[Dixielandjazz] Post-Genre Music?

[hsalotti at aol.com]

  There are a few groups out there who have created a unique mix of musical styles that can't be put into one category. I heard a group called Pink Martini in concert this past September. Their band is based on a Cuban jazz band of the 30's. They perform mostly original music with a strong Latin influence however some of their songs sound like old jazz standards. They can swing with the best of them. The band is fronted by a girl singer who can sing in at least four languages besides English. The band has a trumpet, trombone, cello, piano, guitar, upright bass, and three percussionists. All of the members are great improvisers including the cellist. The concert I attended was sold out at the Keswick theater near Philadelphia. The audience had a mix in ages from thirteen to seventy-five in equal amounts. This group tours all across the world. Although I wouldn't describe the band as Dixieland they have taken a very early style of jazz and breathed new life into it. If you go to Amazon.com and search for Pink Martini you can hear all of their songs (I suggest "Hang on Little Tomato"). It sounds a little like "If I Had You" and was written in the last ten years.
    
 -----Original Message-----
 From: csuhor at zebra.net
 To: tcashwigg at aol.com
 Cc: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com; DWSI at aol.com
 Sent: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 2:33 PM
 Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Post-Genre Music?
 
  
On Jan 3, 2007, at 1:17 AM, tcashwigg at aol.com wrote:

> everyone keep s trying t reinvent the wheel and often forgetting our 
> influences that shaped our individual interpretations of music,
>  ( often mistaken for Originality) in the endless pursuit of something 
> New and totally different :))
>
> How funny that the more original it becomes the more familiar it sound 
> to something we have heard before :))
>
> Music ain't nothin' but a bunch of notes, it's what you do with them 
> on any given date and time that counts!!
>
> Tom Wiggins


Agreed, Tom. Some players stretch mightily to be new and totally 
different and think that's the way to be "original." Tracy Cochran, 
writing about sculptor Frederick Franck (summer 2006 issue of Tricycle) 
nailed it: "The Lascaux cave paintings had the original quality that 
Franck was looking for. 'There has been an exaggerated use of  the word 
original in our culture,'  Franck said.  'I use it in the sense of 
being in direct contact with our origins.' ”  Sounds like a description 
of any performance when a player digs deeply, whether in OKOM, avant 
garde, classical music, or polka bands.


Charlie

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