[Dixielandjazz] The Lu Watters sold out venue

[Stephen G Barbone]

Perhaps there is a lesson  here about the Lu Watters event selling out  
in a few days.

Could that lesson be that IF you have a GREAT BAND, playing OKOM in a  
tribute to Lu Watters, or Louis Armstrong or Sidney Bechet, or whom  
ever, that you can indeed draw large audiences who will pay good money  
to hear them? Perhaps we need to rethink just which bands we should be  
hiring?

How about hiring bands such as that which played the Watters  
Centennial? (Leon Oakley, Duke Heitger, Orange Kellin, Tom Bartlett,  
Conal Fowkes, Kevin Dorn, Clint Baker and John Gill)

There are a lot more GREAT OKOMers that could be added with bands led  
by folks such as Jon Erik Kellso, Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank  Vignola,  
Joe Ascione, Tom Artin, Dan Barrett, Marty Grosz, Evan Christopher,  
etc., etc., etc.

So many great players are available that could represent various OKOM  
genres in a festival, or large venue setting.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband