[Dixielandjazz] Is Western Swing OKOM?

[Fred Hoeptner]

I'd like to add a few additional points to Steve's post.

 

(1) The San Diego Thanksgiving Dixieland Jazz Festival this past November
included, as one of the featured bands, Billy Mata and the Texas Tradition.
As a long-time fan of the music of Bob Wills, Milton Brown, the Lightcrust
Doughboys, Bill Boyd, and so forth I was concerned about the reception that
jazz fans might give the band and also how authentically they would cleave
to the styles of the vintage groups. I was very surprised on both counts.
The Mata sessions were well attended and the audience reaction was
enthusiastic and favorable. Mata knew and played many of the Wills favorites
(I requested "Cherokee Maiden") in a style reminiscent of the 1950s Wills
groups.

 

(2) The term "western swing," which was first applied to a style that was
then nameless in the late 1940s, is a misnomer considered from a strictly
musicological standpoint. The style was developed and established many years
before big band "swing" exploded onto the scene. 

 

(3) The Quebe Sisters, three attractive young lady fiddlers and vocalists,
is another western oriented group that jazz festivals should consider.  To
see and hear them perform "Georgia on My Mind," go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC6GpzAcIDE. 

 

I strongly support the retention of trad jazz as the primary focus of the
festivals.  But in an attempt to broaden appeal the festivals seem to be
experimenting with allied improvisatory musical genres. I think that western
swing is worthy of being included.

 

-Fred Hoeptner

 

>Message: 8

>Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 10:27:38 -0500

>From: Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>

>To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>, tradjazz at list.okom.com

>Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>

>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Hot Club of Cowtown

>Message-ID: <7EEE68AB-9877-4ED4-BC57-DDB567BAF126 at earthlink.net>

>Content-Type: text/plain;           charset=WINDOWS-1252;
format=flowed;

            delsp=yes

 

>Is Western Swing OKOM? Before reading the below, check out:

 

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YUI15MuoRY
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YUI15MuoRY&feature=related>
&feature=related

 

>Cheers,

>Steve Barbone

>www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband