Jazz for aficionados

Acman3
I took the Lee Morgan thingy the way you meant it.

The tragedy that has befallen Jazz, is not limited to Jazz. You can substitute Jazz, with Rock & Roll or R&B or POP or Country or folk / protest or Gospel.

They have all suffered. The problem is, no one sees or hears the decline, except the people who are familiar with and / or grew up with the previous stuff. This is true of most things in society.

Think about it, Lee Morgan died over 41 years ago!!. I find myself waiting for his next Cd. We just said he was 19 a few posts ago, didn't we?

Jazz has the added problem or being an improvised music. That creates major problems.

How does a current player, play the great Jazz music? A current classical player can play Mozart today because it's written down on paper. How do you play Charlie Parker?

The next big problem is that because it is not a written down on paper music, and it is improvised, ANYONE, can play ANYTHING, and call it Jazz. And, I guess it is. Today.

So, the soloution is this. As a fan, or aficionado, You pick your stop on the railroad and get off. Just like the classical people did. you say, when this era,(fill in the blank) ended, that was the end of MY Jazz. The same goes for all the other genres. I will henceforth, live off compilations, reissues and remasters. And the odd surprise or discovery.

So there should not be any argument. Music does change. The public changes. Just pick the stuff you like and live with it. Just like the people that watch Verdi and Mozart operas year after year after year.

The Jazz stuff that I like most, was coming to an end, almost before I became aware of it's existence. Wow!!

Cheers

Rok2id, there's still a lot of great music being made but there needs to be a willingness and an open mindedness in order to invest in it. Jazz is more of an art form than most other popular styles of music and so it takes a little work but it's well worth the trouble. I still plan to buy a 78 turntable however so that I can listen to a friends donated Charlie Parker recordings. Personally, I have more trouble with listening to music that is outside of the realm of legitimate or what we call in the vernacular, 'classical' but I listen to jazz because there is some of it that I find interesting or entertaining and that's about the only reason.

"but I listen to jazz because there is some of it that I find interesting or entertaining and that's about the only reason".

Well, that's about the only reason for listening to any music. I can't think of any genre in which I like it all. As Duke Ellington once said, there is good music, and there is bad music.

I have no problem cherry picking any genre for the good stuff. Sort of like listening to just the 'good parts' of an Opera. I guess that's why they make 'highlights' discs. Some of it just has to be seen to be appreciated. Or the 'warhorses' of the classical repertoire.

Cheers

Certainly, and If I were to say that I appreciated everything in the classical raisonne, I'd either be an idiot or a liar. One thing that I do sympathize with is opposition to this notion that anything can be great, or creative or easily labeled and then placed in a drawer with something else. I had professors who would make comments like 'everyone is an artist' because that is what Joseph Beuys said and I have always considered that claim to be at the top of my B.S. list. You know, we don't want to come off as being elitists or insensitive in any way. Creating incomparable comparisons like 'is King Oliver in the same class as Bud Powel'; might amount to doing something to pass the time, like memorizing baseball statistics, but it really won't address art, music or aesthetics.

Joseph Beuys?? No kidding!

Those Germans go from one extreme to the other. No half-way measures with them!

Cheers