Jazz for aficionados

There is zero comparison between jazz and classical. They are worlds away from each other. Start a Classical for Afficianado’s thread. 
 

The birth of jazz is rooted in the blues, which was rooted in slavery. That’s not Classical. When you’re immersed in Beethoven you’re not thinking about Stan Getz or Ray Brown. 
 

I appreciate Classical as much as anyone. But Jazz stands on it’s own. 

which was rooted in slavery.

 

I disagree. I have never ever heard a blues tune make even the slightest reference to Slavery. The Blues is about Women, Whisky, sex and hard times. Topics that are all universal in their appeal. Anyone can and do have the Blues at some point.

Classical and Jazz are both considered Serious Music.  Pop / Rock /Rap  / Metal etc... are all throwaway genres.

Folks hear, Black folks, The South, and they always think slavery. There is more to it than that. Next thing you know, using this silly commonplace logic, the music of Ellington, Monk, Mingus et al. actually came from Africa. That’s called the BIG LIE.

Cheers

Well, I could preface my response with “With all due respect…”, but I have to ask myself just how much respect someone who comes in like a bull in a China closet to preach in an insensitive and ill informed way deserves. But, I digress….so, I will instead try and educate you…a little.

You could not be more mistaken. First, there IS a “Classical music for Aficionados” thread already, in which many of the contributors here also participate. Now, more importantly, your premise is mistaken and shows an immature understanding and attitude toward the music which is the focus of THIS thread and music in general. It is not true that there is “no comparison” to be made between Jazz and Classical. There are, in fact, many comparisons to be made between the two. The most obvious being that harmonic concepts in Jazz are rooted in Western Classical music. That is a basic and important fact that anyone who would dare to identify via his moniker with the name of one of the giants of Jazz should understand. I would also point out that if you truly understood what Coltrane was all about you would know that Coltrane himself would be the first to point out what I just wrote.

Much more to say related to the above, but I won’t waste any more time unless I know there will be receptive ears. Given the attitude demonstrated so far I would not bet on it. I would say that Jazz and Classical and all that comprises their respective compositional and performance practices have a fair amount in common. I would also say that while they may be neighborhoods apart, they certainly are not “worlds apart”.

Stick around, here and also Classical MFA. Some very insightful folks lurk about.

And, let’s not forget that improvisation is not unique to Jazz. Less so today than in Beethoven’s time (since he was mentioned) when it was more common, but Classical music has a long tradition of improvisation. Many Classical works (concertos) include a cadenza which is to be improvised in the style of the written music. Just as in Jazz where players follow a set of chord “changes” as the basis for improvisation, some of Bach’s keyboard works include a prelude in which elaborations of chord progressions are to be used for improvisation.