[Dixielandjazz] Free Music/ Truly upsetting

[Jim O'Briant]

Tom Wiggins wrote:

> Unfortunately Many of those Doctors, Dentist,  Lawyers, 
> Engineers, and other highly paid professionals are often 
> the ones playing for free on their days off for fun ...  
> Some of them have also been the founders of Traditional 
> Jazz Societies under the guise of "Preserving Jazz"    

There is one traditional jazz society in the San Francisco Bay Area that has
its own band. This band uses volunteer musicians, pays them nothing, and
seeks out paying gigs -- at rates far lower than any professional band can
afford. The society's justification is that the money goes to the society,
and helps hire bands for the society's monthly meetings. But I have a
serious issue with an organization that sets out to promote and preserve
traditional jazz by taking paying gigs away from professional trad jazz
musicians.

Jim O'Briant
Gilroy, CA