[Dixielandjazz] Amplification

[Stephen G Barbone]

Most of the indoor gigs we play these days are acoustic except that we  
amplify the guitar. Some outdoor are also done this way if the  
audience is relatively small and not to far away, except that we also  
amplify the bass outdoors. (our bassist is 80 and doesn't pull like he  
used to)

We amplify the guitar because he acts as a fourth horn in the out  
chorus, as well as taking single string solos. We want him to be as  
loud as the rest of us in the front line.

The trumpet and I (clarinet) learned how to play when there were no  
mikes used. So we know how to play loudly. When Glenn Dodson was  
alive, he blew a loud trombone, also learning to play in the days  
before mikes. However, our 30 year old trombonist today does not get  
the same volume so we may give mike help to the trombone on occasion.
As an aside, I think that one reason the bands in the 1940s/50s played  
with so much more energy than bands today is that the musicians all  
learned to play without the aid of mikes. IMO it makes a big  
difference in the way the muso uses the horn.

I am about to leave home for a funeral memorial luncheon in Ocean City  
NJ. 50 people will be there, in a hotel ballroom that can seat 100. We  
will do it without amps, except for guitar.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband