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there's this concept of jazz "as a verb" vs "as a noun." musicians back in the day were limited by the technology of the day, so they played things like horns
by slater- 4y ago
there's this concept of jazz "as a verb" vs "as a noun."
musicians back in the day were limited by the technology of the day, so they played things like horns and upright basses. the thing that made their music "jazz" was the improvisation. the jazz was something they did, not an objective genre standard.
if monk or miles or coltrane were alive today, their music would be way different. they'd probably take advantage of samples, synthesizers, maybe even AI? i don't know. but the key to their genius was the intent behind their playing, the way they bent harmonic structure in service of their improvised melodic ideas. this is jazz as a verb.
as soon as jazz became "america's art form, now playing at the lincoln center and available as an honors track college major" it wasn't actually jazz. so many people are doing it wrong. welcome to america!
- galaxyLogic 4y agoMiles did some nice synthesizer stuff as well. And he said he would never go back to be-bob it was all done already.
- jefurii 4y agoI remember watching a documentary about Miles right before he released Tutu. The interviewer asked if he ever got nostalgic for the old bebop or cool jazz stuff he used to play. Miles paused for a long time, then he said I love those old tunes but they're in the past and I can't go back there. I got to keep moving. I really respected him for that, but when I got to college the music program was so focused on the past. It looked like the only prof who was doing contemporary stuff was the percussion guy and I played trumpet. I got booed out of the room once for suggesting it'd be cool to mix jazz and hip-hop (this was 1989). If I'd stuck with it I probably would have discovered all kinds of new stuff going on, but I followed what Miles said and got into electronic music.
- slater- 4y agoone of my favorite tidbits from the Miles book is when he says he's obviously proud of Kind Of Blue, but that he didn't quite manage to get the sound he had in his head. if i recall, he said he was trying to go for the vibe of an african thumb piano. i think about this all the time. it's like a koan. good on you for breaking with the orthodoxy. or as miles might call them "non-playing motherfuckers"
- galaxyLogic 4y agoSchools must teach the current well-known art. If you want to do something totally new, school is not the place to learn that. It's still good to learn bebop AND funk and after you learned them then perhaps mix them together. Not saying student's shouldn't experiment but teachers really are there to teach the old stuff, in case anyone's interested. Teachers don't know what the new stuff is, how could they teach it :-) I took organ lessons from an established jazz-pianist as a teenager. I was an all time beginner but he got his job from a music store where we bought the electric organ, so he couldn't choose his students. :-) He made me practice old pop tunes like "Moon River" I remember. I told him I'm getting tired of this crap I don't like these oldies but goldies. Why can't you teach me jazz or rock or something cool. He told me listen, maybe you don't like these songs, or maybe you don't like the way you play them. Then he played it and dropped in some cool jazz chords and syncopation. I was amazed and inspired. I realized I couldn't do what he did unless I learned to play the song the old way first.
- smcnally 4y agoYou’re right — Herbie Hancock played with all those guys then, still alive, and has made way different music since.
- pixelfarmer 4y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_rPd_ufK4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_rPd_ufK4
- slater- 4y agoomg i love this