[Dixielandjazz] Where are the young people?

[Misrad HaJazz]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

My band's experience in Israel over the past 10 years or so has been 
that young people and all kinds of people are drawn to our music. We got 
our start by playing on the pedestrian malls of Jerusalem in the center 
of town. Usually not the whole band, but 2 to 4 members of it, or many 
times I played solo on my banjo when the other guys couldn't make it. 
People of all ages and cultural backgrounds stop to listen, smile, 
dance, and even sing along with a familiar tune. We invite people, 
especially kids,  to play our washboard. (I removed the bicycle horn 
from the washboard because it was just too obnoxious when everyone goes 
for the horn and toots it constantly and not in rhythm with the music.) 
We give out business cards, and since we made our CD, we sell those on 
the street too. This is where we get most of our bookings from.

Two examples come to mind that particularly involve young people:

1. When we were still a young band, we got a call from a teenager from 
Tel Aviv who had heard us in Jerusalem, asking us to play for his 
birthday party. He was going to pay us from his own money. We took the 
job, fully expecting to be made fun of by him and his friends as some 
kind of novelty act. But it didn't turn out that way. They loved the 
music and the traditional instruments, and so did their neighbors. These 
were Israeli high school students who couldn't even spell "Louis 
Armstrong" or "New Orleans". They just heard the music and liked it.

2. I got a call a few weeks ago from the mother of a young girl who will 
celebrate her bat mitzvah in March. They heard us play at a street 
festival last year. The girl, then 11 years old, took our card, and now 
she is asking her parents to hire us for her bat mitzvah party. Again, 
Israeli young girl, no prior connection to trad jazz.

If we only advertise to and play for the people who grew up with OKOM, 
eventually we will have no more audience because those people will be 
gone. When I moved to Israel, people told me where to find the old 
English speakers, and I told them I want to play for Israelis. Often the 
older Anglos want us to play for free for charity events, while the 
younger working Israelis will pay our full price (it took time, but we 
are now getting rates that most bands in America would be happy with!), 
and they usually treat us better at the event too.

Our music sells itself. Get out and play where new audiences can hear 
it, and many will like it and pick up the ball. You will also find 
people who want to learn to play it, and those who teach can get work 
and help to train a new generation of trad players. I've taught, or am 
currently teaching, 5 young Israelis, ages 14 to early 20s, to play 
tenor banjo. One of them is the banjoist in my band, while I play brass 
and sing. I plan to start a banjo band too. I can already put more 
banjos on stage than anywhere else in the middle east or Africa.

Fifteen years ago I came to Israel and started playing banjo in downtown 
Jerusalem by myself. The first day I made 11 shekels, which was then 
about $3. Now I am leading an 8 piece mardi gras style street band in 
parades and events all over the country, and I've been making a modest 
living at it. Persistence and enthusiasm do pay off.

Blessings from Jerusalem,

Elazar

-- 
Elazar Brandt
Doctor Jazz Dixieland Band
Jerusalem, Israel
www.doctorjazz.co.il
(02) 679-2537
(050) 723-3914