[Dixielandjazz] What I learned in jazz class was Dixieland (long rant)

[domitype .]

"My favorite jazz has a bluesy, Mexican feel to it."

In my local paper this morning - this actually might be interesting to hear
(at least for me, anyway.)
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Zydeco-Mexican-Connection-hits-all-the-right-notes-5460769.ph

Dave Richoux


On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 12:34 PM, Ulf Jagfors <ulf.jagfors at telia.com> wrote:

> This is what we have to start from. Picked up on the Net a while ago. Isn´t
> it promising?
> Ulf
>
> WHAT I LEARNED IN JAZZ CLASS
>
> These are quotes from students in a college jazz history class. They are
> extracted from the essay topic, "What I learned over this semester in jazz
> history." These are all genuine responses, completely unaltered. They are
> all 18+ year old students; not high school or middle school age kids. None
> of them are music students; they all took this class as a gen. ed. credit
> and a hopeful "easy A".
>
> "Free Jazz is an era that I wished I had never learned about.?
> "Free Jazz. Wow; what a sound it makes. An awful, horrible sound. I don't
> see how that can actually be called a sound.  My 5 year old nephew could
> pound on the piano and make the same sound! He may even make a better
> sound.
> To be honest, that sound is one big mess".
> "With swing, it's kind of up in the air for me. I must say I tried like
> hell
> to keep up with it."
> "My favorite jazz has a bluesy, Mexican feel to it."
> "Though Jazz started in New Orleans, it traveled all around the world
> picking up and dropping off things along the way."
> "One thing that confused me was Jelly Roll Morton. Did he play with the Red
> Hot Chili Peppers? I didn't think that they were around back then.?
> "Jelly Roll (Morton) bridged the gap between piano and ragtime.
> "My grandpa likes it, but I think scat stinks."
> "Chick Corea, Dizzie Gillespie, Bix Biderbeck, and the monk created the
> first cool group."
> "I wished Don Cherry would put his trumpet back in his pocket."
> "There is not enough space in my head to fit all that I learned."
> "This class taught me about a lot of things that I never knew about."
> "Some of the big jazz musicians we learned about were: Lous Armstrong,
> Duke,
> Charlie Parker, Dizzy Cillespic, T. Mark, Ken Barns, Buddy Baldwin,
> Jellyroll Mortin, Sydney Bichai, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, and many many
> more."
> "Coming into class on the first day, I assumed there would be a boring
> professor standing in front of the class droning on and on about jazz.
> Here's where it started; this is who played it; and here we are today;
> blah,
> blah, blah. I now realize that my assumption wasn't all that wrong."
> "I assumed that jazz had started in the African-American community only
> because it fulfilled a multi-cultural course that I was required to take."
> "Jim Crow, in a way, was the first jazz musician."
> "Jazz was put into effect by Jim Crow"s Law."
> "I really enjoyed hearing the big band, Frank Foster's Arrangement".
> "I learned in this class that, contrary to my mom's opinion, Kenny G is a
> joke. A really non-funny one."
> "I fell in love with that tune, "Stablemates". It really hits home.?
> "Jazz musicians don't play for women any more."
> "I learned that going to jazz concerts gets me in good with the
> girlfriend."
> "I learned a lot about Be Bop, Swing, Drugs, and Fusion."
> "I found new respect for Miles Davis. He was adamant about not using drugs
> when everyone else was trying to get him to try some."
> "I liked hearing the Original Dixieland (Jazz) Band, and how they were the
> original Dixieland band."
> "You might want to mention to future classes that jazz brings true romance
> to a scene."
> "I'm glad I took this class, because I feel more comfortable to talk about
> jazz in its awesomeness."
> "Drugs caused many artists their careers in many ways."
> "Jazz is a style of music that is almost very sober."
> "I figured jazz started in the 1960s, but to my surprise, it started back
> in
> the late 18th century."
> "Smooth jazz now just plain old angers me."
> "A lot of the things that I learned were facts that I never new about, not
> only in jazz, but in life as well."
