[Dixielandjazz] Youth Audiences was We Have The Musicians, What do we lack?

[Steve Barbone]

"steven yarbro" <styarbro at gmail.com> wrote (polite snip)

> I know it seems like the youth aren't interested in hearing "OKOM," but in
> my experience it's more like they just don't know about it.  Our little
> band, The Primate Fiasco, is introducing traditional jazz to people of all
> ages with lots of success.  Check out these pictures from our show at the
> Iron Horse in Northampton, MA:

(Snip to)

> This is a great kind of music, everyone loves it, but for some reason it
> keeps getting forgotten and rediscovered.  The question is not why doesn't
> the youth like "OKOM," it's why doesn't the youth know about it?  We are
> discovering that Our Kind Of Music is Everyone's Kind Of Music!

Amen Steven:

Because of bands like yours and others who court the young as well as the
old, this music is appreciated by the kids in the Boston to Washington DC
corridor of the USA and is experiencing a resurgence among the young.

The original question, "What is it that we lack?" (In the USA) is really
easily answered. We lack bands like yours that play where the kids are. Why?
Perhaps because we old folks have been conditioned to believe that;

1) There are no young musicians who play OKOM.

2) Young people will not like this music.

3) If we redesign the music presentation to appeal to the young we will
destroy it.

Etc., etc., etc. 

All of which, as you and I and others who play where the kids are, or play
with younger OKOMers, know is patently false.

Seems we've forgotten how much fun the Dixieland at Shakey's was when we
were young. We forgot how to connect with young audiences. We think "old".
We are held captive by our lack of imagination.

I love the reaction your band gets from the kids. Makes me wish my band was
in your age bracket. But then, at our ages (70+) we get similar reactions,
which when you are old and gray, is as good as it gets.

What is it that we oldsters lack? "Attitude". Or as Lee Iacocca would have
said, "Fire in the belly."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone