O-10, I really don't see anything negative in my comments, other than the fact that they are responding to the negativity from Rok and yourself. I certainly did not intend for them to be negative - I was merely trying to say what frogman was saying in his excellent post shortly afterwards. We are merely trying to help you understand more about the art form you love, and to understand why some of the arguments presented here make no real sense, because of this fundamental lack of knowledge. He also makes a great point that we cannot let certain outright untruths stand, if this thread is to be taken at all seriously. A very important point - anyone who knows about music can have a conversation with anyone else who does. If your jazz friends did not have conversations about music with you, that says much more about you than them. I have learned a great deal from this thread, personally, and am very happy that you started it. I am truly sorry if you see me as nothing but a negative influence, and will withdraw if you are serious about it.
If indeed this is to be my last post on this thread, I will add two more general comments. You seem to have this bizarre idea that the worlds of classical and jazz do not and cannot mix. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of my good friends in my orchestra is a bass player, who also happens to be nationally known and respected as one of the best jazz bassists. Frogman himself is another example - what is unique about he and my friend is the extremely high professional level they have attained in both genres - not that they play both genres. Many, many musicians play both genres.
One last thing - your comment that you either have "it", or you don't. While this is basically true, there are a great many people out there who had "it", but did not put in the work and study they needed to, and fell by the wayside. Merely having "it" is not anywhere near enough. Miles put in some serious study, and some serious work, all of his life, both before and after he was in school - as does any musician of any kind who is any damn good at all. Do you have to go to school? No - but you do have to put in the work and the study.
If indeed this is to be my last post on this thread, I will add two more general comments. You seem to have this bizarre idea that the worlds of classical and jazz do not and cannot mix. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of my good friends in my orchestra is a bass player, who also happens to be nationally known and respected as one of the best jazz bassists. Frogman himself is another example - what is unique about he and my friend is the extremely high professional level they have attained in both genres - not that they play both genres. Many, many musicians play both genres.
One last thing - your comment that you either have "it", or you don't. While this is basically true, there are a great many people out there who had "it", but did not put in the work and study they needed to, and fell by the wayside. Merely having "it" is not anywhere near enough. Miles put in some serious study, and some serious work, all of his life, both before and after he was in school - as does any musician of any kind who is any damn good at all. Do you have to go to school? No - but you do have to put in the work and the study.