Jazz for aficionados

***** Rok, the reason I keep going back to the 2015 jazz poll is because I'm trying to refute my own thesis that good jazz is no longer being created.*****

The Jazz you are speaking of is gone.  Gone.  Accept that fact.  Also we must accept that once Wynton is no longer with us, that will be the final nail in the coffin of Jazz as we knew it, as far as it being played at the highest level.

BUT, there is always a but, look what we do have to be thankful for:
The Compact Disc
The Internet
You Tube
Amazon
Very good and inexpensive stereo gear (once you get  pass the hype, marketing and ignorance,  this stuff has never been better or cheaper)
Smart phones

So, we will always be able to hear the good stuff.   And hear it in the best sound quality ever.   And the older and better it is, the cheaper it is.

So focus on the the bright side.   Besides,  we probably have not heard all the old stuff yet.

Cheers

0-10 and rok2id , both well said .
But without the well-spring of live music it all means nothing .You have to drink from the well to placate your thirst .

One of the many dangers of old age is your lack of thirst , I have to remember to drink .

If anybody wonders why so many good to great jazz musicians stay with bands like WDR , I’ll tell you why .
These people are civil servants of the German State , they have full medical and dental coverage , 6 weeks a year paid vacation and at 62 can retire with a good pension if they so desire . In short , they are under little stress .
I know some good players here who are badly stressed out to make medical and dental for their family .
I consider that criminal .

Rok, you're right about good inexpensive sound quality; remember when you got all those best jazz CD's, and I told you they were better than my original records; that speaks for the digital vs analog.

And you're right; I'm sure we haven't heard all the best old stuff yet, you just brightened my day.

Imprint -- To fix indelibly or permanently  (as on the memory)
webster

I had an aunt that passed away back in 1999.   Very sophisticated woman.  Well traveled, Berkeley,  HS Principal, taught Latin in High school.  Her former students in large cities, LA, Detroit and esp Chicago, formed clubs of former students and  would invite her and honor her like royalty.   She loved the attention.
Made 'ladies' of hundreds of girls she taught through various social clubs.   Embraced all things new and modern.   Loved music.   Played the huge pipe organ at our church.

When she died I received her floor standing console music player.  A lot of wood!   Mono, one speaker.   And on the platter when I opened  the top:
A 78 rpm record of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.   I just smiled.
She stayed true to her time.

The definition at the top explains why.  

That's why we don't need no stinkin' New Jazz.

Cheers

***** But without the well-spring of live music it all means nothing .You have to drink from the well to placate your thirst .****

That is exactly right.

**** The Jazz you are speaking of is gone. Gone. ****

That is exactly not right.  The problem is that very little of it is being recorded because the audience is much much smaller than it used to be.  It is there in clubs in major cities and some not so major.  We bemoan the shrinking of the market for “the Jazz that you are speaking of” but we don’t go out and support live music.  

**** once Wynton is no longer with us, that will be the final nail in the coffin of Jazz as we knew it, as far as it being played at the highest level. ****

I don’t believe that for one second.  Way too pessimistic.  Besides, I believe you are conflating a lot of different issues; painting with way too broad a brush.  Wynton’s legacy will be that of keeping a specific segment of “the Jazz you are speaking of” in the public eye (ear).  Fabulous legacy.  That effort, so far, has had little to do with bebop, hard bop, post bop and beyond.  His forays into those other segments of “the Jazz you are speaking of” have been been lackluster and not significant.  Those other flames are being kept alive by others that will not get the financial backing of the powers that be because of that sadly small audience.  Go to the small clubs in NYC, Chicago and others and you’ll hear it.

**** That's why we don't need no stinkin' New Jazz. ****

Maybe you don’t.  But, understand this, you are handing Wynton the hammer for that final nail.  

Nice story about your aunt.  As nice as that story is, I would rather take the message from someone like Frank Wess who, like on my last clip, was totally digging where the younger player was taking things.  Not the way HE would do it, but he recognized how good it was.  Another little and interesting aside in that clip that may or may not mean anything to some, but is just another little example of how most players themselves usually respect both sides of the equation, the old and the new.  Look closely, the older player is playing the latest and current model Selmer saxophone, the younger player is playing an old Conn from the ‘40s.  Symbolism at its best. 

https://youtu.be/xK3JgffVwb8