[Dixielandjazz] Still honking in Madrid!

[Paul Kurtz Jr]

Jim, I’m still honking in Jacksonville, FL. I inherited 2 playing groups during Covid and one group which suspended for 2 years is now started again. Actually in a sense, I’m playing in 4 groups as one has both a concert band and a jazz component. 
concert Band, and attached to that, The River City jazz Band. 

An interesting component of the jazz band is that I’m now working to read jazz charts in Braille. In my past and present, as did Bob, I’ve played by ear for a lifetime. I never asked Bob if he could read Braille music but just naturally figured he could, given his capabilities. I’ve always read concert band music in Braille and memorized it, but this is my first run at orchestrated jazz music. It’s been fun and educational. Every once in a while, I’ll read something and then play it and then say, “Oh, that’s how that looks in print!” because I’ve heard the rhythms and pieces but not actually looked at the music till now. 

When my 4th group starts back, I’m not sure what I’ll do as I’ll be getting pretty busy. But, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. 

So far, all of these gigs and groups are service groups with nonprofit corporation components. Since i recently spent some solid money on a new D/E Flat trumpet, I wouldn’t mind a paid endeavor here and there, but I’ll pay my dues, keep playing, keep learning, keep serving, and enjoy all I can. It was worth it to play a Christmas gig, 18 December, where we had about 200 people and per a band member, all of them had walkers. It’s harder for those people to negotiate auditoriums and all of that, and I’m glad we could provide music for them. 

Jim, I’m not targeted Madrid yet in my life, but if I ever am, I’ll be face to facing you for sure to spark some fun.
Paul Kurtz Jacksonville, FL
I’m playing in The bold City Brass, a brass group, The Recycles orchestra, a concert band/orchestra, the River City 

On Mar 1, 2022, at 9:09 AM, jim at kashprod.com wrote:

Well, other than the monthly message from ml.islandnet.com saying I’m still a member of the Dixieland Mailing List, I haven’t seen much activity since we lost such good/vocal members such as Marek (from Israel), and of course Bob (famous father) Ringwald from California.  This once was a very vocal mailing list, however there was eventually a sort of split when some members decided to start a FaceBook page with the same name.  Of course, when our little list began, back in the 90s, a mailing list was a big thing.  
 
Although I lament the loss of all the comments and announcements we used to receive on this list, I certainly don’t miss the controversies we sometimes had around the change of the century, as we had some, shall I say, brash people on board.  They eventually did leave, though, and things calmed down a bit.  I, personally, have never been much of a historian about Jazz, but I did enjoy reading the discussions others had.  
 
I have met so many nice people from the list in person during my world travels, and from visits from members here to Madrid to hear my band.  I gather there are still many on the list still today, but we all seem to be very quiet.  It would be great if all still present would at least send in a quick note with your name, your whereabouts, do you play in a band or are you a listener, etc.
 
I’ll start by saying my band has begun playing again after the long Covid break.  We began again last July.  The almost 2 yr break signaled the first time we hadn’t had gigs running pretty steadily since we began playing together here in Madrid in 1967.  The start-up however has been slow going, with one club offering us a gig once a month at the strange hour of 1pm on Saturday.  Actually, that gig has become quite successful as lunch in Spain begins at around 2:30pm, just when our Jazz lovers finish applauding & are released out onto the street which just happens to be in an area rife with eating places (& with outdoor seating in many places).
 
We’ve had a couple of other places contract the band, plus we did an hour long theater concert which was broadcast on Spanish National Television.  And, we’ve booked several private parties coming up before the summer, so things are beginning to pick up.  However, the loss of several places where we often played has hurt our monthly schedule.  Some closed down even before the pandemic, due to the bleak financial situation here.  By the way, the audiences here must remain seated (no bellying up to the bar anymore!), and keep their masks on.  And, the capacity is limited to 80%.  We manage to always get the full 80% anyway, which is great.
 
Hopefully, many of you on the list will speak up with your own messages.  I’d love to know who is still around.
 
Jim Kashishian
Madrid, Spain
Canal Street Jazz Band
(look for us on Youtube & Facebook
 
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