[Dixielandjazz] Old, but new!

[Marek Boym]

I am not a musician, Jim.
Neverteless, my listening experience is that mpst bands repeat the
same notes again and again.  Only occasionally they differ.  And the
trad audiences request St. Lous Blues, Sweet Georgia Brown, etc., ad
nauseam.
Large repertoire?  Wasn't that what I suggested?  There are so many
good songs around, amond them some that used to be very popular with
bands in the '20's, '30's and '40's.  And there are new songs.  Only
last night I listened to the World's Greatest Jazz Band playing, in
addition to standards, things like "Sunny," Up,Up and Away and Ode to
Billy Jones.  Nevertheless, later they seemed to have dropped them
from their repertoire, as on the live recordings it was mostly
standards and Bob Crosby songs.
I have alredy mentioned here my very disappointing experience at Jimmy
Ryan's in 1980, when basically very good bands were playing as if they
were asleep.  Steve reacted that I witnessed a working band's fatigue,
or something of the sort.  The second evening was a special
experience: the band, led by Roy Eldridge, sounded as boring (and
bored) as on the preceding night (with another trumpeter).  Then,
during the intermission, two elderly ladies approached Eldridge.  They
had a nice talk, with lots of laughter, and lo and behold! - the
post-intermission Eldrdge was a changed musician!  He played his old
hits with enthusiasm and verve, turning his trumpet towards those
ladies.  At first, the band didn't catch up, but he just ignored it.
After a few minutes, the band followed the leader, and what started as
an extremely boring evening turned into great musical experience.  I
should have thanked the intermission pianist Red Richards - had it no
been for his wonderful playing, I'have left and not waited for the
continuation.  As it was, I was sorry I had to leave around 1AM, but I
had to catch the last train to BAbylon, Long Island.

Cheers

On 12 December 2012 11:08, Jim Kashishian <jim at kashprod.com> wrote:
> Marek wrote:
>>I remembered asking a participant in the Mississippi RAg Forum whether it
> had occurred to him that the musicians might be bored playing Royal GArden
> Blues or ST. James' Infirmary for umpteen times.  His reply was that if so,
> they shouldn't play traditional jazz.
>
> As you go on to say in your comments, Marek, these tunes can be played over
> & over, but don't have to be rigid in their makeup.  We are fortunate to
> still have clubs where we can play at, sometimes with 10 nites at a go.  How
> do you keep St. James from boring you? First off, have a rep. large enough
> so you don't have to do St. James every nigt.  And, when you do play it, do
> something different with it, in the ensembles, and particularly in your own
> solo.  It can only be boring if you are bored with your own playing, and
> that's a personal problem, not the song!
>
> Jim
>
>
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