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oddie
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The new Jazz item
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Jan 18 17:42 UTC 2000 |
I am entering this item because the old jazz item seems rather dead and because
the music conf as a whole seems to be in need of some new discussion. So, this
is it: the Year 2000 item for discussing jazz: different genres of jazz,
listening to jazz, playing jazz...
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| 65 responses total. |
oddie
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response 1 of 65:
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Jan 18 18:02 UTC 2000 |
So, as for myself: I like just about any kind of jazz, from New Orleans to
fusion, but at the moment most of my interest is in jazz from the late '40s
through the '60s, which is to say mostly later bebop (Thelonious Monk, I
find, sounds "fresher" than most other jazz of that period due to his use of
unusual harmonies and lots of chromatic stuff), modal and fusion. I am really
only getting into fusion, having heard _Bitches Brew_ at a friend's house and
getting out Chick Corea's _Return to Forever_ from the library. (Another two
discs to go on the "buy this when I have more money" list...) _Return to
Forever_ is an interesting disc, easier to listen to than _Bitches Brew_ and
also influenced a lot by Latin/bossa nova as well as rock and free jazz.
Bossa nova is another kind of music I like to listen to; some would probably
find it too smooth and "elevator-music"-like, but it really does have some
lovely melodies and solos. (Antonio Carlos Jobim is a bit like Bill Evans
in the _Kind of Blue_ era in that he can say a lot with just a few notes.)
I am also trying to start playing jazz (on piano) and meet with my friend
Russell, who is quite accomplished at jazz on the clarinet, most weekends
to play some tunes out of the fakebook. I find it difficult because if you
are the piano player you basically have to make up the accompaniment at the
same time as the melody (especially when there is no drummer or bass player)
and also when I get all tense about it I can't do anything well...so, hopefully
this is something I'll get a bit better at.
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orinoco
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response 2 of 65:
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Jan 19 01:13 UTC 2000 |
Well, since the death of the _previous_ jazz item, I've started up taking jazz
piano lessons, and listening to more of the music, so here's hoping for a
restart of the conversation....
Bitches Brew seemed to me to have a "steeper learning curve" than many jazz
albums, but since I got into it it's also been one of my favorites. Most
other fusion that I've heard hasn't grown on me nearly as much.
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oddie
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response 3 of 65:
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Jan 20 05:29 UTC 2000 |
There's an article/opinion piece about jazz of the '70s in the current
Atlantic Monthly, in which the author makes the claim that (paraphrased) the
electric piano & bass in 70s fusion albums sound annoying today because they
have no real reason to be there other than that their use was briefly
'fashionable' in that period. I think that's true to some extent-the two
middle pieces on _Return to Forever_, one a piano/sax duet and the other a
fairly conventionally structured song with piano/bass/drums/flute backing,
would be rather more enjoyable for me if done with acoustic instruments.
(The last piece, _Sometime Ago_ opens with a freely improv'd duet between
electric piano and acoustic bass, which is wonderfully unique-Stan Clarke
makes the bass sound like a flamenco guitar in parts and elsewhere also uses
the bow...) But there also places, like the intro to "Return to Forever", where
the smooth, pure tone of the electric piano gives it a "floating" sonic
quality which can't really be done with acoustic instruments.
(Hasn't Chick Corea started playing acoustic piano in his more recent work?)
A friend lent me a CD called 'Realms' to listen to during my history final
today. It's by a local guy called Jamie Janover(sp?) who plays the hammered
dulcimer, and had a wonderfully broad range of styles-among other things he
plays an adaptation of a Bach cello suite, Coltrane's "Alabama", Mingus'
"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," a Jimi Hendrix piece, a folk/bluegrassy tune he
wrote, and traditionally-styled African and Indian (meaning "from India" not
"Native American") pieces. Some of the pieces have a traditional jazz rhythm
section, some are solo and others feature various different instruments.
It was a cool CD and I will have to buy a copy, as well as try to see him
playing in Pearl Street.
(er, "local" above means local-to-Boulder, where I live...I wonder if it's
possible to get the CD outside of this area...)
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scott
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response 4 of 65:
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Jan 20 15:03 UTC 2000 |
The problem with fusion is often the glaring lack of structure. "Hey, this
groove sounds great, let's just do it with endless solos for about 15
minutes". Bleah.
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orinoco
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response 5 of 65:
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Jan 20 19:58 UTC 2000 |
"Sanctuary," on Bitches' Brew, is a pretty strong argument that electric piano
can sound good and not just trendy -- and also, for that matter, that fusion
doesn't have to be formless. But yeah, for the most part I'll agree with
both. (Although, for that matter, the keyboards get on my nerves in a lot
of other 60s and 70s music too...in my opinion, the one flaw in Abbey Road
is that damn synth in "Because")
Yeah, Chick Corea has gone acoustic, sometime in the 80s. (I think he even
called his group something like "The Acoustic Band" at one point, to make sure
we all noticed.
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krj
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response 6 of 65:
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Jan 20 19:59 UTC 2000 |
google.com quickly reveals that Jamie Janover is associated with the band
String Cheese Incident and you can get the cd "Realms" at
www.stringcheeseincident.com
End of digression.
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scott
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response 7 of 65:
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Jan 20 21:48 UTC 2000 |
Chick Corea has done both acoustic and electric pretty much through his whole
career. For a really cool acoustic album, try "Three Quartets". Piano, with
Steve Gadd on drums, Eddie Gomez on bass, and Michael Brecker on sax. The
only jazz album I ever bought!
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