DIXIELAND BLUES

I’m glad to hear that Leonard Feather had a good time at the Dixieland Jubilee in Sacramento (“Dixieland Show Scores in Capital,” May 27); that is, I think he had a good time, when he wasn’t sneering at the audience--”a breed apart”--whatever that means. I don’t want to shock him off his smug little throne, but he fits in perfectly with that “breed” (white, middle-aged, middle-class).

We know why he went to the Jubilee, of course. A year ago, Times readers complained (and rightly so) about the absence of reviews of this jazz festival. So the jazz reviewer sighed and penciled the 1986 Jubilee into his schedule of obligatory duties, no doubt with great reluctance. It would have been better for him to have sent someone in his place--someone who likes Dixieland music.

Yes, it is a simple, old-fashioned, traditional musical form. It is not progressive or sophisticated, and it does not try to be.

Yes, we wish there were more black musicians and fans there. It is their music, after all. But I doubt very much that they are deliberately excluded, as Feather suggests.

There are snobs of all kinds in this world: social snobs, intellectual snobs, musical snobs. Feather is a jazz snob. It’s too bad, really. If he would just relax and lighten up a little, he might find himself actually enjoying this music.

SHERYL BUSTERNO

Blue Jay, Calif.