tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post2088348893568148888..comments2023-09-17T08:42:12.277-07:00Comments on Music in the Bubble: If Jazz is Dying, Who's Killing It?Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09727703243946774420noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post-20545781870793174662013-05-22T21:23:05.610-07:002013-05-22T21:23:05.610-07:00All of this talk about the past. Did Louis Armstro...All of this talk about the past. Did Louis Armstrong look backwards and try to recreate older players or did he copy them and then try and add a modern twist? Louis Armstrong called Charlie Parker's music "Chinese music". Did Charlie Parker try and recreate Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong? No....he moved it forward to the cutting edge. Did the post bop musicians try and recreate the sounds of Charlie Parker? No. They moved the music forward to the cutting edge. Until Wynton M. came along and decided to look backwards and then claim that was what jazz needed to do, the music moved forward. Even while the critics and record labels were singing Wynton's praises the music was growing and changing. New music was under the radar but the cutting edge was always there. Today the cutting edge continues even though so many people want to freeze jazz in the past. As Terrance Blanchard said in the great DVD "Icons Among Us" The past is gone....that music is gone and time marches on so get with the program or be left in the past. I am paraphrasing. I also have to agree with him.<br />Look at the New York Times Jazz Listings...it is filled with new names and great artists in their 20's, 30's 40's and now even their 50's. Tim Berne has been around for years pushing the envelope but we never hear about him. For every Tim Berne there are 100 more like him. Time marches on folks...you can get on board or be left in the past. I want to live in today's world not the 30's 40's, 50's, or 60's.Maganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00029035685562295380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post-42970706623741942672013-02-03T07:15:33.365-08:002013-02-03T07:15:33.365-08:00Each to his own as the saying goes. I would rather...Each to his own as the saying goes. I would rather hear something fresh and new than hear something that is rehashes the past jazz. I love to listen to Louie and Bird, and early Count Basie. When I searched on youtube and listed to the Jazz Pharohs, and Albnie Falletta, I found them a pale imitation of the past styles.<br /><br />As a musician, I think that you can blend the influences of the past into a contemporary and fresh sound. Dave Douglass does this.<br /><br />Although I like what certain modern musicians such as fellow guitarists, Ben Monder and Kurt Rosenwinkle are doing, there is a feel of groove that is missing....sound distant and ethereal. It think that this reflects the personalities of the people who are making it. There are musicians, though who integrate the past, with something new and swing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04771069933625749863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post-4083801331691814592009-12-13T16:06:32.712-08:002009-12-13T16:06:32.712-08:00A perusal of Youtube and such bands as the Jazz Ph...A perusal of Youtube and such bands as the Jazz Pharaohs would show that jazz is alive and kicking and fun! Young musicians such as Albanie Falletta, Anita Thomas and Jon Doyle are adding their own flavour to the music and are ensuring that it goes on thriving.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12684707366921147917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post-66999158710339352522009-10-06T14:36:36.241-07:002009-10-06T14:36:36.241-07:00Bill,
I agree. This tuneless, post-1945 stuff is &...Bill,<br />I agree. This tuneless, post-1945 stuff is 'music to slit your throat by'. Let's not grudge the people who like it their choice, but to pretend it has a wide audience is wrong. Over in Scotland, it's been killing off jazz festivals for years.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00509682244071458483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post-79818664658715648292009-10-03T10:58:17.880-07:002009-10-03T10:58:17.880-07:00As a lover of traditional music, I think what is k...As a lover of traditional music, I think what is killing jazz is modernism. This genre of jazz has no swing and is too cerebral for the non-musician. <br /><br />Jazz, or any kind of music, for that matter, has to appeal to "Joe six-pack," not just musicians.<br /><br />BillDr. Bill, "Memory Medic"https://www.blogger.com/profile/10057519951340787796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post-6242129941120245802009-10-03T03:55:03.900-07:002009-10-03T03:55:03.900-07:00Kevin:
A very thoughtful essay which attempts to e...Kevin:<br />A very thoughtful essay which attempts to explore the changing popularity of jazz. Two points: 1) Most statistical evidence, or polling,for anything, is based on a tiny sample of the population (maybe 1000), and cannot be said to be representative numerically. We would also need to know more about the social and economic basis of the sample. So your evidence of falling popularity is thin.<br /><br />Point 2, following Don, above, there is a substantial body of jazz being played and enjoyed, worldwide,which draws its inspiration from the classic jazz of the pre-1945 era, involving people such as Woody Allen, but mainly a cohort of highly intelligent and schooled US (predominantly white) musicians. These have been underestimated, underadvertised and undersold, but not to their fan base. They seldom innovate beyond the forms developed by Louis, Jelly, Bix and Duke,but by and large they play it better! Let's hear more about them.<br /><br />Finally, the African American representation in this latter cohort is very low, and this means that African Americans turn their back on what is very substantially their heritage. Only sociologists can solve this one!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00509682244071458483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193472359499612809.post-53091468105849183462009-09-25T13:17:16.354-07:002009-09-25T13:17:16.354-07:00Kevin:
The term "jazz" has become a ver...Kevin:<br /><br />The term "jazz" has become a very large tent indeed. Even the most casual exploration of pre-WWII jazz styles will reward listeners with the "fun" that you see as missing from the "Neo-Classical" style. Precisely because the older jazz styles were at one time America's popular music, they are still accessible to general audiences. <br /><br />There is today a sizable audience for the lively and life-affirming jazz first created in the 1920s and continuing to the end of WWII, organized around easily understood harmonies, melodies, and above all infectious, irresistible rhythm. This music, still played by a dedicated cohort of musicians and appreciated by a small contingent of fans in live performance and on public radio (see www.riverwalkjazz.org), today flies mostly under the radar of the jazz press, blogosphere, and most Neo-Classicists. <br /><br />But it's there for you, a shiny gem waiting to be discovered.<br /><br />Don Mopsickmopohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16106845428984082807noreply@blogger.com