[Dixielandjazz] Have we hit an all time musical low?

[Stephen G Barbone]

> From: Bert Brandsma <mister_bertje at hotmail.com> wrote
>
> It is my opinion that every period has its own art. Most of it, say  
> 99% will be forgotten in say 20/30 years.The music that really has  
> longer value will survive, but it is always very hard to predict in  
> your own time what music that will be.
> A nice example is J.S. Bach. He was considered old fashioned in his  
> own time. Only later people discovered how much value his art really  
> had.Same with painters. We only bought 1 painting of Vincent van  
> Gogh during his lifetime. Now his works are in museums worldwide and  
> they are worth millions.
> The picture in our time is extremely complicated. Part of the reason  
> is that the musical picture is much more complex then ever before.  
> More styles and more possibilities then ever. Nobody is really  
> influential since everybody can and wishes to do his own thing.There  
> is currently no general stream to discover. In the 1920s there were  
> only a handfull artists good enough to make records. So the big ones  
> set the styles other people would follow.Now there are so many  
> studios fighting to get their business filled that everyone can make  
> records. One advantage is that there is more room for self- 
> expression for individuals worldwide then there has ever been.  
> Youtube is only 5 years young.
> The big music companies are not interested in art, they are  
> interested in making money, so that's why they promote Lady  
> GiggleGiggle.Their overhead/investment costs for such music are  
> really low. They invest more in the video clips since the big  
> general audience watches music, and doesn't really listen.Lady GG in  
> my opinion is closer to a porn actress then to a singer, but that's  
> only my oldfashioned opinion of course.
> Besides we live in a computer time, computers are exiting. People  
> are still only discovering what all can be done with it, and with  
> internet that is the same.Internet is very dangerous for the big  
> powerfull traditional music business, since thay can't control it.  
> Not yet, at least.
> So, I think that only after some decades we will be able to see what  
> music of our current time will still be played. We will give it a  
> name or style label then.Most music will be forgotten, but that's  
> normal.Don't forget that even Louis Armstrong recorded stuff like :  
> I Miss My Swiss Miss, or a dreadfull waltz with Clarence  
> Williams.But the music business just tried to see if they could make  
> business with that.Or take all records by Ellington. We only  
> remember a very small percentage of it. The rest was apparently not  
> interesting enough to survive the times.
> Kind regards,
> Bert Brandsma
> www.dixielandcrackerjacks.com

Well said Bert. Reminds me of what the late trombonist Jim Beebe said  
on this list a few years ago. Something like you only had to play 50  
or 100 Dixieland songs in order to have a successful band.

They are, of course, those that have remained popular through the  
years. Why search for obscure songs that may darn well be obscure  
today because they weren't very good yesterday. <grin>

While able to play about 500 songs from memory, my band has operated  
since the 1990s with a basic list of about 150. We learned that from  
the Louis Armstrong All Stars.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband