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

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Out of the Mouths of Babes!!!

  Bria: you are absolutely correct and very astute in your observations 
of the IAJE,

  They had an opportunity to Have Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band 
Play for them at the Convention this year for FREE and they Passed. Now 
keep in mind that they have two of our players already doing the Big 
Dance Band Gig for them, two of our Trumpet players Professor David 
Hardiman Sr. ( just retired) and his son David Hardiman Jr. who 
replaced him as Professor of Jazz studies at City College in San 
Francisco. They have toured all over the world with St. Gabriel's yet 
think the most important thing in their lives and careers are playing 
in a Big Band that gets maybe two paid gigs a year at about 25% of What 
St. Gabriel's pays them. The IAJE is run by a group of academic minded 
folks that use the organization to get themselves trips and gigs and 
jam sessions all around the world with the Legends of Jazz that would 
almost never hire any of them for sidemen much less hire their bands 
mostly made up of their students who don't play any better than they 
do. The apples don't fall too far from the tree.

  P.S. It would not surprise me to learn that the guy who said he was 
going to play a really old number from 1950 was indeed Prof. Hardiman. 
:)) He is a fine trumpet player but a product of his own environment, 
with his only claim to fame being his degree and his membership in IAJE 
which won't buy him a paid gig outside the academic world.

  The IAJE is run by the gurus of the If you can't Do it go back and 
teach other how to do what you never did and get paid for it.

  THOSE GUYS NEVER LEARNED HOW TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, AND PROBABLY 
NEVER WILL, NOT UNLIKE THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS.  THEY LOST 
TOUCH WITH THE Reality that they never really touched anyway, the real 
day to day life of a working musician from the street level. They all 
took the easy route to getting paid, form the Classical unionized world 
and Broadway legitimate theater industry where they had strength in the 
support of all the other trade unions for a while, then they lost the 
respect of those other unions and started just getting by on the money 
they generated from the steady contracts in place with institutions 
that they could threaten to shut down with their alleged support form 
the other trade unions which they lost long ago anyway.

  Those folks don't even know that Traditional Jazz and it's so called 
society's even exist, and if they did they would only be interested in 
fining the musicians for working for them under union scale.   No doubt 
another reason the Trad societies don't want to get involved with IAJE 
and become more visible either.  They all are getting by on the status 
Quo and don't want to ROCK the BOAT.   Some of them don't even care if 
the Damned Boat sinks so they don't even invest in the insurance to 
maintain it and keep it a viable business for the younger players to be 
able to pursue a career that would pay them a liveable wage.

No doubt his post will upset a lot of my listmates, and will certainly 
not move my band up the ladder of invitees to play Trad Jazz Festivals, 
but ask me if I care,  I got along with out them for 40 years before 
and I get along without em now.   There is life for  Good professional 
Traditional Jazz bands beyond these organizations, so don't be 
discouraged, just go take the music to the people outside this little 
box.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band

Who didn't go to IAJE BUT STAYED HOME AND MADE MORE MONEY PLAYING REAL 
GIGS WITH ONLY HALF THE BAND, WHILE MY PROFESSORS WENT TO NY AND PAID 
THEIR OWN EXPENSES TO BOOST THEIR EGOS TO A BUNCH OF PEERS WHO NEVER 
HIRE THEM FOR ONE GIG.   And no doubt told everyone that they Play for 
the International touring band St. Gabriel's.









 -----Original Message-----
 From: Bob Romans <cellblk7 at comcast.net>
 To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
 Sent: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 12:27:06 -0800
  Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Fw: An exciting lead! Heavy food for thought, 
and then some!

 ----- 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 
 >> 
 >> 
 >  
  
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