[Dixielandjazz] Audience noise - was a healthy future for classic jazz.

[Stephen G Barbone]

> "Jim Kashishian" <jim at kashprod.com> wrote (polite snip)
>
> Marek Boym wrote:
> Marek, audiences at concerts, particularly in concert halls, tend to  
> be
> quiet.  In fact, if it is not a jazz orientated audience, the  
> audience can
> be too quiet & then it is a job to get the audience to interreact  
> with the
> band, something that is so vital to the success of a gig.
>
> However, in a club you will find all sorts of people.  There are  
> those that
> came to hear the music & those that just fell in off of the street.
>
> Once again, it is up to the band to catch the attention of the  
> audience.  To
> expect complete silence in a club is sort of silly, and in fact the  
> club
> loses its atmosphere when a complete "concert silence" is attained.
>
> The aim, in our case, is to maintain a level of audience chatter  
> somewhere
> below that of the band.  A very animated front table will draw  
> audience
> attention away from the band, which is detrimental then to the  
> music.  The
> attention of that particular table has to be drawn back to the band by
> various "musician's tricks", or by an attentive & polite waiter.   
> Shhh'es
> from other tables rarely works.

Yep, I'm with Jim. Perhaps even more so, as I love the background  
noise. It feeds back to us as energy.

I did a gig the other night in a club as a sub for young Drew Nugent.  
It was supposed to be a trio, but the banjo player he booked didn't  
show up. So it was my clarinet and Jim Daniels on Tuba. (He is a world  
class musician who has played with Phil Woods among other giants)

Now that's a tough gig with what started out as a young. noisy  
audience. Especially the 4 young girls at the table less than 3 feet  
feet away. They were chatty. What to do? Like Jim says involve them  
and that's what we did. I got their names and sang a bunch of double  
entendre songs to them. ("I Can't Get Started" modifying the lyrics,   
"I Want A Little Girl"."Butt Love" as in I Can't Give You Anything  
etc. They went from chatting to paying rapt attention and joking with  
us as we worked out asses off to present the music that was serious  
jazz counterpoint with just clarinet and tuba.

It all worked out as other tables now wanted to interact with the  
band. Luckily I also had some Mardi Gras beads so I circulated among  
the girls passing them  out. And on the Tuba solos, I played "walking  
clarinet" in the lower register. Some people called their friends and  
said they had to come out and see this unique band. Joint stayed full  
from 9 PM to 1 AM. It was a 4 hour gig. With drinks at $12 a pop

Some serious listeners complimented us on how just the two of us  
played the tunes. And they did not complain about background noise.  
And the regular folks just had a lot of fun. One of those 4 girls  
declaimed that Jim (he is a good looking 50 year old) and I, at 77,  
were "hot".

If that's what the audience will pay to see/hear, then just do it.
Remember that Artie Shaw story when he was starting out and waxing  
eloquently about how good the band was to a nightclub owner. Reality  
hit when the owner said: (paraphrasing)

Listen Shaw, I could care less how good your band is. If you want to  
drop your pants on stage every night and take a dump . . . and the  
audience will come in here and pay to see you do it that's fine with  
me. They pay the bills for us both.

As I see it, if folks want to hear music in total silence, then put on  
a record at home. If they want an experience, to dance, or to be part  
of the show, then by all means visit a club. Been like that in clubs  
like Nick's, or Central Plaza, or Melody Lounge in NYC since I started  
playing, or listening in them starting in the late 1940s.

The "silence" stuff didn't start until the more modern forms of jazz  
took hold.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband