Jazz Parties / Festivals

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Bob the Builder
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Jazz Parties / Festivals

#1 Post by Bob the Builder » Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:27 am

I'm wondering if any of anyone on the board ever to along to any of the Jazz Festivals or Jazz Parties. I've never heard anyone talking about going to see musicians like Bob Wills, Dan Barrett, Pete Fountain, Keith Ingham and the list goes on and on and no!

Over here (Australia) there is a few of us that attend these kinds of events, but not many, which is odd considering you have all the best Jazz musicians at one event. Yes many times you can't dance as these events, but how gives a hoot about dancing when you get to listen to some one like Pete Fountain.

Anyway just asking, - Anyone been to a Jazz Party?

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#2 Post by CafeSavoy » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:53 am

i love jazz festivals and would like to attend more.

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#3 Post by Toon Town Dave » Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:35 am

I usually take in some of our local Jazz festival in the summer. Sadly last year, I missed getting tickets for Preservation Hall Jazz Band, they sold out almost instantly.

There isn't much dancing at our Jazz festival. Most of the venues are theatre seating or the room is packed with chairs and no room to dance. There is an outdoor free stage that usually has a patch of grass to dance on. There is one couple always there doing ballroom to everything, usually a few random folks doing the hippy wiggle dance and occasionally some swing dancers if there's a decent big band or jump blues band.

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#4 Post by Campus Five » Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:46 pm

Most trad festivals are not oriented toward dancing. Often the allstar sets are filled with 10 minute songs, little interaction between the musicians. They all kind of sit there half awake, and then, "Oh, is it my turn now?". Although the soloists are often some of the best in the biz, I, and many others I talk to, are just not moved by the static, boring setting. I've been working on getting our local LA jazz festival to be more swing and dance friendly. Dancers have been going for years, but mostly only to the saturday or friday night big band. I've been trying to get the other sets more danceable so that people will stick around. I'm working on it.

The great part about festivals is how they allow you to draw a huge pool of musicians and mix them up, which could be good. Now only if they could play something other than mindless, non-interactive, going through the motions music.
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#5 Post by texas-eddie » Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:16 pm

The one I'm going to in a couple of weeks is the Dixieland Montery Jazz Bash (including Titan Hot 7 and 20 other bands, yay!). Great hot jazz music playing the entire weekend at several different locations. Not really much room in terms of dancing, but this is the kind of thing where I'd like to sit back and enjoy the music anyway.

Anyone know if the Oberlin Jazz Festival is still going on?

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#6 Post by Lawrence » Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:15 pm

I went to the Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park for a few years, including dancing in the aisles to Clarence Gatemouth Brown the year he released "Gates Swings." But I generally swore off all outdoor festivals because of the sweaty, smelly, stupid crowds they attract. I also had my fill of thinking how neat is was to eat fried dough in high school. The Chicago Jazz Festivals (and Blues Fests) were just smaller versions of the Taste of Chicago, which is the antithesis of fun for me.

Granted, I've never been to Montreal or Monterrey, which are supposed to be much better.
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#7 Post by Eyeball » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:53 pm

Campus Five wrote:Most trad festivals are not oriented toward dancing. Often the allstar sets are filled with 10 minute songs, little interaction between the musicians. They all kind of sit there half awake, and then, "Oh, is it my turn now?". Although the soloists are often some of the best in the biz, I, and many others I talk to, are just not moved by the static, boring setting. I've been working on getting our local LA jazz festival to be more swing and dance friendly. Dancers have been going for years, but mostly only to the saturday or friday night big band. I've been trying to get the other sets more danceable so that people will stick around. I'm working on it.

The great part about festivals is how they allow you to draw a huge pool of musicians and mix them up, which could be good. Now only if they could play something other than mindless, non-interactive, going through the motions music.
So, if I read your post correctly, you are saying you do not find these jazz festivals entirely to your liking? :wink: :D

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#8 Post by Campus Five » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:18 pm

Absolutely.

I'd rather hear guys like Dan Barrett and Dan Levinson and Howarld Alden in a Basie small group setting were they riffing behind each others solos and really interacting. The settings they often are in at these festivals are totally straight ahead snooze-fest where each person takes a long, long, long solo over just the rhythm section while the rest of the guys tune out. Those settings just don't have the vibrancy and music excitement of what many of think of as the original stuff.

Barrett and Levinson have both played in the JSO and both really enjoyed how interactive it was, and how involved it got them a what was going on.

Plus, I'm going to be honest here (and likely piss somebody off), but there are also always a bunch of really bad, really bland, commercial, soulless dixieland and novelty acts at all most all trad festivals. They really only apeal to the old people who are not real jazz fans. None of the other musicians really respect those acts, but they apear at festivals everywhere because they are percieved to be draws. That's part of the problem - most trad festivals are geared toward appealing to this one group of old people who just like this generic, safe kind of old-timey novelty stuff. And that's also why so many festivals are dying.

We need the dance scene to start going to festivals, otherwise they will die out. But, we also need festivals that are worth going to.
"I don''t dig that two beat jive the New Orleans cats play.
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
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#9 Post by Eyeball » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:24 pm

Campus Five wrote:Absolutely.

I'd rather hear guys like Dan Barrett and Dan Levinson and Howard Alden in a Basie small group setting were they riffing behind each others solos and really interacting. The settings they often are in at these festivals are totally straight ahead snooze-fest where each person takes a long, long, long solo over just the rhythm section while the rest of the guys tune out. Those settings just don't have the vibrancy and music excitement of what many of think of as the original stuff.

