What do you guys think about it??


I met a jazz pianist last night in NYC made me think of Prince's upcoming project.

I love listening to piano..... it is so romantic
[Edited 5/23/09 20:32pm]

UGH

Awesome entertainer. chops for days. But I can't look at his previous attempts at jazz and feel so great about the chance of further ones...

Considering some of the sounds of the three Lotusflow3r CDs I'm thinking it'll be nice. Whoohoo!

I love his style of jazz and can't wait.

ThreadBare said:

I don't know... I enjoyed Madhouse, Xpectation and NEWS to some extent or other. I look forward to it....

Maybe not jazz specifically, but a jazz-tinged fusiony album, a la TRC, I would support.

He said he's working on a jazz project with some band members. He didn't say his next album would be a jazz album.

I hope not, I hate Prince's light hearted jazz-fusion music,

N.E.W.S. being an awful example of this...

thedance said:

and C-Note

And Xpectation

and The Rainbow Children (coupled w/ the racism and bigotry and hate)

and a few tracks on LotusFlow3r.

And a lot of the arrangements on the Aladdin DVD.

savoirfaire said:

Madhouse -- as much as I dig those projects -- come off as instrumental versions of Prince grooves. The same way the instrumental pieces on The Family album did. Funky with cool solos -- unquestionable. But little musical depth there.

Granted, this is all just my opinion. But I can't say his attempts at jazz stand up well against albums by other groove/funk jazz artists like Marcus Miller or Dennis Chambers.

ernestsewell said:

This really would make it's own thread.

I find his jazz stylings to be pleasant enough, but they're just so boring anymore.

Imago said:

Especially when you consider how so much of P's music around that era seemed to come from that angle. Lyrically, he seemed to believe himself a bit of a history professor. The delivery (as I remember "Rebeccah Outlaw") went a step beyond accusatory to me.

And then, a few years later, he started playing Vegas and catering to Hollywood's A-List.

I've had the odd rant about Prince's apporach to jazz in the past, so I think I'll wiegh in on this topic!

Some of the best 'jazz' moments in Prince's career have, for me, been when he adheres to the philosophy of jazz, not to the surface elements that make a song appear 'jazzy'. For example, that snippet of "All Blues" in the Beautiful Experience was a great interpretation. Whereas a song like 'Courtin Time' appears to take a very Pop-jazz approach that I'm sure many jazz musicians would find does not relate that much to more serious kinds of the music. There are some great moments, such as She Spoke to Me, or the Cream remix (Get some Solo?) where he does appear to have a flair for veery jazzy phrasing. Having the wonderful Levi in the band (the Sexy MF solo is the best thing evah!) probably kicked his ass in that area, but these days the riff-based compositionis of "Back to the Lotus", and even most of N.E.W.S. are all minor pentatonic or blues scale based stuff most 14 year olds could whip up in their bedrooms. This IS the guy who wrote the amazing Bebop-style riff to Rockhard in a Funky Place, which was obviously influenced by Charlie Parker. Around the same time, the Parker composition Billie's bounce was making an appearance in the Sign O the Times Tour, and even though P didn't play on it, I'm sure he instructed the SOTT band to play that incredible version of Now's the Time.
Which brings me back to my initial point. Now's the Time and All Blues didn't bear that much relation to the original versions (stylistically), but they were approached on his own terms, and they rocked! The weak 'swing' section of The Marrying Kind lacked a swanging bassline (not something he's ever delved into, in my memory, beyond a riff-based line), and Damn U is one of his most potent ballads, a 12/8 slice of heaven! Love Like Jazz sucked!

He certainly seems more comfortable with his jazzy guitar over a funk type beat (like the Madhouse stuff) than a swing beat. Not that all jazz has to swing...but I feel that he's just riding on his riffs and not really exploring all of the harmonic possibilites jass has to offer in his improv. He's certainly capable of it, and as a master of the blues, he's halfway there. But I couldn't imagine him doing as sweet a solo these days as in 'If I has a Harem' from the Lovesexy DVD.

Last, lets not forget how great a piano player he is. The stuff at the beginning of UTCM, or on God instruments, or Condition of the heart. Sure, he's more of a colourist than a player, but a little more Herbie will put him in the driver's seat!

One more point: The 'jazz' tunes that the band jammed on during the O2 aftershows were very obvious choices, and I'm sure they're all capable of sounding like the Christian McBride band if they wanted to. I just have a feeling that P was holding them back. Probably didn't want to get shown up because jazz is the one 'genre' (if you can call it that) he hasn't mastered, IMO. I mean, has he listened to anything outside of Parker, Miles, Herbie, Louis Armstrong, and Duke? It's a big jazz world out there. I recommend some Scofield, some New Orleans beats (From Dirty Dozen Brass Band to Medeski, Martin and Wood), and some Charlie Hunter.

Hey, I hope he brings out a jazz album and proves me wrong!

pplrain said:

Is there an official source or something?

i wouldn't give it too much thought. every time he says he's going to work on some other kind of music it never comes out.

remember on Leno he said he might work on a flute project and that he was going to play the hits one last time on the Musicology tour?

well i bet this is him trying to look all ya know...."intellectual".

Milty said:

This was one of my thoughts when I heard his claim.
But even so, his prior stabs at jazz just didn't do it for me. Sketches of Spain, his attempts ain't.

Hatman said:

Awesome points! I felt that way about "Footsteps" (not sure if it's from an 02 aftershow). The band did a wonderful treatment of it. And, when the time for Prince's guitar solo hit, he launched into a "Shhh"-type rock solo. Nice from a climactic standpoint. But, if you're going to bother with that classic, take some time to do a jazz guitar treatment like the "Harem" solo you reference (which I found really impressive). Seemed like a missed opportunity.

Between situations like that and the "Marrying Kind"-level material he's put out in recent releases, I'm not one to call him a jazz artist just yet. And I'd love to hear him put out some MMW-styled stuff.

the horror.

i can dig it'....

Imago said:

Ummm... please not that shite again.

What was his exact quote again? Because I didn't hear his interview and come away thinking his next album was gonna be jazz. I thought he was working with Anita Baker and some people on some stuff (which I would kill to hear!). But that could mean many things
[Edited 5/24/09 8:24am]

Talking about Target's deal, "I hope to do more deals like this with artists like Anita Baker, John Blackwell, Rhonda, and Renato - we're trying to work on some jazz things right now. But um, time will tell."

THAT was the quote. He never said his next album will be a jazz album.

Im still waiting for a frikkin NYC concert...

CherrieMoonKisses said:

Take a deep breath. Hold it....

ernestsewell said:

I feel like a deprived child ....

ernestsewell said:

what was racist about The rainbow children?

purplemansionFL said: