[Dixielandjazz] Adding Youthful members / or audiences

[l.swain at comcast.net]

My son has a private party for a "couple of hundred of his closest friends" every July 4th. 

He has asked me to play my keyboard at these, and I have been pleasantly surprised to hear from kids attending (from teens to 20's) who approach me to tell me how much they enjoy what I''m playing (mostly OKOM). 

Why? In part, they say, because they've never heard stuff like what I play, and they like it!. 

Why? Because what they are exposed to, every day, is the noise I endure from the PA system in my local supermarket, which they have been told is "music". 

These kids, unlike many of us (I'm 74) hear only junk every day they tune in their radios. 

All who can expose their stuff to the younger folk can only help us to stay alive. We NEED younger fans, because our core group of fans is (surprise!) slowly going away. 

Larry Swain