Barrett and Levinson have both played in the JSO and both really enjoyed how interactive it was, and how involved it got them a what was going on.

Plus, I'm going to be honest here (and likely piss somebody off), but there are also always a bunch of really bad, really bland, commercial, soulless dixieland and novelty acts at all most all trad festivals. They really only appeal to the old people who are not real jazz fans. None of the other musicians really respect those acts, but they appear at festivals everywhere because they are perceived to be draws. That's part of the problem - most trad festivals are geared toward appealing to this one group of old people who just like this generic, safe kind of old-timey novelty stuff. And that's also why so many festivals are dying.

We need the dance scene to start going to festivals, otherwise they will die out. But, we also need festivals that are worth going to.
I can't disagree. "Dixieland" fesivals are boring. The audiences demand very little.

Someone once referred to 'trad jazz' as "picnic music". Pretty decent equation.

OTOH, how nice it would be to hear Albert Alva types just keep blowing a la JATP?

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#10 Post by Campus Five » Fri Jan 26, 2007 11:29 pm

Do those still exist?-Near as I can tell the only kind of jazz fests and parties that exist are either trad, straight ahead, or smooth.

I wish there were something like JATP (at least the early ones). If I can get enough pull at our local fest, that would be something I'd like to see.
"I don''t dig that two beat jive the New Orleans cats play.
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
--Count Basie
www.campusfive.com
www.myspace.com/campusfive
www.swingguitar.blogspot.com

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#11 Post by Eyeball » Fri Jan 26, 2007 11:58 pm

Campus Five wrote:Do those still exist?-Near as I can tell the only kind of jazz fests and parties that exist are either trad, straight ahead, or smooth.

I wish there were something like JATP (at least the early ones). If I can get enough pull at our local fest, that would be something I'd like to see.
There should be.

Scott Yanow recently appeared with an LA band that he described in advance as a JATP style band. No master of promotion, he. Getting information from him was a task and I contacted the venue myself to see if there was a dance floor.

Apparently the night was not a success and there were no immediate plans to re-book the band. It was mentioned on Jazz Corner maybe 6 weeks ago.

Albert Alva and Dan Weinstein and a handful of others could carry it off.

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#12 Post by Bob the Builder » Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:05 am

How good they are really depends on the organising and the venues like any gig. I was at a festival 2 weeks ago and it has a second stage, which was a tiny room that seated about 80 people and you were only about 10 feet from the band. I was just fantastic. Of curse there was no dancing in that venue, but that was a good thing.

So have any of you been to a Jazz Party? They are run very differently than must festivals. The last one I was at "Dan Barrett" was over from the US, and it as such a good event. Most of the Trad Jazz over here swings like crazy and it's really enjoyable music to listen to and also dance to.

I do find it odd that I very rarely hear about any of these I would consider being big people in the US Trad Jazz scene not playing at any Lindy hop events.

Brian

PS
I have no problem with 8 minutes songs. Be that for listening or dancing. You hardly think all the songs in the 30's were 3 minutes 30 seconds long?
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#13 Post by Eyeball » Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:46 am

Bob the Builder wrote:
I do find it odd that I very rarely hear about any of these I would consider being big people in the US Trad Jazz scene not playing at any Lindy hop events.
Who is big in the US 'trad Jazz' scene? And 'big' is relative

Most Lindy dance promoters seem to be governed by money, lack of taste/knowledge, square patrons on the loose with horrific taste in 'Jazz' and near zero knowledge of who is out there. Yes?

Some of the biggest names in Swing and Jazz would fall flat on their asses b/c most dancers have never heard of them, so they have no pull power and might not even want to play for an audience that needs a certain amount of catered dishes.

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#14 Post by fredo » Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:38 am

I like these guys. The New Orleans Ale Stars. They're from Vancouver. They have great energy, and can challenge any dancer to keep up.

http://www.simonstribling.com/alestars-music.html

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#15 Post by Bob the Builder » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:56 am

Eyeball wrote:
Bob the Builder wrote:
I do find it odd that I very rarely hear about any of these I would consider being big people in the US Trad Jazz scene not playing at any Lindy hop events.
Who is big in the US 'trad Jazz' scene? And 'big' is relative

Well I would start with some of the names I mentioned above.
Most Lindy dance promoters seem to be governed by money, lack of taste/knowledge, square patrons on the loose with horrific taste in 'Jazz' and near zero knowledge of who is out there. Yes?

Some of the biggest names in Swing and Jazz would fall flat on their asses b/c most dancers have never heard of them, so they have no pull power and might not even want to play for an audience that needs a certain amount of catered dishes.
This is very true.
There are however a few promoters out there that do have a little idea what they are at.
In general I find how lindy hoppers follow jazz to be very fragrmented. Dancers of different tastes follow different level of musicians. The groove dancers are spot on, while the Classic lovers are a bit lost.
Anyway, you would be very surprised what kind of an audience they like to play for. Most of the time how well it works has nothing to do with how good the musicians are, but how good the promoters are at presenting them.
It's always exciting and always a learning curve for everyone.
I think a lot of it is -
Do you have the love of the music and the dance works into that,
or
Do you have the love of the dance and the music works into that?

Most of the people on the board and in the scene would be the latter.


Brian
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