[Dixielandjazz] youth

[Jim Kashishian]

The ball goes round & round!  The youth become the old & a new youth takes
over.  
 
I heard a story, don't kow if there's much truth in it, but it at least
backs up my theme here:  the jazz trombonist Bill Allred used to get
(goodhearted) complaints about bringing his kid, John along on gigs.  Now,
trombonist John gets the same goodhearted complaints for bring his dad
along!
 
Years ago I read a story written about a parent complaining about his kids
in general...staying out late at nite, not following rules, etc., etc.
Turns out the story was written in Roman times.  Nothing changes.  The old
see things differently than the young, who later become old & see things
about the youth they don't like.
 
Not all those kids in those videos I sent in yesterday will become jazz
giants, or even continue in music.  However, they have had the experience,
and will become the appreciative listeners.  Also, I realize that that
school (which is municipal/city, by the way) is an exception.  The world is
a small place now, though, and you will find this kind of interest in jazz
in the stranges places. (I've never even heard of that small village in
Northern Spain!) So, if the continuousness of the art looks bleak in the
U.S., it just might be somewhere else where the seeds are sown.
 
I certainly don't wish to water down the original plea on DJML for a
campaign to bring interest to jazz in the U.S.  Nor, did I point a finger at
anyone personally with my "doomsday" subject.  I was merely trying to say
that it is never as bad as it seems to those of us looking at the world from
our "advanced" level.  Getting out amongst the young is a must to see that
things in general are not as bad as we might think.
 
Jim