[Dixielandjazz] Dixieland all over the world

[Steve Heist]

Hi All...

Just a thought, Berl - Be a little wary of turning a jazz night into a 
"dance night" - It's great to play SOME tunes for dancing, but don't go down 
the path of playing everything for dancers!  Pretty soon, the dancers take 
over and you'll wind up playing background for their dancing exhibitions... 
A lot of us have seen what we call "Fred and Ginger" take the floor and want 
to show off their every dance move ad nauseum.  Seen it happen many times... 
Then they start ordering YOU around...  If you are the one hired as an 
act/band - YOU are the boss, not the dancers, not the "sit in" singers, not 
the "sit in" musicians, etc. and you better make it clear to them.  Keep 
your priorities straight, and take the lead, or you'll be bossed around by 
usually a bunch of amateurs, which makes for a night from hell...  Been 
there, done that!

And "just cranking it out", as you call it, is NOT what most good bands do, 
hopefully.  Please, believe me, going down the road of "I'm going to play 
for the dancers" will lead to "cranking it out" faster than playing good 
jazz in varying and interesting tempos.

ALL the Best,
Steve Heist



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Berl" <berl at sti.net>
To: "Steve Heist" <steveheist at earthlink.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 10:41 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Dixieland all over the world


>I believe what I'm looking for is what do the Dixieland Dancers love to 
>dance to.