[Dixielandjazz] Smithsonian Anthology

[Marek Boym]

Something must be wrong with me - I agree with Steve yet again.
Myself, I would not get close to that anthology - it contains too much
that is not my kind of music (as did the old vinyl anthology, by the
way).  But, since all those things are considered jazz, it is only
logical that it shold be included.
Such anthologies are not for avid collectors, butfor the general
public.  Some people might even "convert" to OKOM - or other offerings
in the anthology - and start attending concerts or buying recordings,
thus providing the musicians' bread.
Cheers

On 28 March 2011 16:52, Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
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