[Dixielandjazz] When is it not jazz?

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Well that's why it's not best to mix styles too much.  There are guys that 
swing trad and I don't have a big issue about that because I sometimes do it 
too just as  lot of bands add non traditional instruments like the Bass 
Guitar.  It's true Jazz keeps getting re invented and the kids seem to like 
it but it isn't what it was.  I cringe when someone freestyles the National 
Anthem or takes liberties with it from Rose Ann to the local gal who is 
trying to sound like someone who can sing.  I think Jazz rose and fell with 
swing and became so different by the 60's that it was no longer Jazz as most 
musicians know it.  What we used to call modern jazz is now becoming a 
Classic style that when the performers die off will become quaint much as 
what we call Trad Jazz is today.

> Well said Larry. The word "swing" can be used in many different senses. 
> And
> while many early jazzers might have swung, their music didn't.
Well put.  I regard it as a compliment if someone especially another 
musician says that about me.

Larry Walton
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 9:34 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] When is it not jazz?


> "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" wrote:
>
>> Actually Jazz existed before swing was invented so it doesn't have to 
>> swing
>> to be jazz but some musicians use that term for "good jazz" as in "He
>> Swings" meaning he plays well.
>>
>> One of the difficult things to get across and also do for jazzers is play
>> music without swinging it when required.  The further we get away from 
>> the
>> Ragtime and early Dixie eras is it becomes more and more difficult to 
>> find
>> musicians that can switch between the two.  We are so ingrained (and 
>> like)
>> swing that we just do it.  A good example is the Star Spangled Banner.
>> About the only people that play it correctly is military bands and 
>> symphony
>> orchestras.  Everyone else swings it and worse.
>
> Well said Larry. The word "swing" can be used in many different senses. 
> And
> while many early jazzers might have swung, their music didn't.
>
> Regarding the components of "Jazz", well, they have changed over the past
> 100 years as the rules keep getting modified. Whether we like it or not. 
> So
> what is jazz? Who the hell knows?
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
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