[Dixielandjazz] Fw: An exciting lead! Heavy food for thought, and then some!

[Bob Romans]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Jones" <pubdonj at charter.net>
To: "*Bria Skonberg" <horn_star11 at hotmail.com>; <garysor at olypen.com>; 
<emasher at myuw.net>; <clairefsmckenna at hotmail.com>; 
<georgia_st69 at hotmail.com>
Cc: "Maureen (Pike'sPeakJazz+AFJS) Otto" <motto8 at direcpc.com>; "Jim 
(Riverwalk) Cullum" <mophandl at landing.com>; "Peter (AFJS Exec. Dir.) Bell" 
<Pbell at DWORBELL.com>; "Steve (BarboneStreetJ.B.) Barbone!" 
<barbonestreet at earthlink.net>; "Gary (ChilliwackJazzTeacher) Raddysh" 
<graddysh at telus.net>; "Rob (Chilliwack JazzFest) Hopkins" 
<hopjazz at hotmail.com>; "Ron (Vancouver D.J.F.) MacQueen" <rmacq at shaw.ca>; 
"Jim (YesterTunes+AFJS) Jones" <jjbanjo at juno.com>; "Randolph/Susan (Dr. 
Jass+AFJS Pres.) Siple" <rsiple at west.net>; "Dave (KidTeacher+AFJS PastPres.) 
Robinson" <jazzteacher at wap.org>; "Lew/Carol (AFJS PastPres.+PastTreas.) 
Shaw!" <Hawkpshaw at aol.com>; "Dave/Lori (Blue St. J.B.) Ruffner" 
<Dave4Lori at aol.com>; "Connie/Larry (OrangeCo.Classic J.F.+AFJS Treas.) 
Baker!" <conchita.baker at verizon.net>; "John (OrangeCountyClassic J.F.) 
Dieball!" <jad at jadtec.com>; "Rich (BixMemorial J.F.+AFJS) Johnson!" 
<bixnme at excite.com>; "Ken/Flossie (MammothJubilee) Coulter" <mljj at qnet.com>; 
"Mat/Rachel (ArborsRecords+AFJS) Domber" <mrd at gate.net>; "Audrey (PRJC 
Member) VanDyke" <callitmusic at aol.com>; "Bruce (NewJerseyJazzEvents) Gast!" 
<TekHouse at aol.com>; "John Edward (Smithsonian Institution) Hasse Ph.D." 
<hasse at nmah.si.edu>; "Floyd/Lucille (AR Staff+AFJS) Levin!" 
<FloydLevin at aol.com>; "Endre (c/o Johanna Amerongen) Lipovszky" 
<j_amer at telus.net>; "Dick (Canada'sTradLad) Luker" <tiburon at mnsi.net>; "Matt 
(LouisianaJoymakers) Minninger" <4-joy at comcast.net>; "Bob (Cell Block 7) 
Romans!" <cellblk7 at comcast.net>; "Karla 
(FlatheadValleyJazzSoc.+GlacierJazzStampede+CampHeebieJeebies) West!" 
<glacierjazz at hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: An exciting lead!


> Hello Bria, et al:
>    I know you have already heard from Gary and I encourage you to follow 
> his suggestions.
>    F.Y.I. Many attempts were made in years past (1990 thru 2000) by the 
> American Federation of Jazz Societies (AFJS) to participate in the IAJE 
> annual meetings by manning a booth to pass out literature about the 
> membership and purpose of the AFJS in those days. I have copied this Email 
> to past AFJS board members for their information.
>    Those efforts were never very productive nor fruitful and the AFJS was 
> never prepared to front a Trad Jazz Band to perform.
>    In the intervening years the IAJE has reorganized itself into what it 
> is today, which is not to say that it is any different from what it was 
> then, but its membership is primarily made up from and of Jazz Educators 
> whom we all know are concentrated in their educational efforts far from 
> the Traditional Jazz roots which you and I and our fellow Traditionalists 
> respresent. Their focus is on every form of jazz other than Trad as I'm 
> sure the performances you witnessed demonstrated.
>    Currently the membership of AFJS is in total disarray and incapable of 
> functioning with any serious viability, and there is no single national 
> membership organization which represents Traditional Jazz. A recent poll 
> of Trad Jazz festival directors indicated there is no interest on their 
> part of forming such an organization. But this could change.
>    Despite the doom and gloom my opening remarks may have generated in 
> your minds, I share your enthusiasm for wanting to participate in the next 
> IAJE meeting with some kind of Trad Jazz booth and information about our 
> festival circuit. Your suggestions are all positive and worthwhile, and I 
> would be willing to research what it will take to bring about what you 
> suggest below, but unless the Festival Directors have a change of heart in 
> terms of getting organized enough to front such an effort as you envision, 
> I'm not sure IAJE would let us participate.
>    One ingredient you offer which was always missing in those earlier AFJS 
> days is you and your buds' willingness to provide the musical talent 
> required to stage a respectable and professional sampling of what Trad 
> Jazz is and how it is still alive today and perhaps even more viable and 
> available than it was in its early hay days.
