[Dixielandjazz] Woody Allen - Part Two

[Stephen G Barbone]

>
> In a message dated 6/4/2010 3:04:46 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, barbonestreet at earthlink.net 
>  writes:
> Once again, I suggest folks read and understand the entire article  
> instead of ranting and being elitist about ear
> Well Steve we have been through this before. Woody as a musician  
> doesn't impress me a good way just as some here, or their opinions,  
> don't impress me either.

I hear you Judy. He doesn't impress me as a musician either. However  
you seem to feel somehow that he cheated you when you went to see him  
for $75. That is a bit paranoid no? He has never claimed to be  
anything other than what he is, a hobby musician. He never said or  
says he was/is a good player and does not compare himself favorably to  
Dodds, or Lewis, or Buddy DeFranco, or Kenny Davern, or Bob Draga, or  
Kim Cusack et al. Plus there is plenty of his playing available to  
hear on you tube and other internet sources. And he never held a gun  
to your head to force you to pay to hear him. No doubt his attitude is  
like mine. "Don't like my music (or opinions)? Fine, join the club and  
don't listen. No big deal.
>


You built up a false set of expectations about the man, expecting  
perhaps the second coming of Johnny Dodds. So he turned out not be  
what you expected and didn't impress you saw him. What's the big deal  
in that? No doubt the world is full of people who don't impress you.  
No doubt also, they are not trying to impress you. Why should they?

However, even though I don't like most of his movies either, I don't  
accuse him of trying to cheat people, or surround himself with good  
actors to cover up his deficiencies, or opine that folks new to movies  
will be turned off by his and never attend another one. I simply  
accept him and his movies and his music for what he is and they are.

He is a hobby musician who has enabled lots of OKOM (count the songs  
someday) to be heard by  MANY millions of people throughout the the  
world through his movies and his performances. The rest of us, fans  
and musicians alike, pale by comparison.

I agree with what Dick Hyman said in that article: "Woody is a very  
musical fellow - really a very knowledgeable musician," says Dick  
Hyman, Allen's long time film score composer and arranger. "He  
consciously, deliberately uses jazz, and understands how it works with  
the kinds of scenarios he writes."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband