[Dixielandjazz] A Question From Igor

[Stephen G Barbone]

Ha Ha, Igor, see what you've done?

The question has been beaten to death on the DJML, some say, but has  
it really? Then why such interest? (could it be that the make up of  
DJML members has changed from a few "in"  folks to a broader base?)

Some of the old guard say that new tunes and a Bass playing 4/4/ time  
are not "Trad". Well, so what?

Others say that current tunes are no good for Dixieland. They might  
revisit what Eddie Condon said about that, (and musical archeology)  
when he wished to update his offerings.

Dixieland was always heavily infused with "pop" music. When did it  
stop being that way? We might ask our selves who strangled Dixieland.

Certainly not the young peopled bands of Primate Fiasco, Loose  
Marbles, Jitterbug, Vipers, Sick's Pack Asylum Street Spankers, and  
countless others who now offer updated Dixieland. Or those older bands  
(like mine) who do indeed meet the kids halfway. Perhaps we need look  
no further than what Max Kaminsky said 70 years ago or so, about those  
who transformed jazz from rule breaking joyous self expression to a  
formulaic, elitist "art form" worshipping the past.

"Jazz, like Dr. Frankenstein, had all unwittingly created a monster in  
its own image - the jazz addict - who, in becoming all hopped up  
about . . . its significance as an art form, very nearly snuffed the  
life out of it . . . Jazz no longer belonged to the musicians and the  
dancers; it was taken over lock stock and barrel by the fans, the  
addicts, the rcord collectors, the amateur critics, the recording  
companies, the promoter, the nightclub owners, the A & R men, the  
lecturers and writers. These were the people who now decided what was  
jazz and what wasn't, who dictated how it should be played and on what  
instrument, and specified who could, or could not play 'real' jazz."

Yep, spare me the artificial restrictions thought up by folks who need  
to get on with their lives. Let me play Stevie Wonder or Beatles, or  
Monk tunes as Dixieland if I choose. Let me play Sick's Pack Tunes, as  
Dixieland if I choose. If you, as a person don't like what I play,  
don't listen. But please, get the hell out of the way and let the rest  
of the world decide for themselves.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband