Thoughts?


Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

Jazz is the future.

From note to note, solo to solo, the hook with jazz is, "what's going to happen next?"

It seems like, as long as it's played, anywhere, it has a future. As long as the question is being asked, Jazz is doing its Job.

And its DNA is so well-entrenched in music that it won't completely go away.

That's my take.

As long as talented musicians are willing to study the craft, it'll survive.

I understand the hand wringing though. It looks like many industries are trying to hook young audiences because without them an artform or industry can die (Look at newspapers). But there's always hope. Hell I'm pretty much new to it (I just started really getting into it a few years ago). But that also might just mean that you have to grow up a lot to get into it.

The good thing is that it's one of the last musical forms that's completely no B.S., where looks, pyrotecnics or splashy videos have no relevance.

"You can't go back to the womb." miles davis

The Stretch Movement... I like that.

I'm optimistic about Jazz music and were it's going, it for sure isn't dying; it's demise has been been greatly exaggerated. I think is cool and correct for these young lions to be proactive and not stand around hoping some bean counter figures out a formula to sale their music. People always speak of Rock & Roll of being anti-establishment but Jazz was the first music of rebellion. So, its good that some of these musicians have stood up and are willing to chart their own musical path / sound. The critics be damn these artist are going to have faith and confidence in their ability and their willingness to want to be good as Mr. Maupin stated. I think a lot of people forget that these so called Jazz standards.... many are show tunes, songs and film scores from the Motion Picture Industry. "On Green Dolphin Street" only became a standard after Miles Davies recorded it in 1958, the movie was released in 1947.

But.

There's always a but.

There are three issues swirling around the art of Jazz...all music and musicians really. How are they going to make a living with their music. 2. How are they going to market themselves. 3)Where will they go to play live music... live music venues.

I still think live music is an integral part of a musicians livelihood and contributing to their artist development. I do believe Jazz musicians like all musicians better start making sure other people don't make decisions about the Internet that could ultimatly marginalize them... where once again they reap little financial reward. As we've seen with print, radio, and TV the powers that be ultimately defined and narrow the choices in what is seen, heard and read. It would be naive to think those same powers aren't trying to do the same thing with the Internet.

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[Edited 2/14/13 8:38am]

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Ndeed! I remember a Jazz artist a few years ago, remarking that there is arguably more good music being made now than ever before, but people aren't getting to actually hear it anymore.

When I see artists like Michael League and Snarky Puppy, Esperanza Spalding, Hadrien Feraud, Robert Glasper, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Josh Roseman, etc., I know that the music itself will be alright. Whether or not kids will get much exposure to it is something else again. These days, the burden is on the listener to chase stuff down, seek it out --and honestly, most folks aren't gonna do that--unless they are dedicated music fans....

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[Edited 2/13/13 22:16pm]

Also, as in previous times (ie the advent of the be bop generation), a new form/ movement of jazz may emerge that many of the major figures of the previous generation or two actively dislike, mock or condemn as 'not being jazz', a 'sellout' or 'a betrayal of the founding principles of jazz'.

This also happened with the free jazz movement, fusion, arguably the Wynton Marsalis-led 'retro-jazz' movement of the '80s-'90s and the more modern European 'nujazz/ electrojazz' movement of the last 10 to 15 years, which has been popular in Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and the UK to a degree (artists like Norwegian post-Miles trumpet adventurer Nils Petter Molvaer and fellow Norwegian, pianist Bugge Wesseltoft and German DJ/ producer collective Jazzanova).

Historically, just like in rock and pop, emerging new jazz movement are often condemned and dismissed by existing mainstream artists.

And, to be perhaps controversial, there is the frequently stated claim among UK and European jazz fans, artists and critics, that European jazz has been a whole lot more creative and innovative in taking the music forward over the last 15 years than many of those in the US homeland.

I have some sympathy for this view myself and while there are some exceptions, imo eg Greg Tate and Butch Morris' New York-based jazz/ funk/ electronic improv collective Burnt Sugar, I've not heard of that many US artists really pushing the jazz envelope that hard in recent years. Would love to be 'educated' out of this notion, by the way:-D.

For now, check out a little Burnt Sugar. Never seen them mentioned on the Org to my surprise; tell me what you think of it, or if you know their work -

https://www.youtube.com/w...JIM1mBE_Ec

https://www.youtube.com/w...wG81fhxA74

https://www.youtube.com/w...3qhpxZRn_M

https://www.youtube.com/w...c9wBU8iiOs

https://www.youtube.com/w...0NjNqYSbMI

The New School for Jazz And Contemporary Music...



...Chico Hamilton (Co-founder/Artist) & Ben Flocks (student)


Ken Vandermark (an actual working avant-garde musician)...

...Musician (from an Ovation TV documentary)



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records