[Dixielandjazz] Young audience hungry for Dixieland - Was Red Sea Jazz Festival

[Steve Barbone]

"Bob Romans" <cellblk7 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Hi Listmates...
> My .02 worth, a month after the fact!
> The trip to play at the Red Sea Jazz Festival with Tom Wiggins band was a real
> eye opener! If our acceptance in Israel is any indication of the rest of the
> countries in that part of the world, then it's obvious they are hungry for a
> type of music that is fun, happy, exciting, and danceable, and not just
> cerebral...these kids in Israel let us know after evey performance that they
> longed for more music like we gave them...I've never seen such joy in the
> faces of fans, letting us know they wanted more...all we could do was tell
> them to get on the Internet and search for early, hot, New Orleans Jazz!
> After our performances, sometimes they were 3 or 4 deep wanting to talk to us,
> shake our hands, get autographs, and say thank you! They always asked us where
> they could hear more jazz like this! They, my friends are STARVING for OKOM!
> After our sets were over, on our walk to our bus, we would look into the other
> venues and the sound was nothing like the rip-roaring sound we put out! There
> was no fire and passion! I looked in and saw people sitting in their plastic
> chairs like zombies! I swear they were pretending to enjoy the music because
> it was a happening! It was the place to be!  No tapping toes! Remember the
> story of the Emperor's Clothes? At those venues it seemed like they were
> pretending to know and understand the music because it was a happening!  When
> we played, everyone in the whole place had their hands in the air screaming!
> 
> Paul Grant, the lead trumpet player was great! He had just finished playing in
> a musical-- "A Tribute To Louis Armstrong", in Philadelphia, where he played
> Satchmo's most famous solos off stage  while the main actor mimed his playing
> in front of the audience...an eight week run, somedays playing a matinee plus
> an evening performance!
> 
> Buddy Apfel, on tuba, was on fire! John Wilder on piano was tearing up the
> keys, and the two drummers, our fearless leader Tom Wiggins and James Levi,
> the regular drummer in Tom's St. Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band, were hot! The
> crowd went NUTZ!! There were security people there keeping the fans off the
> stage, (darn it! :~) Got to hand it to Steve Barbone, who did excellent work
> on clarinet and the mike, plus vocals!
> 
> The Ambassadors of New Orleans Jazz were on Israeli TV for three days! Walking
> through the terminal at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on the way home, we had
> people come up to tell us that they had seen us on TV!! WOW! What an ego trip
> that was! Now I'm back to reality in Lodi...
> It was fun and a memorable experiance working with those fantastic musicians
> in "The Ambassadores Of New Orleans Jazz"  which is what we were called there!
> BTW! The RED SEA isn't red...it's turquoise...
> Wiggins really put his money where his mouth is!!!
> Warmest regards,
> Bob Romans,


Thanks for that post Bob. No question about it, The Ambassadors of New
Orleans were THE HIT of this modern jazz festival. In THE MAJOR VENUE,
drawing THE MOST PEOPLE, and wildly appreciated by all those young people
who paid about $35 a pop to see us for an hour & 15 minute show.

One of the keys to our best performance, the second show, was the appearance
of Buddy Apfel, Paul Grant, John Wilder and me at the jam session the
morning before. (1AM to 6AM Wednesday). That was a beautiful setting in the
courtyard of the Riviera Hotel with about 1000 listeners scattered around a
huge pool, under palm trees and green grass etc. Most between 17 and 35
years old. 

The four of us got up to play after a couple of modern jazz jams. We
borrowed Frank Lacy (Mingus dynasty) on trombone, an Israeli drummer and a
Russian Bass player. (Apfel on pocket trumpet). They completed our Dixieland
jam band superbly.

We got the kids involved. Brought them on stage, sang songs to them, let
them sing songs (Sweet Georgia Brown) with us. Joked with the audience and
asked them to come and see us Wednesday night at 10:30 PM. They cheered
wildly at the jam and promised to come see us at the Festival.

And they did. We went through the same routines with girls from the audience
there and about 300 kids formed a sort of mosh pit between the edge of the
stage and the first row of seats. They rushed the stage as Bob said, and
were gently pushed back by security. Never the less, we managed to bend
down, shake hands and kiss the girls from the edge of the stage.

It was as if they were at a Rolling Stones concert. Swaying to the music,
dancing and when I said "Todah Rabah" after each number (thank you in
Hebrew), they shouted back in English, "NO, NO, THANK YOU!"

Nobody else got that reaction at the Festival. Nobody else connected like we
did. Nobody got the audience involved like we did with our presentation.

Perhaps not entirely because it was an Israeli or European audience that
knew and appreciated Dixieland, but somewhat because we knew how to turn the
audience on by making love to them. You should have seen them jump out of
their seats, all 3000, when we said we're here because; ANACHNU OHAVIM ET
CHEM (spelling?) which means "We Love You" in Hebrew. It was very much like
the reaction Barbone Street gets at Sydney's Jazz Club in Rehoboth from a
young audience except that in the Red Sea case, we had 3000 people per show
instead of 150.

Yes indeed, it doesn't get any better than what happened in Eilat, Israel
the last week of August.

One of the modern guys, a "serious" musician said to me; "You don't seem to
be serious." I replied; "Some of the best advice I ever got was from a hip
jazz musician who said 'take the music seriously, but never yourself'."

Where can those Israeli kids hear this music? I don't know about the rest of
the guys in the band, but I sent 12 CDs from what is left of my OKOM
collection to the jazz radio station there, "The Voice of The Red Sea". They
are hearing Condon, Barbone Street, St Gabriel, Randy Reinhart, Kenny Davern
and others right now.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone