and rhythmic complexities turned many a jazz fan off.

The world immediately turned into battles of "mouldy fig'' (or old-fashioned to beboppers) fighting "noise maker'' and modernist vs traditionalist.

While the beboppers had Bird Parker, the trads had Bunk Johnson.

They all missed the point. If it grooves, rocks, or swings then it is good.

As the hip hop generation -- of whom I am one -- says, it is all good.

Swing, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and even reggae all trace a lineage back to the music that coalesced in the brothels just north of the French Quarter, New Orleans.

That is why anyone with an interest in good music should see the Dukes of Dixieland, playing tonight and tomorrow at City Hall for the Bermuda Festival.

While some may see Dixieland music as old-fashioned, or staid music or even "Uncle Tom'' music it is as sweet and as pure as a fresh ocean breeze on a humid day.

To hear the Dukes' trumpeter Kevin Clark initiate a call and response without an amplifier is to be taken back to 1900 when there was no pretension in music.

Clark's bravura burst at the climax of "Sleepy Time Down South'' makes one nostalgic for red beans and rice and pralines.

Giving the listener only a chorus or two in a three minute song forces a musician to be clear and succinct and on the money.

The Dukes as a whole were on the money last night.

And while their performance was only marred by an annoying clatter from the back of the room during the quiet openings, to hear the Original Dixieland Blues' Band's "ODJB One Step'' is to hear history.

Dixieland is a music of both structure and improvisation. These musicians are playing 80-year-old music but when it's time for the collective improvisation at the end of a song, they shine.

Trombonist Ben Smith stood out with a breathtakingly pretty stop time sequence with drummer Richard Taylor and bassist Everett Link during "Basin Street Blues'' named after a street in the ancient red-light district.

And pianist Tom McDermott showed he has both a left and right hand when he played Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag''.

Second line in New Orleans means both the rhythm section -- behind the horns or front line -- and a dance and rhythm.

It is the essence of New Orleans music. You simply have not lived unless you get the rare chance to join a "second line marching band'' in a funeral procession.

The true mark of a band playing New Orleans music is how they handle a second line rhythm which the Dukes do well.

But it is the clarinet that is most closely associated with Dixieland and the Dukes' Earl Bonie gathers a tone from the squeaky reed that is as thick as the Mississippi.

The Dukes of Dixieland are a fine band. Your notions of funky or sweet could be changed.

Patrick Burgess