[Dixielandjazz] Sturm, Fir and Drang

[Kevin Yeates]

Say what you want about the fire etc, check the size of their audience and compare it to the size we normally see at a trad jazz show. 

I recall Garth Brooks, the country singer, commenting that he plaid a show with 5000 in the audience. He thought he was really making it when he realized that same night, in the same city, a rock band had filled an arena playing to an audience of over 40,000. He decided that he had set his goals too low and decided he wanted his show to match a rock show in performance and audience size. 

I appreciate your opening comment was in jest, but I think there is some wisdom in that. Fireworks may not be the answer, but you definitely need to put on a "show". If we want to continue to attract a new audience, we have to understand that we have to attract them, not just expect them to show up. 

Trad jazz performers can learn a lot from the rock stars. I have been amazed over the years at how many trad jazz performers have told me they don't need to show up for rehearsal as they know all the tunes. That tells me that all they do is get on the stage and play the same old thing, the same old way. No wonder their audiences are dying. 

At rehearsal you don't just rehearse the playing of the tune, you rehearse the choreography, the timing of the jokes, the movement of the bodies on stage, the segues from one piece to the next etc. 

Please keep posting these articles about such great performers. At least one of us is learning from them.

Kevin Yeates
Vancouver, Canada