This is a comment on a recent news item on this site, called:"Candy on Dutch Talkshow Nov 29: P best Jazz after Miles". In this article it was said that after Miles Davis died, Prince is probably the best jazz-musician around these days. A lot of the comments on this news item were very negative. I don't really know if he has the chops to play bebop or very very complicated jazz-rock but what I do know is that some of you really underestimate the man's musical virtuosity. One person who commented said that he/she had all the Madhouse stuff but dismissed this as proof of Prince being able to play jazz because "the best chops come from other musicians". Well now, if you have a strong opinion about Prince's musical abilities than you should at least get your facts straight; most of Prince's side projects during the eighties were actually written, produced, arranged and performed by Prince himself, including Madhouse. So when you listen to the album 8 (by Madhouse), the more jazzy and complex of the two albums that were officially released, it's all Prince. The only exceptions are Eric Leeds on sax and flute and Matt Fink's synth-solo on the track 2. He recorded the entire album in his own house in a mere four and a half days. All this information can be found in the excellent biography "DanceMusicSexRomance Prince: the first decade" by Per Nilson. A lot of the interviews in this extensive book are done with the studio technicians who were actually there during the recording sessions (like Susan Rogers and Peggy McCreary). Wether or not you think this is impressive and that Prince might have merit as a jazz-musician after all that is for you to decide. But if you have a strong opinion on Prince's abilities to play whatever kind of music, be it jazz, funk or polka and have a desire to voice it in public, then make sure you know what you are talking about. Granted, he doesn't make it easy for you to research all this, but I guess that's one of the reasons he's such a darn interesting artist.

"" there is no "jazz","funk","pop", Rock,"blues," whatever. In the memorable words of yet another great, Duke Ellington, there is only 2 kinds of music, GOOD music and BAD music. The day people stop jumping on every opportunity 2 catagorize, classify what they experience and start LIVING it, leaving classification 2 those who are bored with life- is the day the world starts becoming a better place- not a "new" world, not a "reinvented" world, but the PERFECT WORLD that it was ment 2 b."" NPGMC couldnt have said it any better, AND it the same is true for many other subjects that deal with catagorizing things people etc.

stethhtets said:

Very good! Great comment!
I recall reading somewhere that critics was the first ones who started to categorize music so it would be easier to review it. Does anyone know if that is correct?

this came from the NPG music club by the way for those who missed where it cmae from . It is an excellent point thoe!!!