I think you answered your own question... Blue Note (US)has become another arm of Capitol, which is part of one of the 4 or 5 big ones (EMD, EMI? or perhaps Universal). So I don't think you'd look to Blue Note, (unless from France, ie St Germain) for innovation in jazz, but perhaps the smaller labels like Jazzateria, Ninja Tune. The sad part of that is that those companies are limited in their resources to get product and info out, Blue Note has the recognition, but its no longer the label it used to be. I venture to guess that there are perhaps 2 or 3 employees directly under the umbrella name of Blue Note. 1 person who handles A&R, product development, sales, for the occasional original release and the rest just re-issuing and compiling from a vast library, in addition to literature (like the Blue Note cover art photo albums). Why not? there seems to be demand for it and its just a matter of "re-cycling," not much overhead... innovative art? no!.... clever business "re-cycling"?.... yes
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Catanzaro
To: acid jazz
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 4:14 PM
Subject: Blue Note: Flushing jazz down the toilet
... and the music schools have their hands on the plunger!
(RANT WARNING RANT WARNING RANT WARNING)
Recent list mention of Greg Osby's "New Directions In Jazz" had me rushing for a copy, which means I had to go through the Blue Note Comps bin, which got me thinking these 2 things.
1. Why would this label be making up so many compilations which feature all the Blue Note originals that hip hoppers have sampled? Who is supposed to buy those things?... Real traditonal jazz heads who go out of their way NOT to hear the hip hop versions... (or don't like 'em if they do?) Producers or DJ's? Well, what producer or DJ worth their salt is gonna sample stuff that's already become that famous... again?
So, maybe it's got a purpose in turning some jazz-inclined hip hoppers on to the real thing... the classic Blue Note era records of the 50's and 60's, maybe the greatest music ever recorded! But that brings me to point 2....
Classic Blue Note always seemed to me to be about innovation... people like Miles, Horace, Trane, the great organ players, they were all originals, creating a NEW sound.
Most of 'em were SELF taught, for the most part, as there were no real schools of jazz at that time... you just learned by doing... similar to the various Producer/DJ arts of today...
Well now, there are music schools of jazz, with degrees and everything, and the result of this mentality can be heard on "New Directions in Jazz."
Why in the world would ANYONE want to hear this version of "Tom Thumb," for instance, when the original is so much BADDER in every way? Ditto "Song For My Father" and "The Sidewinder." I'd be down to hear some real NEW versions... but this? This sounds like a musical term paper on the Blue Note era.
Shouldn't the new jazz artists be CREATING new frontiers, as opposed to the mildly interesting TWEAKING to the classic tradition so many of 'em do?
And shouldn't Blue Note be finding those creative artists instead of signing all of these jazz performance competition winners from the Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory?
The school-competition thing has ruined Western European music (so called "classical" music... when's the last time a composer was carried through the streets of his city after his death... ala Beethoven? Where's the widespread passion for modern classical music?)
Now, this same education system is threatening to ruin Afro-American music (every bit as "classical") by forcing young musicians to COPY instead of innovate.
What's gonna happen when the schools recognize the value of hip-hop, say 40 years from now... Ouch... Blackalicious in a museum? Blackalicious imitators giving concerts at the Smithsonian? All the life will be squeezed out!
MUSICANS!!! SOS!!!
(Stay Outta School!)
signed,
an ex-music professor
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