[Dixielandjazz] Oh Yeah - WWW - Hello Dol,ly

[Stephen G Barbone]

>  Ernie Landes <ernlan at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> We don't do "W. W." anymore - one of our regular fans gets up and  
> leaves when we do!
>
> I see no reason to limit the "Oh Yeah" thing to that tune and  
> "Dolly".? Any of the hundreds of tunes that Louie did would be  
> eligible IMHO.? Tonight we'll do it to Basin Street, and maybe later  
> to Swing That Music.? Why Not???? The audience loves it!

Of course there is no reason to limit the song choice. It all depends  
on the audience. But why all the dislike of WWW?  Seems to come mostly  
from the few old farts who are left that think anything Louis  
Armstrong did after 1930 or so was trash. <grin>

Why WWW for Oh Yeah? Simply because it was a HUGE HIT. First in  
England, that cynical country, where I believe it sold over 500,000  
copies shortly after it was recorded.  It was not a hit in the USA  
until more than  2 decades later when Robin Williams used it as the  
wake up song in "Good Morning Vietnam". But still, it became a hit and  
we are wildly cheered when our  black trumpet player sings it.

Face facts folks, it is only a few irrellevent old farts that dislike  
WWW. Far better to ignore them, and/or let them get up and leave. IMO  
the MAJORITY of people who hear it worldwide apparently love it. And  
it is THEY who we should be reaching, and not worrying about the few  
remaining elitist fans still alive.

Going a step further, if a jazz musician  cannot say something  
meaningful with all the wonderful harmonic structure available in  WWW  
he/she should quit playing. And if a fan dislikes it, he/she is  
probably listening to lousy musicians and/or bands who haven't the  
soul to make it a thing of beauty.

As for Hello Dolly, virtually the same rationale applies. As you old  
farts will remember, in 1964 the Armstrong rendition knocked the  
Beatles out of the number one ranking on the pop music charts. I think  
Dolly was #1 for more than 4 weeks. Do we now dislike it because most  
of the people in the world love it? Ah, the curse of being popular.  
Once you get poplar critics pan you as Brubeck once said. (paraphrase)

I, for one, am  very proud that my band will continue to play WWW and  
Hello Dolly at each "Oh Yeah" concert in  August. We did it last night  
at a young peoples bar in Philadelphia. Almost 100% of the audience  
was under 30 years old. They loved it. More so I suspect, then if we  
did it on Potato Head Blues which would have confused them. <grin >

This month with a few gigs recently added, we will end up reaching  
about 5000 different people with WWW, Hello Dolly, and Saints complete  
with Oh Yeahs from the audience. If one or two regulars walk out the  
hell with them. We neither need nor want regulars like that.

Check my facebook page wall and see who our regulars are. <grin>  
(Hint: Young ladies who in turn attract young men)  http://www.facebook.com/steve.barbone

Now I ask you, old farts: "Just what is it that we are doing wrong?"

Cheers
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband