However, that information may not be quite enough for you, because you still want to have some basis for believing, before you take that step, that you can meet some minimal standards, that you won’t be off in left field somewhere. All the other performers went through the same process, and all the fans want to encourage new talent to play their favorite music. I guarantee that the room will be filled with people who are on your side in such a situation. But - they can’t face what might happen on that first tune when they have to play a solo in front of other musicians and an audience of jazz fans. They know a nearby jazz club that sponsors open jam sessions at regular meetings. They can find time to get their chops back into decent condition. They can get their old axes out of the closets - no trouble. However, I can’t help but think that many would-be jazzmen are discouraged from trying to play by the gnawing fear that they will embarrass themselves in the process. We all have our priorities, matters that make demands on our time and leave us less opportunity than we’d like to indulge our hobbies. Why don’t more Dixieland fans who’ve learned the basic rudiments of playing music try their hands at the idiom? There are lots of answers, of course. Typically, they respond in a friendly way, but with a noncommittal remark conveying the notion that they probably won’t do so. Upon hearing a negative answer, I urge them to get out the instrument and join the action. It remains readily obtainable from various online sources.Īt Dixieland events I often find myself in discussions with fans who tell me that, years ago, usually at school, they played trumpet, clarinet, piano or some other instrument. ![]() ![]() I acted as consultant on tune selection, and wrote the introduction for, a 1993 folio entitled The Definitive Dixieland Collection, containing 73 Dixieland evergreens (usually including the verse), over twice the number a Dixieland band would usually need to get through a typical four-hour gig. )īecause the column has not been updated, I should mention a source of Dixieland sheet music that has appeared since it was written. It first appeared in the March 1991 issue of the West Coast Rag, (now Syncopated Times. Set forth below is the fifteenth “Texas Shout” column.
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