[Dixielandjazz] Question from Igor

[Rick Zahniser]

David Richoux wrote:
> I am in agreement with "K.C." and Igor - it seems like there has long 
> been a major faction in OKOM to keep song selection (and even 
> performance style) to a restricted range, and there also have been 
> many musicians and groups that have tried to incorporate a much wider 
> range of music and musical styles into what we have agreed to term OKOM.
>
> The "WGJB" (Yank Lawson, Bob Haggart and others) was a leader in 
> adapting rock and pop tunes into OKOM style, also the Anachronic Jazz 
> Band adapted be-bop jazz into OKOM style, and there have been many 
> other examples. Many jazz band I know of have no fear of Ragtime or 
> even "Old-time" songs - Lu Watters and Turk Murphy often did them and 
> most "San Francisco Trad" bands continue in playing a wide variety of 
> songs.
I'm glad you menionted the WGJB.  They are a good example of a band that 
basically destroyed the Trad feel.  I'm not saying it isn't Jazz.  It's 
good jazz, maybe even Great Jazz, but it certainly isn't Trad.  As I 
said, Trad is a feel, and you lose it with a four-out-of-four bass.  The 
other major contributor to the destruction was the High-Hat cymbal.  
With that high-hat playing the off beat, everyone else was free to do 
whatever they chose. 

Rick Jolley,

PS:  I speak from having played every kind of music (but especially 
Jazz) since I started my own band in 1949.