[Dixielandjazz] Choosing Tunes for a CD

[Gluetje1 at aol.com]

I thought Bill Haesler suggested a very good topic for discussion when he  
asked how do bands go about choosing what of their repertoire makes it to  
recording a CD.  I have not seen us give him much help -- yet.
 
Also maybe Allan and I have a mutual admiration for each other's  writing.  
What he said in, "maybe songs with a more comedic bent are just  better 
suited to the ephemeral moment and don't translate to repeated  listening."  
That seems to be true for me.  Once I've caught, or think  I've caught, the 
humor and/or novelty, I'm mostly interested in it again only in  terms of 
passing it on to someone else.  And yet, groups like Asylum Street  Spankers 
apparently sell lots of CDs, so apparently many are not like me in  this.
 
One more thing which is fine when I'm watching and getting the visual  
clues, but that unnerves me on CDs, is tunes that alternate tempo as  part of 
the presentation; i.e., four fast bars, four slow bars, four fast bars,  etc.  
I'm not talking about rubato which can communicate just fine aurally,  but 
lento phrases, interspersed with allegro phrases.  I'm irritated with  
myself because I can't come up with an illustrative sample at the  moment.  But I 
do have several CDs done by groups I like that have  selections like that 
and those fast/slow phrase selections bug me.   And yet if I were picking up 
visual cues, those same tunes would be  enjoyed.
 
Another element in CDs that I give repeated listening are  tunes where 
every instrument is playing great lines as far as weaving  complementary to the 
soloist.  And I don't mean every instrument playing  all the time.  But 
maybe I go back and listen again to hear how that  trombone is musically 
harmonizing and "adding" without taking away from the "up  front" notes being 
played.  Or when the drummer, banjo, or guitar add  something subtle, but there.
 
When I buy CDs I'm always looking for a reasonably fair balance of tunes I  
already know I enjoy and tunes I rarely hear or have never heard of.  I  
don't buy CDs where I don't recognize/like at least a handful of the  tunes.  
I think I probably represent the public fairly well in choosing CDs  on that 
basis.
 
Ginny