>    We may not have a lot of time at our Seattle meeting to give justice to 
> your ideas, but Gary and I are available to keep the flame of your 
> enthusiasm alive for further consideration as the future of our beloved 
> music is without doubt in the hands of the young at heart such as you and 
> your buds.
>    My most revered mentor was and is Joseph Campbell, the world renowned 
> mythologist whose famous proclamation "Follow Your Bliss" became the 
> battle cry for those of us who had not known by what mythology we were 
> living our lives. He taught us that our Hero's Journey must begin by 
> entering the darkest part of the forest where there was no path, and that 
> if we followed an already evident path it would not be our path, but 
> someone elses. It is in this spirit that I urge to you and your buds to 
> keep on keeping on the joyful, blissful path you are on. Follow Your 
> Bliss. You have my support.
> Don Jones
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "*Bria Skonberg" <horn_star11 at hotmail.com>
> To: <pubdonj at charter.net>; <garysor at olypen.com>; <emasher at myuw.net>; 
> <clairefsmckenna at hotmail.com>; <georgia_st69 at hotmail.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 7:41 PM
> Subject: An exciting lead!
>
>
>> Dear Don and Gary, (Claire, Emily, and Georgia!)
>>
>> Last week I had one of the biggest eye openers of my life as did the 
>> other girls as we visited the Internation Associate of Jazz Educators 
>> conference in New York city.  Besides being excited about our first time 
>> in the big apple, we were surrounded by thousands of jazz educators, 
>> players and fans taking in workshops and performances for 4 days 
>> straight.  It was unbelievable to say the least and we had the rare 
>> opportunity to see jazz greats we had written off seeing in our lifetime. 
>> Not to mention spending time in New York with our best buds! It was an 
>> all around fantastic trip.
>>
>>  I don't know how much you know about the IAJE or conference but I will 
>> tell you what I took in because it was completely new to me. There were 
>> booths set up for vendors of instruments, schools, businesses, 
>> entertainment, promotional types and so on.  The musical groups consisted 
>> mostly of College/University bands in the daytime and extreme legends at 
>> night such as Chick Corea, as well as phenomenal international bands. I'm 
>> going to get straight to the point - there was NOT ONE display of 
>> traditional jazz.  For example, one of the really insightful big band 
>> directors made the comment before a song of "This next song is really 
>> old, like from 1950"  if we only had some tomatoes....
>>
>> The International Association of Jazz Educators (http://www.iaje.org/) 
>> holds a wealth of information of getting to students nationwide and 
>> influence to jazz educators.  Check out more of their information online 
>> to get a sense of the enormity.  I'm sure there are many people on our 
>> jazz scene such as Mike Vax who are affiliated with this. If all this 
>> wasn't enough to get our attention, it turns out the President of the 
>> Canadian IAJE, Marty Summers, is a friend of mine - I had no idea until 
>> he walked onto the stage to present on behalf of Canada.
>>
>> There was a concert on the Friday honouring Jazz Masters from the 
>> National Endowment for the Arts.  We HAVE to get in on this.  This is 
>> probably something you already know about and I apologize if I've just 
>> been blind to the connection.  If not, it is the greatest funding 
>> organization for the American art form of jazz, and there are grants you 
>> can apply for as well as gain highly reputable recognition. 
>> http://www.nea.gov/   The chairman's name is Dana Gioia and he seemed 
>> very genuine and approachable from his speech.
>>
>> Think big, start small.  If we could get a display booth at next year's 
>> conference headed by The American Rag and Mississippi Rag we could pass 
>> out information about all of the trad festivals to an immense amount of 
>> people.  If we could work in a performance I don't think they'd know what 
>> hit them.  I believe so strongly in this that it makes no difference 
>> whether or not one of our groups was playing it - we would all gladly 
>> volunteer our time to being at the booth or jamming in front of it.
>>
>> Next year's conference is in New York at the same time - we strongly feel 
>> that this would be a huge step towards our goal of promoting and 
>> preserving traditional jazz.  We can chip away at it by doing individual 
>> concerts in conjunction with our festivals, as well as going straight to 
>> the top to team up with the biggest jazz connection and influence in the 
>> business.  I kid you not, there was not even the slightest speck of 
>> traditional jazz at the entire event.  I can not see how they could or 
>> would turn down our presence, and if they did it would be hypocritical of 
>> their cause.
>>
>> On another note - I'm not sure if you want us to speak next weekend.  We 
>> have our own comments about tactics that could be added into free 
>> discussion though I know you're trying to stay away from loose time. 
>> Would it be worth mentioning something about all of the above to the 
>> Directors to get their opinions?  Some might prefer to keep dixieland 
>> small scale and personal, but I think in the long run for survival it 
>> needs to be embedded in a mainstream way of thought.
>>
>> I'll digest this some more; we're still all very sleep deprived :)
>>
>> Best,
>> Bria
>>
>>
>