[Dixielandjazz] Does anybody love Bop?

[Gary Kiser]

Steve Barbone wrote:
> Dan Spink at dwsi at aol.com asked:
>>  have a naive question. Many listmates obviously are not big fans of bop, but
>> some are. For those who are: Q. Does anybody really LOVE bop? All I hear is
>> how much I should admire the talent it takes to play it--and how fast the
>> notes come. Is that what boppers dig? What happened to loving the music
>> itself? Maybe I'm just old fashioned.
>>     
> Hi Dan:
>
> I admit that I love bop and appreciate it just as much as I do OKOM. And I
> admit that I love the music itself inherent in bop.
>
> Like OKOM, some of its songs are superb and some its songs suck. But the
> music is certainly there if your ears are ready for it.
>
> Want to listen to some superb Bop? Try Bird's "Embracaeble You". Or dig some
> mellow Clifford Brown, like "Willow Weep For Me", or the more rapid "Sweet
> Clifford". Or hear fellow pianist Bud Powell's version of "Round Midnight".
>
> There is a ton of extraordinary Bop out there. And IMO most boppers dig the
> music, not what it takes to play it. They hear the melody that guys like
> Bird, Diz, Bud or Trane (prior to 1957 when he left for avant garde), play.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone

What is bop?  What is swing?  Geez, what is jazz?  Sort all you want; 
categorize all you want.  But, watch out, where you put the boundaries 
between post-swing and neo-pre-bop won't be in the same place as the guy 
next to you.  I have three musical categories : The music I love, the 
music I enjoy and the music I don't care for.  I can listen to Bix, then 
Rabih Abou-Khalil, then McCoy Tyner, then Sly and the Family Stone, then 
Hayden, then Albert Collins, then Cesaria Evora, then ZZ Top, then the 
Mills Blue Rhythm Band, then some unknown oohmpa band from Bali.

Tonight, I served Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta to my daughters.  
My younger dove in, ate up and afterwards said it wasn't the best meal I 
have ever prepared, but it was all right.  My eldest decided ahead of 
time she wasn't going to like it because she never heard of Cannelloni 
and didn't know what ricotta was.

Don't turn your nose up at music until you have really given it a 
chance.  Even though Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan and 
Donald Byrd are all considered bop horn players, you shouldn't avoid 
Byrd because you didn't care for Morgan.

That's all, Gary