that old timey stuff, get
> as corny as they want, complete with straw hats, vests, arm garters etc. 
I would think that a club would be the wrong place to wear the vests 
etc. However on the street and a lot of other informal kind of gigs I 
think it is appropriate and a whole lot more comfortable than some other 
outfits might be.

I don't think the music is corney however it is dated but I guess that 
assumes that the performance is somehow less than standard and I dislike 
doing anything that is less than standard.
> But
> don't be surprised if the mass audience and the guys in the trenches laugh
> at you.
>   
Go for it but I have found that a lot of musicians like to do that 
anyway to anyone they perceive as lesser musicians or not as cool than 
themselves or not "in".  It doesn't say a lot for us.
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone 
>
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