"Learning about jazz
On a long thread last month regarding jazz recordings, I made a number of posts. Rather than try to recap my comments, let me quickly offer than I have been an avid jazz enthusiast since high school (late 1950's), and have taught a college course in jazz appreciate. Some of the remarks made on this thread either miss some important points about this extraordinary music, or are well-intentioned but misleading. For example, HiWaves commented that jazz musicians are imitators of the classical genre, and that jazz musicians do not really understand counterpoint. Nothing personal, HiWaves, but most GOOD jazz musicians go substantially beyond imitation by spontaneously creating music as they play. That, in essence, is what sets jazz apart from virtually all other major musical forms.
Ahhhhh...man, this is indeed sweet music to the ears. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only enlightened set of ears on this site. And, might I add, that HARMONIES developed through the evolution of JAZZ did not exist in the context of traditional harmonies before it. Why is that you might ask? Well, one reason is because before JAZZ, Western ears were accustomed to the traditional consonant harmony of Europe. It wasn't until the integration of the dominant 7th chord (even common to European classical music), with the blues scale (of African descent) was integrated with the diatonic scale common to the West, did jazz really begin to evolve. Once these different scales began to be examined, and developed, a constant exposure to them began to expand our ears. And so, what was once believed to be a sound that was incapable of being resolved by the ear, now was heard and accepted as purposeful, and opened many a door to new, fresh, and greater harmonies. Take away the flatted 7th (a dominant 7th scale), and you've removed the basis of the foundation to most, if not all jazz harmony. For the uninitiated, any song form can be broken down to its foundation, in essence, its harmony.
"Ken Burns' "Jazz" makes the valid point that jazz is an amalgam for forms: marches, late 1800's dances, blues, ragtime, negro work songs and chants, French operatic aria, etc."
Precisely! Additionally, these Negro work songs were nothing more than the blues, which is but a five note, or pentatonic scale. These workers sang notes that weren't common to Western ears, dissonant in fact, but they were common in Africa, the continent from which they came.
"With regard to the comments about Bach: I also love Bach, as well as Mozart, Handel, Beethoven, and probably 100 or more great classical composers. But none of them combined extraordinary instrumental virtuousity with the ability to spontaneously created syncopated, polythmic music derived from a broad confluence of musical tradition."
This is precisely why I suggested to the uninformed, that JAZZ is the most technically challenging form of music ever created. Sure, classical players reveal great technique, power, touch, feeling when they play. But combine those same elements with creating of your own soul as you're playing, rather than playing something in written form, and you've opened up a whole other can of worms! Can you say INFINITY? Well, you've just described JAZZ. To hear this, listen to a 40 minute Coltrane solo where he doesn't repeat a single phrase throughout, and we'll talk!
"Listen to any good jazz drummer, for example, and you will hear 3-4 simultaneous rhythms. I have two references that I recommend to anyone interested in learning about jazz the music, not just the musicians who play the music. First, find the tape recording (or LP) titled "Jazz", which is a 1956 TV program from the Omnibus series, narrated by Leonard Bernstein."
I'm sure most of you know this famous American classical conductor. This same Leonard Bernstein was an avid JAZZ fan, and is even quoted by bassist Charlie Haden, as having interupted his playing while Haden performed with Ornette Coleman.
"Lenny discusses the forms of jazz and the improvisational styles, with support from musicians such as Miles Davis. It's a great tape, and one that is always well received in my jazz appreciation class."
Thanks for the heads up. I'd not even heard of that. See, that's the great thing about music, and life...we can learn something new all the time if we keep our minds and ears open. Which is the only point I was attempting to make in initiating this thread.
"The other reference source is the definitive college text on jazz: "Jazz Styles: History and Analysis", by Mark C. Gridley (published by Prentice-Hall). This book is easy to read, highly informative and interesting, and provides an excellent basis for really understanding America's only original art form."
Ahhhhh...how sweet it sounds. Art Form. No art form can be understood without study. It is merely a door, to greater knowledge, discovery of the self, and on a much deeper level an opening to a very spiritual experience. Examine Coltrane's life, and you might reach a greater understanding of your own.
Okay, I can leave in confidence now that I know that I don't walk this vast darkness alone. Thanks for the time folks. It's been fun!
Enjoy!
Coltrane1
