| Term Paper Title | New Orleans Jazz Band: Dag |
| # of Words | 1098 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 4.39 |
New Orleans Jazz Band: Dag
"They have a word down South to describe the way you feel when your packed into
a crowded dive at 1:00 AM, where the cigarette smoke is so thick it makes its
own weather; and the waitress is slinging bourbon and Fritos while some bad-ass
Jazz Funk band rocks the house as hard as Blue Ridge granite, and the sweat
flows down from the stage like the cloudy waters of Pamlico Sound. There's a
word for how you feel when you hear live Jazzy-funk music so sweet and hot, you
just gotta shout something. The word is: DAG!" - Columbia Records
There is only one place on earth where I though I could go to experience
the true meaning of Jazz and to try to place myself in the shoes of all of the
artists I have studied over the past semester. New Orleans, Louisiana is just
that place. On April 10, 1996, I boarded a United Airlines plane bound, non-
stop, for the "Home of Jazz."
My goal in New Orleans was to try and have a comparable experience to
that of one of the popular Jazz artists would have had upon his/her first visit
to New Orleans in the early 1900s. Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, Jimmy
Buffet's Maragaritaville, The Flamingo, the Garden District, and Moolate's all
helped me to get into the proper frame of mind of experiencing true Jazz. The
focus of this report will be on my life changing experience at a little place
known as The House of Blues. This amazing combination of bar and stage created
one of the most conducive atmospheres to music listening that I have ever been
involved with. The stage, similar to the Fox, in Boulder and the bar/restaurant,
similar to nothing both had a character and charm unique to itself. The
ceilings in the bar area were covered by sculpted silhouettes of every major
Jazz/Blues artist that ever played there. Images such as Louis Armstrong,
Lester Young, Dizzie Gillespie, Buddy Bolden, Horace Silvers, and Jelly Roll
Morton adorned the walls and ceilings of the HOB (House of Blues). Every beer
on tap was a Louisiana original and the only kind of cooking done there was
absolutely Cajun.
On Thursday, April 11, 1996, I and 5 friends ventured into the legendary
house of Blues. Headlining was a band entitled "Dag." This up and coming
Blues/Jazz/Rock band has been touted as New Orleans newest small success story.
With a label on Columbia Records and an album entitled Righteous, Dag is
certainly a force in the Jazz industry. The tickets cost only 8 bucks and you
could have come in mid-way through the show for free. A far cry from Boulder
expense. The band was comprised of four members: vocal bassist Bobby Patterson,
guitarist Brian Dennis, keyboardist Doug Jervey and drummer Kenny Soule. The
band, originally from Raleigh North Carolina plays a particularly "groovy kind
Jazz" using primarily the Bass for a majority of rifts. The band played to a
packed house, consisting primarily of middle 20s ages people, with an
occasionally more "wise" audience member. The theater, again, much like that of
the Fox in Boulder had a dancing "pit" right below it, which was full of college
aged students who were dancing with a movement comparable to mixing a 90s dance
action with a 70s groovy rhythm.
The music was fast paced and full of energy. Many 32 measure sets were
played and I could definitely hear the influence of Bob, Cool Jaz...Read entire document
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