Re: Re: Blue Note: Flushing jazz down the toilet

From: dj t-bird (djt_bird@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed May 10 2000 - 14:58:41 MET DST

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    > Hmm, what about all the guys who dropped out of Berklee once they got
    > a good gig, sorry no names come to my mind.

    Jan Hammer, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea--almost anyone famous you can think of
    that went to Berklee dropped out when they got a good gig!! That still
    doesn't stop the school from mentioning them--everybody wins...

    >But, don't you think
    > that having an artform studied in school, is a definite sign of its
    > maturity? It may not help the 'cause', but, it does show people are
    > listening.
    > erik g

    it cuts both ways. the study shows the "respectability" of the art, but the
    acceptance from the mainstream diminishes the perception of being
    "revolutionary."

    personally, i think that there is still much that can be done with jazz if
    people will look at the spirit of jazz as opposed to the *conventions.* a
    resistance toward bending or at least *examining* the "rules" is what leads
    to the death of an art form.

    > as for Blue Note, they do have Charlie Hunter, and recently signed
    > MM&W who put out a 'straight-ahead' album "tonic", no mindless
    > meandering. And, the Europen arm is the one that releases Erik
    > Truffaz, those who are trying to look forward,

    don't forget saint-germain--a good direction for them, i think (hopefully
    this can redeem the bad ending of the Us3 experiment).

    >but, you've got to
    > realize once jazz lost its audience to R&B and Soul, it became the
    > domain of the White Middle class, who now sustain, the Hip-hoper, or
    > at least their children do.

    i don't know about that last statement. as a record store employee &
    blackman, i can say that there are plenty of non-white people that buy jazz
    & hiphop. as far as the big names (in both genres), sure they wouldn't be
    as big without popularity w/white buyers, but in jazz (which is *less* about
    entertainment than hiphop) i don't think that there's the same type of
    pandering toward a particularly white audience--i.e., people that like
    jazz-flavored pop come in many colors. i guess i'm feeling that the people
    you're talking about matter more because of their class
    (middle/upper-middle) than their race--which i think is more varied than
    you're accounting for.

    -t

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