Snobbery

elson trinidad (elson@westworld.com)
Wed, 16 Apr 1997 01:32:44 -0700

At 10.08 AM 4/16/1997 +0300, Kovalainen Antti wrote:
>Aww, come on ! The discussion about aj going mainstream and some people
>on the list finding it irritating is definitely not about being snobby
>but about us fearing it might lower the quality of the average aj-tune !

Oh yes it is about snobbery. Of course, no one would ever admit to being a
snob, right? I just get a bad vibe
when people get all gung-ho about wanting to keep a particular style of
music "underground" and not letting
'The Masses' get a taste of it. Whenever that happens, you have the
"underground" types look down on "The Masses" and figuratively say, "Nyah,
nyah, I like better music than you do!" And I think that's just dead wrong.
That's not what music was meant to be for. Music is a form of communication
and expression, like language, like visual art, and to limit that form of
communication and expression means you limit it to a certain group or
groups. What good is "communication" when you're speaking in a vacuum? What
good is "expression" when there's no one really to express it to? *I*
personally feel that's wrong. Dead wrong. I'm a singer, musician and
songwriter. I want the whole damn world to hear my music. Not strictly to
make money, but I want the world to know what makes me feel the way I feel,
and *share* to the world my idea of what I think sounds good. some may
discover it's great music. Some may not like it at all. Either way, I've
communicated, I've expressed.
If you create music and you want it to be *strictly* underground, fine
then - lock yourself in a room and put on a pair of headphones. Better yet,
don't even press it on vinyl or CD. Don't even record it on tape. Heck,
don't even *play* it. Just keep it in your head. That way, trust me, it'll
*never* go mainstream.

As for "The average AJ tune" what the F*%& IS the "average AJ tune?" There
is no "average." The worst I've heard is weak "Cantaloop"-clone music beds
used in television commercials. Do I feel that's a violation of my rights
and well-being as an acid jazz fan? Heck no. It's just a bad "Cantaloop"
imitation, that's all it is.
Haven't we all agreed that AJ music itself is a tremendously diverse genre?
The Brand New Heavies does not sound like DJ Shadow, nor does he sound like
Medeski Martin & Wood, nor do they sound like Erykah Badu, nor does she
sound like Jamiroquai. But we all, more or less include all of them in the
same genre, right? And because of its diversity, doesn't it make it even
harder to pigeonhole? Take, for instance, grunge music. That's easy to
pigeonhole - look at the instrumentation: drums, bass, guitar, pseudo-angst
vocals. Voila. But some AJ acts are vocal, some have rap, some are
instrumental. Some acts have horns, some have no guitars, some just a
couple turntables and a sampler. Still it's acid jazz. How can that be
stereotyped and dumbed-down to an extreme?

Some people complain about the "decreasing quality" of new AJ music,
whether by new acts or new material by established ones. That could be
true, but did you ever think it could be simple burn-out, on the behalf of
the artist, the listener or both? Perhaps its time this '70s Retro Vibe'
has run its course, only we're reluctant to admit it. It shows -- for
example the new Brand New Heavies release. People lament N'Dea Davenport's
departure, longing for the days of old...yet we also criticize BNH for
regurgitating 20-year-old grooves. Just an example there. But what gives?

Still, let's assume the worst by the acid jazz doomsayers who predict a
world of aj wannabes and watered-down grooves. Can't you, as a "true" AJ
head, instead of looking down on the musical lower class of 'The Masses",
chiding them for not "understanding the music" or "understanding jazz", try
to actualy *educate* them? I know, 10 years ago, jazz music of any form,
while not disliking it, confused me. Now I can say that I understand it and
appreciate it a great deal. Can't it happen to anyone else? There's enough
alienation and separation in this world today. I don't think acid jazz
music stands for that.

Elson
-30-
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Elson Trinidad
Los Angeles, CA, USA
elson@westworld.com * http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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