[Dixielandjazz] Re: The Stones as Dixielanders

[Bob Loomis]

   There's an old Zen saying that holds that
"comparisons are odious." I think that's
especially true in music, where one man's gold is
another's trash ... comparing the Stones to
Dixielanders is apples and oranges, IMHO ... when
I worked at the Oakland Tribune years ago there
was an electrician who'd played drums with a
couple of famous big bands, who utterly loathed
the rock bands that were popular then (this was
in the 1970s) ... "They can't even read music!"
he said, among other things ... True, but beside
the point ... lots of early Dixielanders couldn't
read either ... I think what made rock so popular
in the first place was that jazz had progressed
beyond mere dance music to an abstract art form
that comprised mostly music that ordinary people
couldn't dance to ... but almost anyone could get
up and dance to rock tunes ... it was FUN! ... I
think that's true of Dixieland, too, especially
when compared with modern jazz ... And when rock
became a concert music, rather than a dance
music, when it became the subject of "serious
criticism,"  it, like jazz, lost some of what
made it fun ... Ooops! There I go violating my
own advice on comparisons! But along these lines,
there's a revival of old-time stringband music in
Portland, OR, now that is partly based on the
fact that it is music to dance to ... and I don't
mean mosh pit bashing ...

Bob Loomis
Concord CA

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