[Dixielandjazz] Song Requests was Young People

[Stephen G Barbone]

Barbone Wrote:

> She is a great singer and I'll ask her during performances what she
> wants to sing. She just names an American  Songbook tune, the key, and
> our guitarist, bass, drums and I back her up. All without rehearsal.
> Last Saturday she named "Isn't It A Lovely Day" in F,  a song none of
> us had played together before and we did it as if we had been playing
> it for years. Not many bands can do that kind of thing and one of the
> reasons we get so much outside work (wedding/private party etc) is
> that we can usually fulfill just about any Great American Songbook or
> Dixieland request from the guests. (except those from artsy jazz fans
> who request songs like "Here Comes The Hot Tamale Man" which nobody in
> the band knows other than me. <grin>)

Exception was taken to that statement, commenting that it was "a  
generalization with little founding". And that because there are so  
many good. musicians out there, they can "in effect" play just about  
any American Songbook requests.

Well, I certainly disagree with that. Sure, there are lots of great  
musicians out there, but damn few can play more than a few American  
Songbook requests off the cuff. Yes, if a pianist is using a fake book  
that includes them, he can do it, but a Dixieland Band? Who out there,  
except for the few very top tier players and you know who you are,  
would venture to say they could play MOST of the Great American  
Songbook without written arrangements?

I work as a sideman in 6 other "Dixieland" Bands. One will never play  
any requests, and the other 5 will only play a request if they've  
payed the tune before. They shudder at the thought of playing "The Way  
You Look Tonight" or "I Get a Kick Out of You" etc.

Fortunately, my band includes a guitarist and bass player who worked  
with the bands of Lester & Howard Lanin. To get hired, you had to  
memorize all of the show tunes, and most of the Great American  
Songbook tunes. Howard Lanin could hear wrong notes and he would point  
at you if you played one.

And as pop music of Sinatra & Bennett et al, progressed, you had to  
memorize those songs. There are damn few musicians among us who have  
those tunes in their memory banks as any of us who actually work the  
"outside" will readily attest.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband