Jazz for aficionados

I guess that we are now, as one of our more wisely disciplined contributors once stated, adding to the "charm" of this thread.  

O-10, it IS contentious, and it most certainly is not a statement of fact.  You apparently missed the point that I was making.  That point related to your comparison of jazz to a religion; THAT comparison is a statement of fact.  The nuances of what you meant were not clear (they were made clearer in your follow up post) and it is also a fact that you used terms like "sacrilege", "defile" and "sacred"; so, .......

Now, the contentious part.  One thing that I think everyone here can agree on is that the most important aspect of any art form is that it can elicit an emotional response; that is why everyone listens to music.  The degree to which it succeeds obviously depends on the listener's likes and biases and quality of the music.  To suggest, in the context of a discussion about music and in a generalizing way, that a listener is incapable of "feeling the emotion in music" is judgmental and contentious.  To be able to "see the notes" does not erase the emotional connection; au contraire.  

Striving for clarity 😊

Can't we all just get along???

Cheers

Frogman, why don't you just write my posts for me?   Why is it that no one misinterprets every word I write like you? 

New to me.   Heard it on the local FM station, called in to get the artist and tracked it down.   I love this version of '12 days of Christmas'.  On order.  I hope you curmudgeons can get in the Christmas spirit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIDoNopD5RI

Cheers

Hello again, O.  I did appreciate your concern that I might have been offended by your earlier comments about Eldar's take on "Moanin'".  
I was not offended and my subsequent comments really weren't intended as a defense of my "unique" point of view.  On a good day, I can consider  various conflicting points of view and learn from them.  Though somewhat critical, these broaden my appreciation of his performance strengths and weaknesses. 

Now, as far as me not being as grounded in jazz and therefore not having expectations and these couple of factors leading to a comparison to the blind guys groping the elephant - that does warrant some further discussion.  Am I the only blind guy you had in mind?  If so, that certainly smacks of someone taking an objectivist stance on jazz appreciation:  "I'm better informed.  I've cultivated better taste.  My long years of listening enable me to recognize good jazz vs bad jazz.  You, on the other hand, aren't well enough schooled to distinguish between the two."  That's a position I can accept.  Might or might not apply in this case.  BUT it seems to run counter to your usual subjectivist stance.  

Art history is a sequence of new styles being declared barbaric by proponents of "the old school".  Can being enamored of and married to a particular style blind one (deafen one, in this case) to the merit of other styles?  I think that's a risk.  Blindness or deafness afflicts all of us to some extent.  As much as you, Rok and Wynton seem to wish it were so, jazz cannot be frozen and preserved in exactly the same forms as found over the span of a few decades.  Its beauty and strength is how alive and constantly changing it is as a medium of expression - even if I can't always "go there" or appreciate the latest frontier.  

I actually think I have a clue what you object to in that rendition of "Moanin'.  [Aside from style violating one's sensibilities and expectations, how much moanin' has Eldar ever really had occasion to do, anyway?  'It ain't "authentic.' someone I know would say.]  To me, the original intent behind "Moanin" as a touchstone for evaluating the Eldar piece is just not relevant.  I certainly get that it matters to you but for me, that background is a minor footnote.  I'm really not trying to insult you or belittle something you treasure.  It goes back to what you said about our appreciation being shaped by so many different "life-experience" variables.  In this case, I'm guessing we share very little around that piece.  

Playing that Eldar album again as I write.  It's just amazing to me.  There are sections where it sounds like four hands playing not two!   My appreciation of him is definitely not "unique" (though my reasons might be.  I don't know).  I have read that he's something of a pop culture "darling" (appearing on various late night TV shows).  That, to me, is probably more damning than anything you or Frogman have said.  I'll try to forget I read that and just focus on his wonderful playing.  Anyone who can take "Nature Boy" or "Fly Me to the Moon" and make them interesting to me is doing something remarkable in my O-pinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db7n1kNkFk8&ab_channel=EldarDjangirov-Topic