[Dixielandjazz] PBS Concert and New Orleans music

[David W. Littlefield]

At 12:47 AM 09/20/05 -0400, Mike Vax wrote:
>Here is something I hope that you OKOM people will think about:
>The musicians who were playing OKOM in the beginning, were "AVANT GARDE"  
>musicians for their time.  They were treading new ground all the time, and  
>creating as they went.  They were just as much innovators as any bebop  
>musicians 
>were 50 years later.  They didn't play the same solo every  night.  Much of 
>what they played was learned by ear and then changed to  suit the situation.  
>They were the forefathers of EVERY kind of jazz that  has happened since.  If 
>they were alive today they wouldn't be playing  exactly what they played on a 
>record in 1928.  That is one of my biggest  frustrations with many audiences, 
>they can't stand it when someone takes an old  standard trad jazz tune and 
>does 
>something new with it.

How is this relevant to enjoying OKOM? You professional jazz people have
your own brand of tunnel vision: when you put down mouldy figgism, you
ignore the fact that the music the dead guys recorded had its own aesthetic
validity that exists regardless of what they might have done later in life,
and therefore will grab 
some folks who listen to music purely to enjoy it and others who play music
for enjoyment.

  
--Sheik
David W. Littlefield, Piano, Guitar, Banjo, Washboard  
http://americanmusiccaravan.com  DFB VOL.2 (C) NOW IN STOCK!!
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