[Dixielandjazz] Tempos - more...

[Eric Holroyd]

I just got a direct email from Tom Wiggins on the subject I posted to the 
list, so am replying direct to the list.

In part, Tom said:

> Turk & Lu did not change with the times and lost their audience of the
younger folks in the major San Francisco marketplace where they were
popular.   Their older fans and audience moved to the suburbs and
stopped traveling back into the city to hear them and they had no fire
left to satisfy the younger audience that moved into the city to take
the place of those that left.

Does 'fire' mean 'fast and loud'?

> We have the same situation repeating itself today in almost all the
West Coast Jazz festivals, those bands that cater to the loud younger
dancing audiences are getting asked back because the majority of the
ticket buyers are that crowd,  always have been.

That's just another way of saying what I said in the first place! Why say it 
again?

> You never miss what you have until it is gone.  Lu & Turk did not leave
San Francisco, San Francisco left San Francisco for Sacramento, Lodi,
Paradise, Modesto, Fresno,  etc.   which all now have small Trad. Jazz
Societies of folks who used to be in San Francisco and Oakland
supporting Lu and Turk and Clancey Hayes etc.

I knew that of course, and have played at most of those places.

And I've always thanked the Volunteers from the stage, for without them us 
musicians would have nowhere to play!

>  Probably the same thing happened in Australia and the folks who started 
> it all in Sydney now
live in Melbourne, Adelaide. etc

Now there's a subject best left to Bill Haesler to expound upon.

> Perhaps Lu and Turk wrote those songs at a slower tempo when they were
losing the fire in the belly that they had when they started...

Rubbish!!!

The earliest recording I have of Turk doing 'Ory's Creole Trombone' with the 
Watters Band was quite slow, and the airshot I have of the YBJB playing 
'Strutting With Some BBQ' likewise, although I have a feeling that Lu 
thought the same way I did, ie the tempo is already stated in the title - 
"STRUTTING".

To me, "Strut" is a walking tempo, albeith a little fancy, but it's 
definitely NOT the 210 clicks that I heard some West Coast festival bands 
play it.

> I personally find much of the Lu and Turk music being interpreted today
by the resident musical practitioners to be a bit on the boring side,

Perhaps they don't have any soul to put into the music?

> I am certain they might have exactly the opposite feelings for my band and 
> the way we interpret OKOM.

I don't ever recall hearing your band, but I was with Ed Zimbrick's 'Tenth 
Avenue Jazz Band' for a couple of years and we certainly interpreted things 
differentlly - which was Ed's intention all along.

And the band never failed to get standing ovations from the audiences made 
up of the widest possible age groups  - especially in Australia and UK.

> The festivals need to strive to bring both worlds together for the
economic well being of all events and the continuance of a paid and
expanding audience to keep the genres of music viable and preserved for
everyone young and old alike.

Fair enough, but if you're going to label it a 'Jazz' Festival then do 
potential attendees in your advertising the courtesy of explaining the types 
of jazz they're likely to hear there.

I'd be most put out if I paid good money to attend a Festival expecting to 
hear Classic Jazz and Mainstream, but instead got subject to performances 
(?) by avant garde people doing their own self-indulgent material.

And don't worry, I've seen that here in Australia on more than one 
occasion...

In closing, I see that the small point I raised about REPLY fell on stony 
ground.

Kind regards, Eric