[Dixielandjazz] Buble, Krall, Jones? Was "(no subject)"

[Marek Boym]

On 6 July 2010 12:23, Pat Ladd <pj.ladd at btinternet.com> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com>
> To: "Pat Ladd" <pj.ladd at btinternet.com>; <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 6:53 AM
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Buble, Krall, Jones? Was "(no subject)"
>
>
>
> <<Perhaps you did; I did not.  It was only around 1954 that jazz got its
> "imprimatur;" until then, it was the product of decadent capitalist
> culture).>>
>
> Hi Marek,
> Yours is a special case then (and would probably make an interesting story)
> but my remarks hold good for the majority and it is bad logic to argue from
> the singular to the general. Or the other way round come to that.

Jazz - OKOM - became extremely popular in Poland in the second half of
the 1950's, albeit no as much as in the UK.  Even now there are quite
a few traditional jazz festivals there, and the number is growing (a
few years ago, there was one - the Gold Washboard).  Excellent bands
sprung up all over eastern Europe.  For exmaple - listmate's Thamas'
Bohem Ragtime Jazz Band.  Or Benko.
>
> <<And anyway, a when the British revival started it was difficult to
> imagine that trad would soon become THE popular music in the UK>>.
>
> You are absolutely right. For a few years(about 50 actually)  Barber, Bilk,
> Lightfoot et al were on the radio, TV all the time. I booked them for dances
> when I was in Round Table and  they were so busy it was always difficult to
> fit in a date. But, where are they now.? Nary a hide nor hair on the TV etc.
> these days.
> Barber I saw a year ago with an entirely new line up .Very good but hardly
> OKOM and he said he is happier with the present line up than any other of
> his bands.

The Barber Big Band was in Caesarea in 2009.  OKOM to my ears, even if
I cannot take that wailing guitar it features.  Unfortunately, Halcox
has retired.  Zoltan Sagy was the  greatest favourite here.

It was a sell out concert but only at a localMusic centre with
> maximum of around 250 people. I saw Humph a couple of months before he died.
> Very different music.Not a Bad Penny Blues in sight. Again in a theatre but
> only three quarters full.

Humph stopped playing trad in the 1950's, after going pro.  He had a
fantastic band, with Bruce Turner, but it was a mainstream band (swing
for American listmates).  In the mid-60's, he flirted with cool (or
something equally boring to my ears), but he repented and led very
good swing bands to the end of his life.
>
> Luckily in the UK there are a lot of jazz bands. Some very good, some poor.
> In the big connurbations I think they do quite well. Away from the cities
> there are jazz clubs in pubs. and school halls with playing of variable
> quality.There is probably jazz once a week within twenty miles of any spot
> in the UK
> Unfortunately, by no stretch of the imagination could it be called main line
> music.

No.  But that's the way of FADS - they fade away.  Still, in the
1980's and 1990's, the Bilk band sounded much better than when trad
was king, and Stranger on the Shore, with no strings attached, turned
out to be a lovely tune.
>
> When I see a jazz band booked for the Glastonbury Festival I might be
> convinced that a revival is on the way. This year they headlined a band
> called the Gorrillas (or guerrillas. I know not which) Kylie Minogue did a
> guest appearance. The only band I would have been the slightest bit
> interested in was Rolf Harris  and that aint OKOM. That is just plain good
> entertainment and it doesn`t hurt my ears.
> OKOM? Quo vadis?

As you have admitted - unless I misread your postage - ther are still
lots of good bands.  Over the years (the ladt time - in 2004), I
attended a few excellent OKOM festivals in the UK - Bude, Liverpool -
and I unfortunately missed Keswick and Whitley Bay.
>
With kind regards
>
>
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