[Dixielandjazz] Unhappy musicians

[Nancy Giffin]

Greetings,

I am beginning to lose patience.

It is a shame that certain musicians who are unhappy about who gets
hired and who doesn't (for lack of understanding the big picture of a
festival) feel the need to badmouth the festival and trash-talk it to
so many people who would otherwise greatly enjoy the entire event.
There has been mail coming in from people who have spoken to a Bay
Area musician who claims Sacramento didn't hire any Bay Area
musicians, therefore people from the Bay Area should not attend.

First of all, it's important to note that it was not possible to hire
Bob Schulz' Frisco JB or Golden Gate Rhythm Machine because Bob Schulz
is a solo Guest Artist this year. Also, some of the musicians in those
bands are playing with another band. Jim Maihack and Ray Templin are
with the St. Louis Rivermen.  Hal Smith has his own band (Hal Smith's
Int'l Sextet) and Kim Cusack is playing with him.  Ray Skjelbred was
originally supposed to be with the Ale Stars, but that later fell
through.  Jim Rothermel, God rest his soul, was not well.  The
schedulers cannot work a complex schedule of 420 sets to accommodate
all the scattered musicians that play in different bands. There are
some exceptions, and always with good reason.

2011 bands and musicians from the Bay Area that will be in Sac.:

Natural Gas Jazz Band
Royal Society Jazz Orchestra
Big Mama Sue Quartet (Santa Cruz)
Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums
Stompy Jones
The California Honeydrops
Tom Rigney & Flambeau
Gator Beat (Sonoma)
The Delta Wires

There was no devious intent to omit Bay Area bands, and for one of the
disgruntled musicians to turn people away from the Sac. Jazz Festival
& Jubilee does not serve jazz nor the fans, only the individual.

As previously stated, we're in a recession. Smaller budget means
smaller festival and fewer spots to fill, so fewer bands. There can be
no NEW music, which fans scream for above all else, without rotating
out some other bands.  Just the facts.

It's a small community, and one might be wise to remember this before
they spread misinformation in order to unfairly sabotoge one of the
only festivals that hires a large amount of OKOM, even if it's in
addition to a lot of other music (76 bands).

As they say nowadays on Internet lists, "Don't let the haters and the
trolls get to you."

I'm very busy and have to get back to working for the festival now.

-- Nancy