Some people say that Prince is a pop musician or he is only good when he play funk. And they don't like at all the new directions in his music. They say he can't play jazz (maybe they forget his father was a jazz pianist and it's clear something Prince learnt from him)
Ok, for me Prince is good in all the styles he plays.

But, if he wanna play jazz, why doesn't he play his piano and his guitar (more or less like in some parts of ONA), take Rhonda on acoustic bass, Eric on sax and John on drums and record a jazz album?
And I'm not talking about an instrumental album like Xpectation. His piano, his voice, those musicians, singing and without digital keyboards.
It would be wonderful.
Don't ya think?

sure it would be wonderful but to do jazz, he doesnt have to reconstruct his band or instruments. Acoustic bass doesnt translate into jazz just becaise its acoustic. People who dont know the full spectrum of the jazz genre often hold this misconception. THis is why the invention of fusion and Miles Davis are considered to be the last true revolution of jazz. Miles did jazz with a rock and funk band.

he's already doing jazz its just mixed with his pop songs.maybe he shuld just concentrate on a a jazz album [unlike news].me, i want some around the world shit and some dorthy parker sounding shit.my man wants 2 sing and jazz sunds better when that mouth b close.

I've always liked his jazz asides in songs like God instrumental, Another Lonely Xmas, Alex De Paris, AnotherLover live etc...
[This message was edited Sun Oct 5 16:01:38 PDT 2003 by rdhull]

undulatingacrobat said:

Depending on which jazz snob you ask, Fusion is not a part of the jazz idiom.

Supernova said:

jazz fusion is indeed jazz.

undulatingacrobat said:

Yep.

I'd be happy to hear a Jazz work based on acoustic instruments but I don't think it has to be restricted by any rules.

I'm a fan of a pianist called Glenn Gould. People used to get upset because he played Bach keyboard works on piano. They didn't like this because pianos weren't around in Bach's time. Same sort of argument really!

mrdespues said:

Uh, yeah. I know.

Supernova said:

Naw; Prince ain't even playing good jazz-fusion!

PFunkjazz said:

he's average at best, IMHO.

i think some parts of NEWS are fine jazz. i'd really like him to play with his band without him singin. NEWS could use a bit mo tempo though. It's between Jazzdance and Kind of blue now. He'd better choose te make a funky jazzalbum.

mrdespues said:

I carry my grandfather's biases against fusion as jazz, but jazz by its very definition defies definition, so in keeping with that principle, I would agree, reluctantly, that fusion (which can be nice music in and of itself) is jazz.

If that's the case, I'd make the case that the new ambient, downtempo stuff (Nu Jazz) is a new extension of jazz.

undulatingacrobat said:

I agree with you. I play electric bass in a jazz band, but the point is other. Prince can play jazz like News, for example,and he has done it a lot of times in the past. But I'm talking about to show us he can play jazz per ser, without machines, like an unplugged, the way the masters of jazz did it (even Miles Davis in his best album, "All blues").
And of course singing.
But if he wanna record another album like News, as for me it's good, I love all the things Prince plays.

JavierAlcalde said:

I really like the new direction in Jazz. I only lends creditability to Prince and his musicianship...

Blues ---> Jazz ---> Funk

He's just exploring his roots

PFunkjazz said:

Once we get past the smooth jazz of "North", we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

He can record and release as many Jazz albums as he likes. He just shouldn't expect many people to buy it.