[Dixielandjazz] selling Jazz

[jim at kashprod.com]

David, from Los Angeles, made some good points about getting the general
public to pay attention to our type of Jazz.  I have found, over the years,
that we often have to "win over" our audience first by playing some songs
they know (not necessarily even Jazz tunes..things like The Flintstones, The
Pink Panther), then once we have the audience in our pocket, we can sneak in
a jazz tune that we really want to play for them.

 

It's not like we walk out on the stage, like say Paul McCartney does, where
he has them all there just to see/hear him. Jazz audiences aren't always jam
packed with knowledgeable jazz enthusiast. 

 

We often play small villages in the deeps of Spain.  Imagine having your
concert put off by an hour or so because the mother of the local shop owner
died and the funeral was running late, and the whole town was at the
cemetery!  Or, the whole town was tied up at the slaughter house as the
yearly slaughter was running late!  Both of those things have actually
happened to us!!!  So, you're going to walk on stage & not give them a bit
of show, a bit of enjoyment?  You're going to convince them from the very
start of the concert that they are going to love Jazz?  Impossible!  You've
got to Entertain, then maybe slip in a bit of art along the way.

 

The same thing goes if you're playing in downtown Madrid, or downtown New
York!  Some of the audience has never heard Jazz live.  It's got to be sold!
The Dukes of Dixieland did that in a splendid manner, becoming the face of
Jazz during the outset of the Stereo LP player in the late 1950's.

 

End of my sermon!

 

Jim

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