[Dixielandjazz] Is Western Swing OKOM?

[Dick Baker]

Hear, hear, Fred!  I went to the Sacramento festival last May for the 
first time in many years, intending to listen to trad jazz and 
ragtime.  At the pre-festival gathering of OKOM members, I heard 
about the Quebe Sisters from one of our brethren.  I checked them out 
. . . and fell in love.  I then stumbled across Billy Mata and also 
was quite taken with his righteous Bob Wills-ness.  I ended up 
hearing just about all of their sets that weekend.


>From: "Fred Hoeptner" <fredhep at earthlink.net>
>
>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....
>
>(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.
>

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      Dick Baker
  djml at dickbaker.org