[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Function

[Beth Schweitzer]

What a great question Dick.

I'm in my early 50's and have been a lover of OKOM ever since I can
remember. When I was in my 20's I would go home for a visit to St. Louis
and with my parents would go down to the Robert E. Lee riverboat where
we would sit in the bar and listen to Jean Kittrell and the Old St.
Louis Levee Band. It was really "feel good" music to me. I've loved it
ever since. I can still picture my dad sitting there with his toe
tapping and nodding his head to the music. Too bad we were never aware
of jazz clubs and festivals back then. When the riverboat closed it was
very hard to find OKOM in St. Louis without knowing about the club. It
wasn't until I moved to northern California that I found out jazz clubs
existed all over the country, including St. Louis. My dad would have
been an avid member.

Now I'm back in St. Louis and am an active member of the jazz club along
with my mom. We just took an all-day jazz train to Kansas City and back
with a total of 6 one-hour sets of great trad jazz to keep us
entertained the whole way and back. It was great!

Cheers,
Beth Schweitzer


Dick Sleeman wrote:

P.S. It might be interesting to hear from other listmates what 
triggered them to become O.K.O.M. lovers :-)