[Dixielandjazz] Marsalis & JRM

[Stephen G Barbone]

Bob Ringwald and Bill Haesler prefer JRM. So do I but for a different  
reason. Namely that JRM did it FIRST and so all who come after him,  
playing close to the same arrangement, including Marsalis, are merely   
copiers. The 100% authentic jazzer was JRM. The rest are musical  
poseurs. This definition only of poseur: "A person who pretends to be  
what he or she is not"

However I think I can answer Bob"s; "Surprising that he (Marsalis)  
lets the recordings get out"

Couple of reasons.

1. The records sell and Marsalis makes money from the sales.

2. Neither Bob nor I are in Marsalis's targeted audience. (Bill is  
also outside the target market but then he bought the record VBG)

3. His target audience is the larger general audience, in some measure  
jazz challenged in that they will not hear a wrong chord or grade the  
trombone solo. They will simply buy the record and enjoy it.

I believe that Marsalis's stated goal is to increase the public's  
awareness of jazz as a cultural art form. He succeeds admirably in  
that pursuit. And so, for us, the bottom line is simply that we do not  
matter to the success of his mission.
I think this was reflected in the criticisms he received from members  
of the DJML and other jazz chat lists when the Ken Burns series was  
aired, and the general opinion amongst OKOM jazz heads that it was  
deficient.

So the growls, the saxophone, the general presentation etc., appeal to  
the folks who might think Jelly Roll Morton was simply a 1930s  
character who loved to eat Jelly Rolls. And as Bob, Bill and I think,  
that's not all bad.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband