[Dixielandjazz] What we lack

Mon Mar 5 16:41:01 PST 2007

First of all young people especially kids do like OKOM especially if it's 
live and lively.  The rub comes because young people don't pay for OKOM. 
The 20 somethings do not directly pay for live music.  They are more likely 
to pay for their music in the price of a drink or some small cover charge. 
They are not the ones typically hiring bands.  Bar operators and venue 
operators who are older do directly hire bands.  OKOM does not have that 
visceral reaction and the venue operators know what works.  If it's not 
broke don't fix it is the basic philosophy.

There is a volume level that young people like.  It just happens to be loud 
enough that everything else is blotted out.  You can't think except very 
basic things.  This music is very high energy stuff and played very loud. 
Venue operators are more than willing to give them what they seem to want. 
Over 30 adults don't generally go in for that sort of thing and are usually 
home watching TV.  Then we get to the over 50 crowd.  They don't go out that 
much and like quieter groups that are more sophisticated.

There is a different demographic among blacks than whites.  At least here, 
older black people club a lot more than whites.  The black community 
supports their musicians and Jazz in general a whole lot better than the 
white community does.  However that does not include Dixieland or Trad 
groups.  In that case the situation is more than completely reversed.  I 
think Singleton Palmer ( Well known Tuba player and band leader) was the 
last black trad musician that I have seen or even heard of in the St. Louis 
Area.
Larry
St. Louis

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Kashishian" <jim at kashprod.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 4:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] What we lack

> Bill Sharp wrote:
>>It's hard enough for the musicians to be able to find a place to play it,
> just on an occasional basis, let alone for listeners to find such a place,
> especially the young.
>
>
> I find it almost hard to believe that the US is in such dire straits, that
> there are no places  to play.  However, I have seen the few places there 
> are
> to play there, and I've been quoted some of the prices the musicians are
> getting to play these few places so I know it is true.
>
> It's, of course, a matter of economics & the work force.  If you think as 
> a
> businessman, one can understand things.  The musician wants enough cash to
> live on.  The bar can only charge just so much per drink (the public won't
> put up with more), and eventually the two amounts become incapable of
> sustain either the business or the musician.
>
> Older musicians in Spain lament about the lack of live venues to play in
> now.  It's true.  When I came here 40 yrs ago, there were afternoon gigs 
> for
> the youth (7 to 10pm), followed by late nite gigs (midnite to 4 am), and
> that was 7 nites a week, 11 months of the year! Of course, we were paid
> peanuts per gig, but there were gobs of gigs!  However, it became cheaper 
> (&
> a heck of a lot easier)to put on records, and eventually those gigs dried
> up.  I can see, by the comments on DJML, though, that we are a long way
> behind the U.S.  Thank goodness for that!
>
> I can't offer any suggestions for a culture that I am now too far removed
> from.  I can say, if you do happen to play a place where the kids are, 
> that
> if you're not sitting in your chair staring at the floor (a la Woody 
> Allen),
> and your band is lively, you can wow the kids & the "common man" of any 
> age.
> You don't just have to play for "jazz people".  People in general love the
> fast ones, sway or dance the medium tunes, and swoon at the slow ones (if
> you put yourself into it 100%).  Oh, and adding a bit of "entertainment"
> helps!
>
> Here's two shots from the stage of our nitely crowd at a local club. 
> We're
> at this place this month for 10 nites (usually get at least a week, if not
> more there each month).  This is just a normal, every nite crowd that 
> hears
> the music from the street & wander in.
>
> http://www.kashprod.com/fotografias/fotos_galeria/107.jpg
> http://www.kashprod.com/fotografias/fotos_galeria/108.jpg
>
> It's not just the style of the music, it's the way in how you do it. 
> That's
> what get's results.  (& I borrowed THAT from a song!)
>
> Jim (Madrid)
>
>
>
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