[Dixielandjazz] Question from Igor: Don Mopsick's reply

[Don Mopsick]

<<<I have a question for Don Mopsick that I've never been able to answer.

   

Why do Trad Jazz bands play only tunes from the 1920's, 30's and 40's?  When
jazz began, it was very eclectic and drew from folk music to more complex
forms. Are there simply no tunes from prior to 1920 and after 1949 that have
melodies, chord progressions, rhythm patterns and lyrics that make good Trad
Jazz music?

   

Do you think if we played some of these tunes that we might attract wider
audiences?  

   

Sadly, I have to wonder if the "gatekeepers" of Trad Jazz really just want
it to be like the 1930's & 1940's again.>>>

 

The main reason that the better old-jazz bands stick to the old tunes is
that they are inspired by the timeless art of the jazz greats who made them
famous. For example, there would be no reason to play "Cornet Chop Suey" if
not for the startling, revelatory solo that Louis Armstrong recorded.
Similarly, I doubt anyone would be remembering "Singin' The Blues" were it
not for Bix and his magical solo, as well as the great work of his sidemen
like Tram. 

 

Jim and the guys always have models such as these in their minds when they
play these tunes, and I believe this is what sets them apart from the pack.
That is to say, every one in the band has done his homework, lives and
breathes Louis, Bix, Bechet, ODJB, NORK, Jelly, Fats, Condon Mob, Pee Wee
Russell, James P., Haggart/Lawson, Faz, Benny, Dodds (Baby and Johnny), and
on and on, 24/7/365. Jim would not hire a sideman who was not thus prepared
for the job. Having said that, I can report that my first year on the band
(1991) was spent mostly eating huge servings of music that was new to me.

 

And that is just the point: most people who hear the band for the first time
have never before heard 90% of the tunes we play, and we believe this is
just as it should be. Their reaction is often one of surprise, as in "I
never knew that there was this kind of good jazz, I always thought that jazz
was something you had to acquire a taste for." And I'm talking about
youngsters here, college age or younger. It seems that, like we did at their
age, they are well able to handle music of different styles and recognize
that old music operates under a different set of rules than new (for
example, they come to realize that old jazz sounds better played on acoustic
instruments, etc.). Maybe we're just seeing a hipper subset of youngsters,
but there they are in our club nonetheless. Mind you, there are still plenty
of us "seasoned" folks in attendance.

 

The other main reason for sticking to the old school tunes is that they just
don't write 'em like they used to. We refer to the years between the World
Wars (the "interwar" years) as the Golden Age of American Song, or something
like that. There can and never will be pop composers again of the caliber of
Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, Youmans, Hoagy, Arlen, and a host of others,
because the circumstances that enabled their development, namely a
jazz-inspired musical theater ethos, will never exist again. And youngsters,
unless they have taken a class in American Songbook, are not normally
exposed to these great tunes and have virtually no familiarity with them
they way we who grew up in the 50s did through TV specials (remember Nat
Cole, Prima/Smith Judy Garland, Rosey Clooney on TV singing the great old
30s tunes? I do). 

 

As far as playing more modern tunes, there are a myriad of other bands that
do them better than we, so we leave it to them. Modern tunes do not suffer
from a lack of exposure that would be remedied by our playing them. 

 

With so much treasure available to you with just a little bit of digging,
research and listening, why would you want to dilute and cheapen your
message with the dross of modern "entertainment?" The way I see it, we are
the inheritors of a daunting responsibility to the music and to future
generations of fans, and we wouldn't want to blow it. And, our fans seem to
be well-entertained with what we're giving them. Why settle for a Hostess
Twinkie washed down with a Big Red when you can have Chateaubriand and a
nice Merlot?

 

mopo