[Dixielandjazz] Absolutes and Jazz

[Marek Boym]

On 15 January 2011 17:43, Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> On Jan 14, 2011, at 5:58 PM, Marek Boym wrote:
>
> performance of a song is what places it in a jazz or not category.>>
>
>
>
> Well said/stirred Pat:
>
>
> IMO there are no absolutes. For example it is not ALWAYS the performance of
>
> a song that places it in a jazz or not category. Proof of that? The jazz
>
> tunes that have been written specifically as jazz. Songs that Thelonious
>
> Monk wrote. Songs that Charlie Parker wrote etc., ad infinitum. They are
>
> jazz no matter who plays them how.
>
> They are jazz no matter who plays them - but there are no absolutes?
> Does anybody but me detect a contradiction?  And they are not.  When
> played by a symphony orchestra, or taken up by popular singers, they
> become their style rather than jazz.
>


>
>
> Of course you are right Marek, nothing is absolute, but then you are dealing
> in hypotheticals. If a symphony orchestra ever plays them, or a popular
> singer sings them (at the moment these songs have no words) we can
> realistically discuss the issue.
> However, it would seem to me that if a symphony orchestra played the songs
> as written, they would be jazz in the eyes of the composer. I can't imagine
> Thelonious Monk's "Four in One" as anything but jazz if played as written,
> no matter who plays it.
> Remember too, the rest of my post, which you don't show, .......




> well as the talking heads and the audiences. By taking one paragraph out of
> the context of the discussion in the full post, you distort the issue.


Well, I could say that I tried to act like a lawyer.  But I won't.
You said there were no absolutes, and then went on to state an
absolute.  Full stop (period for Americans).  The rest, which might or
might not be interesting (and which everybody on the list probably has
read) , is irrelevant to the issue.

I rest my case, Milord.

Cheers