Jazz for aficionados

pryso, I do indeed know most of those guys; some of the top young (ish) jazz players in NYC. Terrific players. For some perspective, and certainly not to take anything away from any of them, but simply to highlight the following point: an ongoing project like “Mingus Dynasty” has a pool of players that is drawn from for each “chair” based on individual availability. A lot of the players in that pool are very busy with other projects and touring. So, some players like Ronnie Cuber who is a particularly great player may not have been available to travel for those concerts. My point is simply that jazz is not dying and will not die. There are so many great players out there, and many more coming, that are committed to the art form. I firmly believe that the decline in jazz has bottomed out. It will certainly not return to the level of popularity that it once had, but it will be with us for a long time. I think that part of the reason for the negativity about the future of jazz is that many listeners get locked into a very narrow range of style “likes”. It’s also one of the reasons that sometimes they feel they can’t find new music. The amount of good jazz to discover is practically endless. Imo, listeners who are completely closed to the styles of the past (ragtime, hot-jazz, swing) can not possibly be a good judge of where it’s headed.

A couple of the guys you heard that night:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dF2zLBHtdzs

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkx_UxgUFEs

Thanks frog, I hoped you would follow up.

Yes, I knew that Mingus Dynasty was not a specific group of players, but drawn from those available in a larger collection. I suspect every member of that collection is a top flight musician, and so there is no let down regardless of who participates at a given time.

I came away with two major impressions regarding the musicians.

First, the two who I would say were most "underrated" (to keep with our theme here) were Hill and Cruz. Hill was extremely dynamic in the sense of loud to soft. On some numbers his emotion coiled up and sprang from his body as he bounced about in front of and over the keys. Yet other times he barely whispered the notes. All with feeling and in tune (thematically) with the other musicians. Cruz was simply cool and nonchalant, overall effortless while keeping perfect time with creative steady and dynamic moves.

And not to be politically incorrect, but I was impressed that two Russian born musicians (Alex and Boris) who immigrated to the US displayed such depth and feeling for music written by Mingus. This was seemingly in defiance of some comments on this site about influence of background as it relates to or might limit jazz expression.

But that’s just my view.

Frogman, assuming I'm 18, and decide to become a jazz musician. I could go to Juilliard School of music, and graduate with honors as being one of the best on my instrument; that would not make me a jazz musician of note for sure.

The ability to start with a blank sheet of paper and create something is reserved for the very few.

There are jazz musicians of note who never went to any school, but they could create; that's a special ability that few of us have.

While I could excel at playing someone else's music without a doubt, the question of whether or not I could improvise on the spot, and also create "new" music would determine my rating as a jazz musician.

You say I'm stuck in the past; well I've been stuck for a long time, and all these new records that get no play verify that; the records that get posted on this forum that I've only heard for the first time, that I rave about as must have records, also verify my reality as being one that's in the past.

I think you have made a very good assessment and evaluation of my taste in music, it's in the past.

A very fun, and in my opinion underrated (by some) album which I remember because my wild and crazy N.Y.C. "bohemian" aunt on my Mom’s side hung out with these guys "back in the day," brought me a copy of the newly-pressed, Soul featuring Coleman Hawkins- recorded in 1958 on Prestige. In addition to Hawkins, all the other players are first tier. She would tell me about this sax player called " The Hawk." (and about some of other players she knew)

A lot of things seemed simpler then....
I find Hawkin’s work irresistible to this day.

My aunt also gave me a copy of MJQ’s "No Sun In Venice" which I still have. It’s virtually unplayable because it’s so worn out, so now I stream it. I vividly remember the impact those tunes had on me.

"The Past Is Never Dead.  It's Not Even Past."
William Faulkner

This is esp true in the South.   So I am actually stuck in what some call the past, but I call the present.  I always use the present tense when talking about these folks.

Cheers