> "I got really excited by the tenor sax, soprano sax, baritone sax, but not
> so much the alto sax."
> "I can't believe that blacks had time to invent jazz if they were hanging
> out in the whorehouses with Jelly Roll Morton."
> "A lot of black jazz musicians were very talented, which probably came from
> them not having anything else to do."
> "When blacks and whites finally decided to get together to make jazz, it
> was
> a big hit."
> "Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz were two guys who would sit down and enjoy
> cool jazz."
> "Going to the club gave me jazz sensations."
> "I hear the hard-bop jazz influence on bands today such as Matchbox Twenty
> and Dave Matthews Band".
> "I'm now going to start this essay on jazz."
> "James Crow worked to bring the slaves together with the creoles."
> "Learning jazz has helped me beat my mom at Jeopardy. She had no idea who a
> blind pianist from Toledo, OH was for $800."
> "I learned the definition of supreme technical virtuosity is to play like
> Louie Armstrong."
> "Charlie Parker was a famous jazz musician who played saxophonists."
> "Getting 81% (on a test) is all well and good until you see that dumb guy
> next to you who picks his nose getting 91%. I then started studying and
> coming to class".
> "I asked the drummer what the names of the names and styles of the tunes
> that he played but he didn't seem to know".
> "TV has become more jazzy to me now."
> "Studying jazz has been a coming out party for me."
> "I loved the vibrational solos of Clifford Brown."
> "When I think of tradition and instruments, I think of Fiddler of the Roof"
> "Jazz has the technique of classical music, the feeling of blues, and the
> hope of children everywhere."
> "I know what troubles musicians now when I watch and listen to them play."
> "My ties to jazz were through Bleeding Gums Murphy, a character on a TV
> show
> called the Simpsons. It comes on at 8pm on Sunday nights."
> "I was surprised to find out about the different styles of jazz like hard,
> be, and post bops."
> "I thought that jazz was a certain amount of instruments that you played
> and
> was composed for you(,) not believing that it was their improvisation and
> the jazz musicians who made up the music on the spot doing what they wanted
> to do with the tunes. I know this is hard to explain but it is true."
> "When I try to play jazz, I mess around with the instruments pounding out
> random notes that were just me making nonsense up and it sounding like a
> big
> pile of crap."
> "Jazz is more profound when it doesn't help pay the bills."
> "The first thing I learned in jazz history that happy birthday is the most
> played jazz classic. You want to hear happy birthday in swing BAM! You got
> it You want to hear happy birthday in classic jazz BAM!
> You got it. You want to hear happy birthday in be bop BAM! You go(t) it.
> It's great The second thing I learned is free jazz is where its at. I think
> that I could be a free jazz musician cause it all sounds like a drunk 7
> year
> old jamming down on some notes and making the sweet sweet music fly. Free
> jazz was defiantly the best part of the class but unfortunately you didn't
> play free jazz enough. My one suggestion for your next class is that you
> start out every class with a 5 minute free jazz intro. Over all and all, I
> defiantly learned a lot in jazz history class."
> "Hip hop and pop are fine, going out for fame and bling bling. Jazz has
> been
> around for a while, is out of style, but can really sing."
> "Jazz musicians sing and play music because they can't contain their
> passions. Their music starts in the soul radiates out in every direction."
> "Jazz is a very dynamic kind of music. Loud and Soft.
> "Swing makes you want to get up and dance and free jazz just makes you want
> to get up."
> "If any kind of music can calm a hectic day, its cool jazz. If you feel
> like
> going out and dancing, however there is ragtime."
> "In conclusion, jazz is music."
> "Jazz has come from the fields of New Orleans to my 2pm class, and beyond."
> "Unlike other forms of music, jazz is listened to by old people as well as
> us."
> "I learned what intros and outros were in this class. Now I look for them
> when I go searching for good music."
