[Dixielandjazz] The Dixieland or Jazz Look

[Steve Barbone]

 David Dustin <postmaster at fountainsquareramblers.org> wrote (polite snips)

> I agree with Ted?s point, but the standard for professional dress depends on
> where you are in the world.  .  .  .  . snip to

> If you want to score with audiences, most of whom are not jazz critics who
> fly around the world to attend the latest OKOM festival, you have to
> consider yourself an entertainer first and a musician second.  To do that,
> you have to adopt some sort of a band look, and yes, take a cue from some of
> those OKOM LP covers in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.  This is what your audience
> remembers and expects. Looking like Miles (in either early OR late
> manifestations) or Monk ain?t going to help sell your band to any normally
> distributed OKOM crowd (in the USA) these days outside the major urban
> areas.  The old folks who pay our fees want to see the snappy (or
> mismatched) socks, the bright vests or jackets, the loud suspenders (braces,
> to our listmates in the former British Commonwealth) sleeve garters, the
> straw boaters/skimmers or panama hats, derbys/bowlers, or maybe even the New
> Orleans classic style fireman?s hats worn in the early bands.

I agree with Dave's points above.

1) Depends where you are

2) Depends on your audience.

I would only add a perspective from the point of Barbone Street Audiences.
We seek and find a broad audience of young people who were not around in the
40s, 50s, or 60s. So they do not relate to straw hats, red striped
shirts/jackets, suspenders and the shtick that we normally associate with
Jazz Society members and/or old folks memories.

They were brought up on what went on in the musical scene after Elvis and
The Beatles. They don't know a hell of a lot about Dixieland.

Since we seek to bring a new audience into the OKOM orbit, we dress like we
normally dress walking around. Casual, different, current fashion, relaxed
etc., etc., etc. And we play a brassy, loud, high energy style of Dixieland
and/or Swing.

At jazz society gigs, usually a couple of old folks come up and tell me the
guitar is too loud. I politely listen and then ignore their suggestion.
Because the majority of the people there are quite happy with our sound.

Our band sound is different from the usual OKOM played these days. Yet we
book several Jazz Society Concerts a year as well as grammar schools, high
schools, colleges, swing dances, private parties, Society events, public
park concerts, Modern Jazz Festivals, Gambling Casinos, Corporate events
etc., etc., etc.

Yesterday, we played the final three numbers at The Curtis Institute of
Music in celebration of Glenn Dodson monumental classical and jazz
contributions to the music world. We followed a couple of numbers by 13 of
the finest classical trombonists in the world. They were superb. We dressed
for that audience in jackets and ties. We brought the house down, playing
the third number as an encore because of the prolonged cheering and applause
and an audience that would not let us leave after our scheduled two.

When you have an audience like that, with educated musical ears, who give
you that kind of reception, you can't help but feel you've brought a few
more new people into the OKOM fold. Most of them were classical music lovers
or classical musicians, except for a group of about 20 of Glenn's young fans
from the Jazz and Swing world who came to say goodbye.

Ask Doug Finke, leader of of Independence Hall. He was there. Or ask list
mate Nancie Beaven. She saw us a few days earlier at a Tri State Jazz
Society Concert in New Jersey dressed in our usual casual clothes. Nobody
really cared how we dressed. They cared about what we said to them and how
we played. Same for the classical players on the Curtis program who dressed
as individuals, dark suits, light suits, sport jackets, slacks and shirt,
etc. The musicians looked exactly like the audience.

Barbone Street shtick is not clothes. It is patter with the audience and
making them feel comfortable with what we do. (and beads when appropriate
which seems to infuriate some on the DJML who can't buy a gig)

Point being, whatever works, works. Which goes right back to Dave's two
points above. Where you are, who your audience is. I would only add that who
YOU are is also part of the equation.
 
Cheers,
Steve Barbone