[Dixielandjazz] Music theory

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Hi Ed:

With all due respect to you and the fine music you play and record, I 
would like to comment on your comment about the dirty dozen and those 
that might wish to play more than they do.

They must be doing something right,  keeping it simple and entertaining 
every audience that they step on stage in front of.   I personally 
think they get into musical trouble once in awhile by doing it with an 
over emphasis on Theory and grammar, which is totally wasted on the 
mass audiences of the world who have not studied or learned the same 
theory or grammar.   They Keep it Simple and they win more fans and 
more listeners and make a very good living doing what we all wish to do 
PLAY MUSIC AS A PROFESSIONALLY PAID MUSICIAN.   So what pray tell are 
they doing wrong ??

They are about as close to a touring Big band that is financially 
successful as any I have seen in thirty years and more so than many.


I ask for Any Dixieland Band that plays more gigs and makes more money 
than the Dirty Dozen to Raise their hands up high so we can all see 
them.   Are there some folks who can play more notes and faster sure, 
but Our adopted  Founding Father King Louis  pops Armstrong said it 
more than once as he made this music popular all over the world with 
his Limited education and theory training.

"It ain't always what you say but how you say it"  Especially with  
Jazz Music the International LANGUAGE.

In my humble opinion many Dixieland bands and arrangers simply have 
tried over the years to turn this free flowing improvisational inner 
feeling music into a hybrid version of Classical music and often simply 
take it far over the heads of the general audience that attempt to 
listen to it and actually enjoy it.   If we are all so high strung on 
preserving it, why can't we leave it alone, it was never BROKE and we 
don't need to fix it if it ain't.   We are all Free to play it anyway 
that we personally like to play it, and if we develop an audience that 
is willing to pay us to hear it Fantastic.

Cheers,

Tom "Simple Boy" Wiggins


-----Original Message-----
From: Edmetzsr at aol.com
To: paul.edgerton at eds.com
Cc: Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:29:20 EST
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Music theory


In a message dated 3/15/2006 2:53:01 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
paul.edgerton at eds.com writes:

If you  want to be fully conversant in the language of jazz, you need to
know both  the vocabulary and the grammar.



Paul, well said.  These recent, nearly endless chains on the subjects  
of set
lists and theory usefulness lead me to believe that we've got lots of  
folks
who are unwilling to take the blinders off. Both categories may be very 

useful or totally useless depending on the personnel, their 
flexibility, their
level of experience, their ability to plan, their willingness to think, 
their
ability to read, their desire to play more than the dirty dozen, 
............and

 on and on and on. "Enuff" said. Ed Metz
_______________________________________________
Dixielandjazz mailing list
Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz