----- Original Message -----
From: stephanie <nnine@yahoo.com>
To: <djt_bird@yahoo.com>
Cc: ajlist <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 9:35 AM
Subject: Re: Re: Blue Note: Flushing jazz down the toilet
> > it cuts both ways. the study shows the
> > "respectability" of the art, but the
> > acceptance from the mainstream diminishes the
> > perception of being
> > "revolutionary."
>
> maybe the other way around? the diminishing
> necessity/motivation/encouragement to be revolutionary
> increases mainstream acceptance? both i guess. you
> could take out jazz and replace it with anything you
> want...junglism, vegetarianism, libertarianism....
i don't really agree with the rationale that equates popular with bad. just
because a lot of music that is popular *is* bad, doesn't mean that music
that becomes popular is inherently bad. i also don't think that music has
to be "dumbed down" to become popular. there can be some "meeting halfway",
but to analogize you can write a great piece of literature with small words.
a great example in the jazz idiom would be thelonius monk. if you've ever
performed or studied his compositions you'll see that the elements of his
compositions are quite simple, it's what he does with the simple elements
that comprise his genius--displacing basic riffs by an eighth or sixteenth
note, and making them much harder to execute by doing so...
> what's the motivation for revolution in today's jazz?
> is it too factionalized to say? my local
> university-based jazz station isn't giving me any clues.
to me the motivation is what it's always been--to do something different, to
explore that thing that you're
hearing-in-your-head-but-not-sure-how-to-get-your-fingers-to-play, to create
beauty amidst strife (all those cliches & more!! ;) )
i think the problem is that people's ideas & definitions of jazz are too
limited. for me jazz is almost more about the reasons and ways you go about
creating/playing than the result. take the drummer jack de jonette (sp?),
he has a very jazz-go-for-it way of playing. he's very exciting because
he's trying to be in the moment and take chances--sometimes he blows it
really big, but when he makes it you understand why it's important for him
to try.
the biggest revolution is to listen to that voice in your head that's always
a little ahead of what you're presently doing. it's kind of like someone
who's talking to you and heading into another room--you have to strain to
hear them if you're not willing to go to the next room.
it's really late and i need to go to bed, but i hope i've been making sense
to you...
-t
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