Does P's Montreaux date signal a new career move?

So I just read the news item here that Prince is playing the Montreux Jazz Festival July 16th. Hmmmmm..... jazz?

In his current residence at the Roosevelt in LA he plays his regular several hour show, changes clothes and comes back out to play background jazz in a night club setting until the sun comes up.

"Backgound" music? Prince? Hmmmmm.....

I wonder what kind of set he's going to do in Switzerland? Could this be his entre into a new genre that he will be exploring more in the future?

I mean the brother is never going to stop creating, playing, performing but you gotta admit that the unique character of Prince's songs, being so focused on sex and partying are not going to gracefully translate into his 60's in the same way that the music of say, The Stones and Pink Floyd has.

Songs like Money, Antoher Brick in the Wall, Sympathy for the Devil and even Satisfaction will always translate well for any age group but Kiss or Gett Off? I don't think so.

Let's face it, Prince is an entirely different animal. His beats are bump and grind and his lyrics relate to people in their sexual prime.

He's got to come up with something new to make the transition smoothly in his 50's from self-declared Sexy MF to some new identity more dignified and befitting of his character and age.

I think jazz is the obvious direction he's got to go in.

The fact is that P is an incredibly talented composer, musician and bandleader. In addition, he's been an equally talented and dynamic entertainer and that aspect of his persona has primarily driven his career.

But now he's got himself painted into a bit of a corner because his stage persona has been built on a foundation of sexuality and whether we like it or not he's heading towards the chronological period of life where if you try to keep up the stage persona and act overtly sexy you end up looking foolish and pitiful.

I purposely chose to pass on the James Brown concert in my town last fall because I didn't think I could bear seeing him getting all out of breath after 5 minutes and doing weak ass screams. It just would have been too painful to watch and I preferred to keep him alive in my memory as the awesome force of nature he was in his prime.

I think we may be entering an era where in order to remain a viable live draw, Prince will need to de-emphasize the sexy stage entertainer aspect and shift the focus to his composing, arranging and bandleading skills.

I'm not saying he's got to go all instrumental or anything but it may be time to start bringing in the new directions stuff so that over the next decade he can start phasing out the sex and party lyrics in such a way that they just ebb away gracefully and we don't really notice the difference.

You know... create a smooth transition.

If anyone can plan for and execute that kind of a deliberate long range evolution with style and class, it's Princey.

Yeah, jazz is the place where you can continue playing and be revered right up to your last day above ground.

Prince at Montreux; now this could be really interesting.

dude, even Motorhead's performing at Montreux Jazz.....do you really think they're gonna pull a jazz-version of 'Aces Of spades'?

Montreux Jazz hasn't been a pure jazz-festival for ages now, it's just still called that way.

P has been doing his jazz-stuff for ages already, nothing new!

I'm here for the gangbang!

i think it just depends on the arrangements. i mean, all of the Stones songs are about sex, and they're still going.

abierman said:

I thought he played Montreaux already a few years back.. Actually, maybe it was the Montreal I'm thinking of.
[Edited 7/4/07 18:10pm]

Montreux has become very flexible on its definition of "jazz" in recent years (which is a good thing IMO). George Clinton played there a few years back from memory. Indeed, the term "jazz" has come to symbolise the whole 'real musicians' movement. Prince's music these days fits perfectly with Montreux.

Didn't he play there c.2000/01? I might be getting confused with the Montreal Jazz Festival

i think that Prince's stage personalitiy is more than sexuality. i come from a European backround where everyone is comfortable with their sexuailty and thus i think that Prince is expressing that nakedness is good and healthy ie...NORMAL... Some people are so uncomfortable with the human body in general that they squelch existence for everyone else. i do Love Prince's past and present stage clothing.
[Edited 7/5/07 7:34am]
[Edited 7/5/07 7:51am]

He has already done this.
He toned down the sexuality years ago.

And I don't think at this point Mick Jagger can get away with singing "Satisfaction". He is a grandfather & a plea for sexual satisfation sounds more like a cry for Viagra.

Prince has tons of material that has nothing to do with sex. Songs like Money Don´t Matter 2Nite, In A Large Room With No Light, Power Fantastic, Pop Life, Condition Of The Heart, The Dance Electric, Noon Rendezvous,Anna Stesia, just to name a few off the top of my head...this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sure, a lot of average Joes associate Prince´s music with sex ( and I´m not even calling them casual listeners because even casual listeners know better) but that doesn´t mean he has to be grinding stage floors and speakers and jumping off pianos for the rest of his life....or sing about getting pussy. He´s got so much more to offer, and a so-called transition is not even necessary for he´s already shown in his late 20´s,early 30´s how versatile he can be if he wants to .
Just think about all those fantastic SOTT aftershows or Lovesexy aftershows.
Maybe even Prince himself sometimes feels he has to prove a point by singing stuff about sex or making vague references to anything sexual these days despite being a JW ( like in Mellow on TRC etc.) but even that is not really necessary IMO and often sounds a bit unnecessary and makes me cringe.

It´s about time to fully let the music and his talent speak for him. He´s still got the looks to pull it off but the sexy stuff is not really necessary and I´d be more than happy if he dedicated a bit more showtime to the music and his more serious songs.

i think its a move designed to bring attention to his versatility as an artist for those unaware of Madhouse and NEWS, etc. good move. he has lots of material to use in that type of setting (even though as its been said its only a "jazz fest" in name only)

Don't y'all remember when he played the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2001? He came out with just him, Rhonda, John, and Morris and played a smoking hour plus jazz set. Then, he came back out and played a "regular" Prince set afterwards. I recall people being so upset that no tape existed of that jazz set.

I got a DVD of Alice Cooper at Montreaux. I've really been digging his new jazz direction!

DakutiusMaximus said:

Are Any UK orgers going? I wana but i'm nervous about making the trip alone

One minute they want peace……

Then do everything to make it go away.

Montreux is no longer strictly jazz. Check the schedule, and you'll see that. More and more, Montreux is trying new ways to make sure that people come. Sometimes the choices are for the better, other times it seems in poor taste.

dealodelandron said:

I'm here for the gangbang!

I always said, as far as 20 years back, that Prince would end up in a hotel lounge, playing croony versions of his old hits.

You know, like an old Christopher Tracy, dressed like Little Richard.

I mean, he jazzed up A Case Of U, so now we are ready for mellotron versions of Bambi...

BartVanHemelen said:

I'm not being smart, but would somebody please show me where it says Prince will be playing Montreax, I can't find it.

Rightchere: http://www.prince.org/msg...-the-works

wlcm2thdwn said:

I'm here for the gangbang!

dealodelandron said: