[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Standards & more

[Patrick Ladd]

Hi again.  One of the spin off problems is that the people who design record 
labels have very little idea what `jazz` is and all this `free jazz``avante 
garde` etc gets put on the market labelled as `Jazz`. The buying public 
often are misled and the next thing we hear is `I don`t like jazz`. i have a 
friend who expresses surprise every time I say I like Jazz and says `What! 
that awful row` and goes off into a frantic ,   simulated Dizzy solo. He 
knows no better. He thinks that is jazz. I don`t  and would not walk up the 
street to hear it. But can I persuade him to come to my local jazz club.Not 
a hope. He is convinced that the terrible squeaky  full speed technically 
accomplished trumpet noise is `jazz` because he has seen it so described .
If I see a record label stating `New Jazz or Modern Jazz I know enough to 
avoid it. Someone seeking enlightenment sees the word `jazz` and think that 
what they hear is `Jazz.
What we really really need to describe that sort of music is something which 
does not involve the word `jazz` at all.  Pat`

-----Original Message----- 
From: Charles Suhor
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 6:13 PM
To: Patrick Ladd
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Standards & more

Yes, Pat, up to a point, modern jazz is a "niche" music with a specialized 
listening audience, and I think most musicians realize this. The more 
complex, abstract, and experimental the music gets, the narrower the 
audience. Our unpublicized free form group was playing for each other in a 
bookstore, with maybe 3 or 4 drop-in listeners.
The modern jazz audience grows, sadly, when diluted as "smooth jazz" or 
dressed up somehow like Kenny G. (Go figure.) Some contemporary vocalists 
sell what I'd call  good jazz--Diana Kral, Harry Connick, Michael Buble. 
Also, fine players like the Marsalis crew have gained so much fame that it 
has become socially correct for non-jazz listeners to go to their concerts, 
much like a large chunk of the audiences for classical music (even far-out, 
modern classics!) It's complicated. That's what makes it fun.

Charlie Suhor

On Oct 15, 2014, at 6:16 AM, Patrick Ladd wrote:

>
> Surely this is part o the problem with avant garde stuff in all its 
> variations. Does it in fact engage the audience, who we are paid to 
> entertain, in the same way as our `jazz standards`?. Does a head nod in 
> time to the music?. Does a foot tap?. Does the audience feel impelled 
> (heaven forfend) to get up and dance?
> If some musicians want to play `modern jazz` ( a very loose grouping) it 
> seems to me that it is only really interesting to someone with a fairly 
> advanced musical knowledge/appreciation. In fact those who get most out of 
> it are the players. Thats fine, Why should we not entertain ourselves, but 
> is it really entertaining to the general audience.  No wonder we used to 
> go out and beat up `dirty boppers` with their silly berets and  their 
> little mustaches. (We didn`t really but it makes a good story)
>
> Pat
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Jim Kashishian
> Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 9:48 AM
> To: Pat Ladd
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Standards & more
>
>
> Charlie wrote:
>> And after all that (speaking about a type of free jazz), it was great to 
>> go
> home and hear a few tracks of the Bobcats or Sonny Rollins.
>
> I used to feel the same in during the whole year of 1992 when I worked on 
> a
> project of 22 CD's of Contemporary music (editing/assembling/mastering). 
> I
> would go out at nights for my jazz gigs & feel "back at home".   :>
>
> Charlie also wrote:
>> The thing about such performances (and most avant garde jazz, to me) is
> that the enjoyment is strictly in being there when the living creative 
> event
> is unfolding.
>
> But, that is what we all get during a performance of our own kind of 
> music,
> is it not?  The interreaction between musicians in the ensemble and during
> solos (between the soloist & the rhythm section) is a living creation even
> if the song is based on a standard setup.  If that creativity is not kept
> alive in a band, then it becomes boring for both the band & the audience,
> and just becomes "another gig".
>
> Jim
>
>
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