[Dixielandjazz] Some People Want To Dance

[Don Robertson]

Wow Dan,
Reminds me of some of the "company" parties I used to drag my wife to, 
except it was endless badly distorted guitar chords, and lots of drums.

On the other hand, this year, I was privileged to attend one of the best 
NYE events I can remember.  Some of our friends organized it at a small 
Thai restaurant with a back room dance floor and small band stand. We 
had a great dixieland band, Ted Shafer's Jelly Roll Jazz Band with 
listmate Jim O'Briant on tuba.  The band was perfect for the venue, the 
crowd (78 people), the tune selection and the ambiance made it a very 
enjoyable evening.  The dance floor did get a little crowded.

Actually, the local okom dance scene around here is pretty good 
throughout the year with three active dixieland societies and a couple 
more regular monthly dances all with large dance floors and good bands 
to choose from.  Just the ever present and much discussed question of 
how to recruit younger folks.

Don Robertson
Napa, CA

DWSI at aol.com wrote:
> Our New Year's Eve dinner party opened my eyes. My wife, mother-in-law, and  
> I attended a country club gala with a "7 piece live orchestra" and we were  
> excited. My wife and mother-in-law love to dance. I mean really dance. We  
> shouldn't have gone. The 7 pieces centered on a loud, very bop-oriented sax  
> player, with a very strong, (one beat), drummer. Now, don't get me wrong. I  
> understand why musicians must practice their scales. But aren't we supposed do  that 
> when we're alone, instead of all night long, on a so-called, "dance  job?" 
> With two song exceptions, this 7-piece "orchestra" focused on the  same 
> up-and-down-the-scales sax solo, (at best approaching a poor man's Blues'  Brothers 
> feeling), with all the old folks, (like me), moving-but not really  dancing-on 
> the alledged dance floor. Even my sweet mother-in-law, who is  very forgiving 
> and kind, said it was "jiggle" music, not dance music; you go out  on the dance 
> floor and jiggle around. My point is a simple one. Isn't there a  huge market 
> for OKOM dance occasions? I used to dance to Dixie and even Ragtime,  not to 
> mention the world of other OKOM varieties. My god! Whatever happened to  
> booking OKOM for dancing? What am I not getting? And why is a bopper even  playing a 
> dance job?
>
> Dan (backup piano) Spink
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