[Dixielandjazz] Smithsonian Anthology

[Stephen G Barbone]

Discussing the pros and cons of this kind of anthology is a circuitous  
path to nowhere. Some of the 6 billion people on this planet will love  
it, some will hate it and most will ignore it.

Those of us who are record collectors, or jazz musicians, or fairly  
knowledgeable about jazz in general, or knowledgeable about some  
segments of the whole, will hate it for its incompleteness and its  
choices of which records to include. But then, how does one distill  
more than a century of jazz music into 6 CDs? It is an impossible  
task. Just as the Ken Burns examination of jazz was an impossible task  
in 15 hours or so, of TV.

These kinds of anthologies are not for those in the above categories.  
They are more for the vast majority of people in the world who have  
little or no idea of what jazz is.

In that respect I applaud them all, Swaggie, Smithsonian, Ken Burns,  
for what they have accomplished. Namely, to bring jazz into the minds  
of more people and open the door, even if ever so slightly, to a  
larger audience that will appreciate the music, both for what it was,  
and what it is.

Remember the arguments that went round and round about Ken Burns and  
Marsalis a decade ago? While that series was far from perfect, it  
awakened an interest among the jazz challenged about jazz. From a  
personal point of view, it launched my band into a decade of over 1500  
performances in my local area. There was an enormous amount of  
curiosity about jazz generated, wherever you live, because of the  
program and we tied our advertising/promo into the program and  
audience / booker curiosity.

Other bands who tied their marketing programs and promo pieces to  
"Jazz - America's Music" and the public curiosity also found it  
relatively easy to generate public gigs.

Bottom line for The Smithsonian Anthology? Whether one sees it as  
excellent, good, mediocre, bad, or awful is beside the point. That it  
will increase the audience for jazz, and for our bands if we are just  
a little proactive, is to be commended and acted upon.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband