Jazz for aficionados
Jazz be Gone?: All your points support mine. We are in total agreement. I say it's gone, you say it's not being recorded, very small audience, and you have to go to large cities to hear it. Same thing. When scientist say a species is extinct, there may be a handful left, but not enough to maintain the species. ***** His forays into those other segments of “the Jazz you are speaking of” have been been lackluster and not significant. ***** Maybe not to Jazz insiders, players, critics or kingmakers. But to the great unwashed, it is a different story. He is very significant. He tries to stay that way by playing with people like Clapton, Willie Nelson, popular singers, and getting youngsters involved. Frank Wess, like you, is a professional. He sees the entire Jazz scene from a different perspective than does the public. First and foremost, pros want to play. For Love or money. Besides, I have nothing against players because of age. Cheers |
Today's Listen: Cannonball Adderley -- CANNONBALL AND THE POLL WINNERS The poll winners were Ray Brown, Wes Montgomery and Cannonball. This grouping came about almost by accident, Cannonball was playing in SF at the Jazz Workshop, Oscar Peterson, with Ray brown, was at the Black-Hawk, also in SF, and Wes was across the bay in Oakland. All that talent by chance within a stone's throw of each other. there was such depth in Jazz at that time. Made the polls fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cdxRHctXxM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE5ozZro9Ng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Tg7S9T5E8 Can you imagine the poll contenders for Sax and Trumpet back in the late 50's and early 60's. Cheers |
Ahmad Jamal now makes his home in Marseille; speaking of live music, my budget will not allow me to fly to France. (when are the French going to learn how to spell; that's pronounced "Marsay".) Anyway, he's made a bundle off "Poinciana". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev-3kIXlEGA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cytUz9KkK9M |
With respect, you’re twisting some of what I wrote. First, I did not say Wynton is not significant. He is very significant (“Fabulous legacy”). He is insignificant as far as being part of where Jazz has been going for quite some time. His stuff with JALC is very significant as is much of his other work. I also did not say that new jazz is not being recorded. I said little of it is being recorded relative to how much is going on live and certainly relative to how much was recorded in the past. This is not news; we know this. The argument that there is no good new Jazz simply doesn’t hold water. Any given listener may not like new Jazz for stylistic reasons and that is fine. But there is plenty out there and and some of it is being recorded. The idea that no new Jazz is happening at a very high level is simply nonsense; doesn’t mean everyone will like it. When was the last time you wore your purple bell bottoms? My objection to the constant pessimism is that it does the art form a disservice in more ways than are obvious. Moreover, what is the point, on a more human level, of constantly putting down what others, who are obviously not idiots, find value in; other than to try and put oneself on some sort of pedestal? Btw, Frank Wess and players like him don’t promote younger players like Robinson because they need opportunities to play. They do it because they believe in their artistic vision and where they are taking the music. |
