[Dixielandjazz] Repeated Solos

[Marek Boym]

I am neither a musician not "pop" fun, but I could not agree more.
Often, when deciding what to buy, I choose records with fewer warhorses.
Cheers

On 29 May 2011 06:02, Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Jack Mitchell asks why some of the past professional Dixieland musicians
> didn't mix it up more and continued to play set solos and set pieces.
>
> I think because most pros viewed their music as a business and wanted to
> make a living at it. Therefore they played what the audience wanted. And
> back then it was the same old tunes.
>
> Eddie Condon made that point back in the 1950s when he complained that
> audiences came into his joint and requested the same old warhorses. He
> complained, (and I am paraphrasing here) that the tunes they were forced to
> play were bleeding, awful, overplayed stuff. And also complained that when
> they played a new, current tune the audience members would come up and say;
> play jazz that's not jazz. The audience at his joint was "Dixieland" fans
>
> Now when Louis played Hello Dolly, or Blueberry Hill, or Kiss To Build a
> Dream On, or Wonderful World, the mass audience loved it. That audience was
> mostly "pop fans". Many of the "Dixieland fans" scoff at that music saying
> Louis sold out.
>
> Point being that in the 50s until their deaths, Condon made the bulk of his
> living from "Dixieland Fans" while Louis made the bulk of his his living
> from "Pop music fans".
>
> I think the professionals who make their living performing realize that they
> have a particular audience to satisfy if they want that living to be more
> than mere subsistence.
> A few are in the Dixieland niche while the rest are not.
>
> I'm sure most band leaders on this list who play some current tunes have had
> the same experience I had after playing "If I Were A Bell" and a Dixieland
> Jazz Society Concert. Some blue haired woman came up at the break, mentioned
> the tune and sniffed haughtily; "I didn't know that was jazz." I replied
> sweetly; "It is, the way we played it."
>
> Or had the same experience Kenny Davern had at a Dixieland Jazz Society
> concert when he had some CDs including one of himself with the Bob Haggart
> Orchestra and Strings. A gal came up, said she was his number 1 fan, then
> looked at the tunes, and said that's not Dixieland and did not buy it.
>
> That CD is a treasure as those of you who own it know, but the audience of
> old fart dyed in the wool Dixielanders wasn't buying it.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
> www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
>
>
>
>
>
>
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