[Dixielandjazz] Who, where (and how old?)

[Charles Suhor]

Interesting report but bad news about the demise of the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and Traditional Jazz Society. I've been loosely tracking the New Orleans Jazz Club since its origin in 1948, when I lived and played drums in the city. The Club was an important group historically and it kept visible for decades. It flagged when its publication,  The Second Line, became irregular (a symptom, or than a cause?) and leadership didn't have the energy to rev it up. The monthly jam sessions, though, are still going on. I don't know about the quality of the music or the attendance, but as you say, tons of cultural change have made a difference in just about everything. Plenty of fine jazz players in all styles there today, not always well employed, plus excellent and awful busker/trad groups and far more blue, rock, and whatnot than I'd care to hear. Another sad effect of aging—I'm harder to please. 

Charle

 
> On Oct 17, 2018, at 4:31 PM, Charlie Hull <charleshull7652 at comcast.net <mailto:charleshull7652 at comcast.net>> wrote:
> 
> The times are indeed a-changing, Charles, and the population of us dinosaurs and OKOM proponents is diminishing. Sacramento's once-huge Jazz Jubilee and once-active Traditional Jazz Society are both history. The Jubilee reached an unsustainable level, and instead a downsizing, the leadership decided to borrow money to keep it large, leading to eventual bankruptcy and dissolution of the Society. There was an attempt to form a replacement society, but that, too, failed after a few month because the leadership's ideas, including abandoning the monthly music sessions, were unpopular with the players. The latter had held back on paying dues to join until they could see where it was going. The controlling board decided to dissolve the new Society rather than consider what the musicians wanted. Which was only to keep the established regular sessions where they could meet and play together.
> 
> The desire to continue monthly sessions with guest bands and jamming was not in the plans of the new "Jazz and Swing Society" leadership's goals, and the monthlies ended. There has recently been a movement to establish monthly jam sessions. One jam session meeting has taken place, and the prognosis is good for continuance.
> 
> There is a pizza parlor venue in Sacramento which features Wednesday evening music. It started a few years back with trad music, but has evolved with emphasis on entertainment. It still has local trad bands, but also features swing and some country music. The customers don't seem to care as long as it's musical and fun.
> 
> Most of my trad peers are playing for senior dances and entertaining at senior residential facilities. The store opening, building dedication, holiday party and such gigs vanished during the last big economic depression. The club scene favors country and rock. Cultural evolution.
> 
> The Sacramento Trad Youth Program is still very much alive, well funded and well managed; keeping the torch burning. So there's some hope for the future of OKOM.
> 
> Keep on keepin' on, Charles, and keep on ramblin'
> 
> Charlie Hull
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 10/17/2018 12:26 AM, Charles Suhor wrote:
>> Good that you're still in the game, Charlie. several DJMLers have mentioned their ages, and if I glean rightly, we're a pretty, er, seasoned group—70+, maybe? I'm 83 but stopped drumming at 72 when the tubs, as we once called them, got too heavy to tote, my foot went all sluggish, etc. Many bands are playing our kinds of music, but I wonder if groups like this will suffer the fate of IAJRC. It was a terrific group with scholarly articles in it journal, but by its rolls I saw that the membership was superannuated (love that word), and it folded.. The "American Rag" has morphed into "Syncopated Times," keeping up with trad, Dixieland, and bands, festivals, and artists. Yes, it mostly covers USA and this list ranges far and wide, but it's more literate and entertaining than it predecessor and available online. I've rambled here, as befits an octogenarian, but at 2:20 am (still a night hawk—old habits die hard), I'm going to bed.
>> 
>> Charles
>> 
>>> On Oct 17, 2018, at 12:21 AM, Charlie Hull <charleshull7652 at comcast.net <mailto:charleshull7652 at comcast.net>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Charlie Hull, Sacramento, California
>>> 
>>> Tenor sax, clarinet, bass, guitar
>>> 
>>> Joined the list in its early years. At Bill Gunter's request, made DJML badges one year for Sacramento Jazz Jubilee rendezvous.
>>> 
>>> Celebrated my 90th in April. Still playing a half dozen gigs a month; mostly as sideperson on tenor and clarinet.
>>> 
>>> Keep on keepin' on.
>>> 
>>> Charlie
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
>>> 
>>> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz <http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz>
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Dixielandjazz mailing list
>>> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com <mailto:Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>> 
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ml.islandnet.com/pipermail/dixielandjazz/attachments/20181017/6b1d1491/attachment.html>