I just watched a great documentary on the new face(s) of (jazz) called "Icons Among Us" and it made me fall in love with this music all over again. It also made me feel: curious, inspired, angry, frustrated, happy, and full of bilious rage at critics, professors, so-called jazz purists, and Wynton Stickindabutt Marsalis.
This is not a retread of the usual debate of Traditional Jazz versus New Jazz. This is an examination of jazz losing it's way in order to find its way. Jazz transcending jazz to be...I don't even know - cosmic improvisation? tathagata-jam? The definition of jazz is not expanding, it is evaporating. The musicians in this documentary play improvisational music built on a number of influences beside the tradition of Jazz. They're soaking in the world and living a philosophy of improvisation within community, treating the music as a living organism. The music is incredible! Hip hop jazz orchestras, metal blues bop, and freestyle rhythmic vitality. The music is alive and well and going in new directions.
But then the purists step in and embarrass themselves with the same old stock "This isn't Jazz!" bullshit. A writer says, "Jazz today has no clear message, no clear identity." Marsalis says, "We're not producing the same caliber of musician." Harrison says, "If you haven't shared the stage with a Blakey or Gillespie, you don't have the foundation to move this tradition forward."
The new musicians respond in kind. Robert Glasper says, "If Charlie Parker came back from the dead, he'd say, 'You're still playing the same shit I was - what the fuck are you doing?" Robert Shipp says, "I don't have to view music through the prism of 'Bud Powell played it like this' or 'Bill Evans played it like this'. Fuck those guys. I do it my way."
That to me is the spirit of this music: that which does not grow is dead. I love the way Bill Frisell defines music. He says it's "a place where no one gets hurt and you can do whatever you want." I think that's all the context/message/identity you need. Now pick up that goddamn horn and say something honest.
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“Just because I’m playing jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through jazz, or whatever. Music is, or was, a language of the emotions.”
“Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for Parker’s next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now?”
“In my music, I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it’s difficult is because I’m changing all the time.”
“Good jazz is when the leader jumps on the piano, waves his arms, and yells. Fine jazz is when a tenorman lifts his foot in the air. Great jazz is when he heaves a piercing note for 32 bars and collapses on his hands and knees. A pure genius of jazz is manifested when he and the rest of the orchestra runaround the room while the rhythm section grimaces and dances around their instruments.”
Those are all the words of the great Charles Mingus. He got little or no mention in the documentary that Ken Burns made on Jazz. Burns was advised by Wynton Marsalis - Wynton was stifled by fear of the unknown note, as usual. I've heard crap about what is or isn't jazz all my life. People like Mingus faced this and turned their backs on the idiots who tried to categorize them and their music. But you know, Mingus was from L.A., along with Dexter Gordon, Eric Dolphy, and lord knows what the fuck would those guys know about jazz!
I love the documentary you mentioned - one of my favorites.
One last pearl from Mingus:
“Let my children have music! Let them hear live music. Not noise. My children! You do what you want with your own!”
Why is it that there is always, in every music scene, that group of people that wants to strangle the child? Or better yet, have it stillborn so they can put it in a mausoleum and come and worship it on Sundays. It's odd, don't you think? I've seen it with punk rock, hip hop, classical, and jazz. It's so boring. Stop naming things and categorizing things to death. Just let it run free in the surf and enjoy the spectacle.
Oh, and Ken Burns is pretty much the walking, talking, doc making definition of all that is wrong with what is left of white culture.
I think Ken Burns and Wynton should start a club called The Enshriners. They could get together in dusty basements or mildewing ballrooms and decry the death of tradition without bothering the rest of us.
Just found this:
http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/on-why-jazz-isnt-cool-anymore/
"Jazz is dead.
Miles ahead."
"Miles Davis personified cool and he hated Jazz."
Nice. It's always like that. If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, kill it. I love skateboarding so much I want it to die. Huntington Beach Surf Contest Riot in '86: they burned the bleachers and chased everyone into the sea. I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member. Etc.
And through all the confusion, the beat goes on:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/28/world/meast/quincy-jones-bokra/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Wow. That song suuuucked! I'm happy Jones made it and it's for a good cause and all but damn. That song suuuucked.
Capn
Brother Numsi!
Calm down. Of course it sucked! It's basically Arabic repetitive pop music! But the point is that a major so called jazz icon, Q, has reached out to make something happen outside the so called "Jazz" box. I think that Q, Herbie Hancock (check out his CD Possibilities), Payton, MartinMediskiWood, and many others are way ahead of the curve on this. The future lies in the music itself.
I dreamed once about a music project. Take Coltrane's Naima or Giant Steps, written music only, and give to as many musicians around the world as possible to interpret. Come back and see them a year later and record the efforts - I can hear Eastern Europeans, Klezmer, Bantus, Malaysia Court Musicians, Chinese opera musicians, Mali Wolof tribal musicians, etc, all interpreting this without the baggage of the states - record a double CD, make a doc, and produce a coffee table book! In the words of Judy Tanuta - It could happen!
That's a pretty good idea. Wouldn't cost too much either although you'd have to limit the travel on the doc side to control costs. Any intention of actually doing this?
The Downtown Dickensian
WELL, WE'RE WAITING!
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