[Dixielandjazz] Where was the jazz?

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Hey folks:

The same place that Country Music hides in Nashville, Tenn,   On the 
road way out of town,  Nobody makes any money to speak of in their home 
town as a local act.   Familiarity breeds contempt.  In music too.

N.O. Has kept up the image of the legend to attract tourism as does 
Nashville billing itself as "Music City USA"  but all the music moved 
to Branson, MO. years ago, and don't be looking for anything hit in 
Jazz in Kansas City anymore either.

The problem folks is that we all quit traveling years ago on a regular 
basis to all these places so the joints that supported the scenes dried 
up and faded away leaving only the myths permeated thru songs about 
another place another time.

New Orleans has long been a Mecca for musicians seeking the truth of 
yesteryear, but most of them found the same thing there as they had at 
home, low paying gigs and big dreams being fulfilled for a resume so 
they could say they played on Bourbon Street, and impress folks who had 
never been there to see what it had deteriorated to if indeed it was 
really ever anything more even in the good old days.   I think many of 
us tend to still dramatize and imagine that it was really more than 
just another juke joint bar with a band crammed in the corner.   we 
keep reaching for our youth when we were quite naive and impressionable 
not to mention often inebriated while searching for the truth.   Me 
thinks we all too often kidded ourselves into believing that it was a 
lot more glamorous than it ever really was.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Romans <cellblk7 at comcast.net>
To: Cebuisle2 at aol.com; dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 16:49:53 -0700
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Where was the jazz?

    About 15 years ago my wife and I had breakfast in a cafe in the 
French Quarter...when I got the bill on my credit card several weeks 
later, they had charged me twice for it...swore it was an accident, of 
course! All we heard on that trip was Preservation Hall, and a bunch of 
VERY loud Rock Bands...oh yes! A very good street band playing 
OKOM...11 year old trumpet player took the tin bucket around to 
everyone, and it filled up fast! They were making a TON of $$ more than 
the loud bands I'll wager! There weren't many people in the clubs the 
night before...although Preservation Hall was packed every performance! 
  Why don't those people catch on? Because they don't know our old music 
probably! 
 Bob Romans 
 ----- Original Message ----- From: <Cebuisle2 at aol.com> 
 To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com> 
 Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 4:03 PM 
 Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Where was the jazz? 
 
  >I am amazed at all the posts during the last weeks about jazz and 
musicians 
  > in New Orleans. Steve's post about the return of the jazz scene 
leads me > to 
  > ask, "Where was the jazz scene about 25 years ago? My spouse and I > 
traveled 
  > there with the sole intention of hearing hot jazz. I think we hit 
the > Famous 
  > Door and Preservation Hall. All the other clubs on the main drag in 
the > French 
  > Quarter had screaming guitars and pounding drums. The waiter came 
over > before 
  > we were even seated at the "Door" to take a drink order, and kept 
coming > back 
 > even though we hadn't half finished out first drink- 
 > 
  > The host at our motel warned us not to leave the well lit main 
street 
  > (Bourbon?) as it wasn't safe for tourists. I recall driving down 
canal > Street at 
  > midnight with the windows rolled up and the AC on full, it was so 
hot. All 
  > considered, I was not impressed with the music scene in the Big 
Easy. What > I have 
 > read and heard since has not changed my opinion. 
 > 
  > I read an article in U.S. News and Report recently in which a long 
time 
  > resident of the city who formerly ran a recording studio there said 
the > jazz 
  > funerals had degenerated into drunken parties.and that a city parade 
> permit was 
  > now required. And then there was the brick-in-the-mouth suffered by 
Al > Hirt, 
  > which almost ended his playing career., and some of the social clubs 
> refused 
 > to parade any more due to racial troubles. 
 > 
  > Guys, has there been a renaissance in N.O. these last few decades? 
Seems 
  > most of the musicians mentioned recently were playing somewhere else 
when > the 
  > big water came. Did I miss something on that ill fated trip 25 years 
ago? 
 > Where was the jazz hiding? 
 > 
 > 
 > Ted 
 > 
 > _______________________________________________ 
 > Dixielandjazz mailing list 
 > Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com 
 > http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz 
 >  
  
 _______________________________________________ 
 Dixielandjazz mailing list 
 Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com 
 http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz