[Dixielandjazz] Royal Crown Revue and horn based bands.

Tue Apr 1 10:54:21 PDT 2008

It could be that musical styles don't change except after a large social 
upheaval.
________________________________________________

I'm sure you are right.  It does seem that changes in music follow major 
social changes.

I believe that the general public is hungry for something else. I know I am. 
Country is evolving slowly and is still highly popular.  I think that's true 
because a lot of pop music has evolved into something the average middle 
class person doesn't relate to.  Weather it's some new jazz or Rap it blows 
past most people who are basically set in what they like.  That is, music 
with a tune and words that they can relate to.  Very simple but the average 
Joe just doesn't understand altered nineteenth chords, ruptured 11ths and 
zillion note licks.  At the same time he doesn't like the monotone rhythm 
stuff with one chord any more than he had a burning desire to listen to 
beatniks in the 50's pound on bongos and recite poetry.

Take line dancing for example.  It has a pretty much set pattern that's 
people can do over and over.  It's very popular at least here.  It's simple 
and doesn't require anything except practice.  I went to a dance the other 
night -- it's the first one that I actually paid for since high school --  
and the floor was filled with a minimum of 100 people doing the Electric 
Slide.  The admission was $5 and they had a crowd of about 200-250 people. 
The band was a trio and was very good.  The band had a keyboard/vocalist, 
Sax player and drums.  It turns out the keyboard player was on tour with me 
with the J Dorsey band and I was in the AF band with the sax player about 30 
years ago.  Small world.

I think something new will appear and will sweep many of the weaker styles 
away.  Remember the folk music craze, Peter Paul and Mary etc.?  Simple with 
a memorable tune.  That's the formula.  Early rock was that way which 
morphed into C & W.

We will have to wait and see what happens but while I think the three guitar 
and drummer band is more or less here to stay I think the popularity is 
going to drop like a rock.  Will it be horn bands?  I don't know the answer 
to that but I do know people like them.

I played with a friend's big band for the jazz club Sunday.  There were 
about 200+ people there.  The band charged I believe $2500 for 18 pcs.  I 
don't know exactly but I got $125 so that's about right and I know he 
doesn't like to go out for less.  The admission was $15 for non members and 
$10 for members. I think they took in just about what the band charged.  BTW 
it was a kick ass concert.

There are gigs out there for horn players and it seems to be picking up a 
little.  Live music doesn't have to be expensive for the patron.  $5-$15 
admission won't break anyone.
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <kmurdick at jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
To: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 8:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Royal Crown Revue and horn based bands.

> You make a bunch of good points.  I think the public is getting bored with 
> the guitar based band as well, it's just that they don't really know of 
> any other music. It may be the music industry that won't let go. It's a 
> strange phenomenon.  It could be that musical styles don't change except 
> after a large social upheaval.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
> Date: Monday, March 31, 2008 5:28 pm
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Royal Crown Revue and horn based bands.
> To: Kent Murdick <kmurdick at jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>
>
>> Generations of guitar bands have left
>>  > the popular music scene in ruins.
>>  _______________________________________
>>
>>  I am completely with you - personally I can't get to the OFF button
>> fast
>>  enough when a guitar band comes on.  Actually I am a guitar lover.  I
>> played
>>  for many years.  Not particularly well compared to many but OK.  It's
>> a
>>  tough instrument and you need competent teachers to do well.  You
>> really
>>  can't treat it as a double.  It's an instrument that is a beautiful
>> thing if
>>  played with any sort of sensitivity.  That's just my point.  With
>>  amplification and electronic gadgets it just isn't
>>
>>  Guitar players have tried desperately to change things but what has
>> happened
>>  is they have made things more boring.  First came the wah wah and the
>> fuzz
>>  box.  Now there are whole pedal boards with every sort of gimmick
>> known to
>>  man.  They are instantly misused and overused by the players and
>> almost
>>  never with taste.
>>
>>  I think everyone is aware of the repetitious nature of the guitar
>> band and
>>  the typical tune.  I personally think that guitar bands are more of
>> an
>>  assault than anything else.  It's sad to waste a lot of talent on a,
>> IMHO,
>>  instrument that is going nowhere in the next 50 years.  The
>> instrument has
>>  become BORING!  Solos are more often than not something that
>> resembles a
>>  mosquito buzzing around your ears.  Have you ever noticed that most
>> of the
>>  solos rarely cover more than a third or the easy reach of the hand
>> and
>>  almost never incorporate chords as well as melody lines.  That is
>> difficult
>>  to do and just isn't done much.
>>
>>  I have played professionally for 50 years.  My main instrument the
>> Tenor has
>>  been popular for long before and I assume will stay that way long
>> after I am
>>  long gone.  I couldn't say that the guitar will have that kind of
>> longevity.
>>  There must be a lot of people out there that share my feeling about it.
>>
>>  I think real instruments have a character and take on the
>> characteristics of
>>  the player and become an extension of the person playing it.  Sound
>> has to
>>  be produced by the person and the instrument is of less importance
>> whereas
>>  the guitar it's exactly the opposite.
>>
>>  When a kid takes a band instrument he learns just thousands of things
>> about
>>  the production of music ranging from dynamics to tone production and
>> the
>>  balance that it takes whereas guitar bands do all that in a computer.
>>  If
>>  you don't learn how to play musically it's a pretty good bet that you
>> won't.
>>
>>  After having said all that I enjoy good musicians playing the
>> instrument
>>  with good taste who are not assaulting my musical taste or my ears
>> with
>>  gadgets, volume or dumb music.
>>
>>  From the business that the many local guitar stores do I would guess
>> that
>>  kids are trying to buy good sound rather than take the typical 15-20
>> years
>>  to do it the other way with a horn.
>>  Larry
>>  StL
>>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>>  From: "Kent Murdick" <kmurdick at jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
>>  To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
>>  Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>>  Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 2:45 PM
>>  Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Royal Crown Revue and horn based bands.
>>
>>
>>  > As simple as this music is (youtube.com / Royal Crown Revue) it's good
>>  > to see horn bands of any type making a comeback.  With horn based 
>> bands
>>  > there is only one way the quality can go, and that's up, IMO.  The
>>  > problem with the guitar based bands of the last 50 years is that they
>>  > have remained musically static.  Generations of guitar bands have left
>>  > the popular music scene in ruins.
>>  > This is due, IMO, to the fact that it is very difficult to read
>> music on
>>  > the guitar and guitarists are
>>  > generally  musically illiterate. For example, the 2nd line G (treble
>>  > clef) on the guitar can be played in four places with a total of 13
>>  > different fingerings.  Guitarists usually learn play by memorizing
>>  > finger patterns..  Anyone who has ever learned the Berkley Jazz School
>>  > guitar scale system ( as I did) can attest to how difficult it is to
>>  > gain even a modicum of freedom and music skills on this instrument.
>>  >
>>  > Kent
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > _______________________________________________
>>  > To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland
>> Jazz
>>  > Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > Dixielandjazz mailing list
>>  > Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>>  >
>>
>>
> 