[Dixielandjazz] European Jazz Bands

[Dan Augustine]

     How come (until now, that is) nobody's 
mentioned the fine French band of Gary Kiser's, 
Sac à Pulses?  I'd say they're in the top tier of 
bands in any country.
     But 'better'?  Reminds me of an old story in 
which (for no obvious reason i can think of) two 
guys are talking in a bar, but are continually 
disturbed by the ranting of the bartender and a 
guy at the bar who were arguing who was more 
original, Schoenberg or Bartok.  More 'original'? 
Some questions aren't really questions, but 
platforms for saying that everybody's wrong but 
me, what --> I <-- like is inherently better than 
what YOU like.
     Moreover, we can't even agree on our terms 
and definitions in jazz, so it's like trying to 
compare two equally fuzzy photographs of the same 
object taken from different angles.  As Willard 
Quine observed, "The less a science is advanced, 
the more its terminology tends to rest on an 
uncritical assumption of mutual understanding."

     Dan ('ipse dixit') Augustine

P. S. Wouldn't "The Ipse Dixit Jazz Band" be a great name for a dixieland band?
-- 
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**  Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
**     "If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes
**      impossible."  -- James McNeill Whistler
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