There really isn't a huge audience of any type for jazz here- and most of it
is older, say 30 and up, IMO... the largest audience for jazz goes for pop
jazz, the simpler type. Anything deeper probably can't attract many
listeners in our society of instant gratification.
As far as studying jazz rather than feeling it, I am of the view that young
musicians (say, under 30 again) rarely "feel" any type of music they play
because their life experience has been so short. It's rare, also, IMO, for
anyone under that age (which is arbitrary to be sure) to be a really
effective composer or songwriter. (Notice I said rare, not unheard of!)
I'd like to hear more about the "scene" where you live...
At 09:48 AM 7/10/97 +0200, you wrote:
>I feel myself quite marginal on this list. I did studied playing Jazz,
> but acutually I'm not playing it. Noone around me isn't interested.
> So I have projects of other music.
> My Jazz study is like reading litterature... Keyword is:
> "If we want to be creative in 21c, we should know what has been done
> in 20c." Don't we?
>
> The list is talking about 'backdoor 7th'.
>
> A few month ago, I was picking up chord progression of Michael
>Jackson's
> 'You're not alone', to backup a singer who wanted to sing it. The song
> is mainly simple turn arounds, and in the highlight moment it uses
> bVI7-bVII7-I7. It sounds very Motown, very typical sound of Jacksons'
> songs. I'm not theorical person, I didn't explored it in detail, and
> just thought it was chords on temporal I-Aeonian, and resolves
> to I-Mixolydian. I called it Motown 7th to myself.
>
> Later, on Charlie Mingus's homepage somewhere in Italy, I saw that
> Mingus was experimenting such change in blues in 40s. (Mingus studied
> composing and wanted to write a piece like Richart Straus, so as for
> HIS music, there wasn't theory of Jazz but only theory of music.)
> And I wonder the thread of musicians and musical ideas between Jazz,
> Blues and Gospel to Soul or Black Contemporary musics later.
> Fusion as a sort of Jazz music is almost dyeing, but most of sounds,
> effects and musical ideas of 70s fusion are present on any pop music
> on today's countdown. Anyone knows well how players and arrangers of
> Jazz, like Quincy Jones played a roll in creation of Popular black
> music of today?
>
> Another question is about a fate of Jazz. Like Blues, Jazz
> started as a folk music of Black Americans. Now I see most of people
> who listen or play it is more from intellectual taste, and 'learning'
> it than feeling and living it. Blues band from Chicago came with
> a excellent Swedish guitarist. (I enjoyed his playing :)
> I'm not starting racist thread here, but just want to know if average
> Black American audiences are still enjoying listning to Jazz music
>today.
>
> ( I heard once Madagascar's colonial style corrective improvisation
> with many many clarinets, I sounds me clearly as a origine of New
> Orleans Jazz, at least its style of clarinet. The city was once
>French
> colonie, and in French Quator, there must be clarinet players from
> madagascar, too. Jazz was a 'world music' of early 20c. )
>
> Am I only one who think today's musicians are so excellent on things
> that can be taught in school or by books but not so much on things we
> have to explore ourselves?
>
> muchan
>
>
Tim Walters @j
Jazz Studies
Florida Atlantic University
walterstr@fau.campus.mci.net
"Please put the trumpet down and back away slowly."