> "I went to do my (jazz) listening report at the house of blues."
> "Jazz has taught me a lot about the Civil War, World War I, and World War
> II."
> "I thought of jazz as a thing of the past, something old African American
> men listened to on old record players while sitting on their front porches
> smoking cigars."
> "Steve Turre has taught me that sea shells should be left on the ground
> instead of his mouth."
> "Over the course of the semester my knowledge of jazz has gone from nothing
> to practically nothing."
> "Even though I probably won't listen to jazz after this semester, it has
> given me a greater appreciation of movies."
> "My favorite person to study was Sonny Rollins. He knew that he had to
> throw
> his saxophone off the bridge when he heard how good Charlie Parker was."
> "Jazz to me was the 'shoo opps' from groups in streets downtown in the
> olden, golden days."
> "Happy birthday That song is just amazing to me."
> "My all-time favorite jazz artist to listen to was Buddy Baldwin, AKA "the
> jazz king". I think I'm going to go out and buy a couple of his CDs?
> "I was surprised to find musicians with such odd names such as Vilage Von
> Guard."
> "Jazz is not as popular with all of the adolescence going around."
> "I like jazz more in books than on cds."
> "I remember coming into class with no facts but a whole plate of bullshit
> to
> dish out."?
> "I found myself learning about Blues, Early Jazz, Dixieland, Swing, Be Bop,
> Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Cool Jazz, Hard Bop, Free Jazz, Third Stream,
> Japanese, Post Bop, Fusion, Smooth, Modern Jazz, and the list goes on."
> " 'Call and Respond' is where one musician plays and the other one tries
> too
> hard to figure out what he's doing."
> "The people in Dixie Land originated jazz music."
> "Jazz is now a part of me from 2pm-3:15pm every Tuesday and Thursday."
> "Jazz started in the fields where they used hand-me-down instruments and
> wore hand-me-down clothes."
> "If Wynton Marsalis said jazz was dead in the 1970's, what was he playing
> at
> the time".
> "Weather Report was the final big band back in the day."
> "My girlfriend and I both agreed the next morning that jazz-club food was
> something we could've done without."
> "Jazz agitates me."
> "I like jazz, but I need something else besides rhythm, melody, and
> harmony."
> "I had no clue that so many (musicians) used drugs. Thinking about that,
> there is no doubt that they are living the life I dream of. They are
> spending money on things that they don't really need or even want."
> "I noticed that there weren't many jazz women in our textbook until I
> looked
> to see that the author was a guy. All guys are sexist, women bashers, who
> don't ever give us our credit."
> "The part I most enjoyed was studying and appreciating slavery.'
> "Its hard to imagine where Winton Marsalis gets his ideas from."
> "I'd like to see midgets getting bribed in every jazz club. Not just with
> Birdland. I'm of course talking about the jazz club, not Charlie Parker."
> "We've had our share of good times and bad times over the semester. By bad
> times, I mean my tests."
> "Count Bassie WAS the swing era".
> "This class increased my intelligence with aptitude."
> "Duke Ellington had the ability to turn jazz compositions into pure magic."
> "Swing died in World War II when the soloists took over."
> "I could go on and on about jazz, but I won't.?
> "Tony Williams was my favorite drummer because his group, Lifetime, is the
> same name as my favorite channel that I watch."
> "How do the musicians know what to play when their eyes were closed the
> whole time? And what was with the piano player talking while he played his
> solos. His musician friends must have been thought he was crazy."
> "I technically wasn't in your class but I was happy to be along for the
> ride."
> "I was in jazz band in high school but we didn't play jazz music."
> "Dizzie Gillespie was the one who jammed on the drums."
> "I thought doing our listening report would be a painful sort of torture."
> "I was bummed out at the beginning of the semester because I thought Louis
> Armstrong was going to be one of the guest lecturers
>
>
>
>
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