[Dixielandjazz] Preservation Hall Players

Steve Barbone barbonestreet at earthlink.net
Mon Oct 2 21:15:24 PDT 2006


Hey, don't be knocking those guys. They are deliberately playing like that.
It is their "thing" and what many people think most N.O. Bands played like
in the very beginning.

It also works to make them the most popular Dixieland Jazz Band in the world
sometimes with several touring units going on the road concurrently.

It is as close as you can get to the original "art form" as created by
musicians back then who, for the most part, lacked formal training. It is,
in effect Folk Music Dixieland.

Don't like it? That's fine. But they are working as much as any Dixieland
Band you can name and laughing all the way to the bank.

Trust me, I had a long conversation at the bar with Wendell Brunius (a fine
musician who gigged in Vegas with our guitarist in the 1960s) several years
ago when we shared the stage on "New Orleans" Nights at the Berks Jazz
Festival (10 days, 150,000 attendees) and then The Clifford Brown Jazz
Festival,( 5 days 60,000 attendees) Both are Modern Jazz Festivals.

What they made in $US for one set at each of these two festivals would
astonish most Dixieland bands who perform at low paying OKOM festivals. And
the $ they were offered, to play at The Red Sea Jazz Festival would also
astonish most people.

How come they make so much? Because they draw LARGE audiences of people who
not only adore them, but will put their money where their mouths are to see
them. And, because they are "art form" they also get monetary support from
many private, state and federal arts foundations.

Why don't our local OKOM Festivals hire them? Because, as they have said on
this List, "We can't afford them."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 




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