Re: What is a thing called jazz ?

Date: 13 Jun 2003 03:54:36 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
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>> You assume that people in the 21st Century actually like
contemporary jazz
performance (e.g., "Kind of Blue").
No, I assume -- actually, I know -- that most people in the 21st
Century can't stand jazz. (They didn't like it much in the latter
20th, either.) But of the ones who do like it, "Kind of Blue" tends to
be a favorite since it's apparently the biggest-selling "pure" jazz
album of all time.
<< I personally find it just a bunch of noise, find all it does is
set me on edge, and therefore will not listen to it. That noise has
been the definition of jazz (for me), and until recently didn't
realize there was something more to jazz, something to enjoy about
jazz. I'm looking forward to the superior listening enjoyment of the
early music.
>> Elizabeth Richardson
Okay, I'm with all of you who don't get the "bunch of noise" critique,
but maybe the flurries of notes in the Coltrane solos that most of us
would find relatively tame truly do grate on her nerves.
Elizabeth, it seems that you want something fairly mellow. Why do you
feel compelled to reach back to older jazz and force yourself to put
up with low-fidelity recordings when there's plenty of much better
sounding contemporary jazz that's sweet, lyrical, laid-back, and
performed by world-class musicians?
I suggest Michael Brecker's "Nearness of You: The Ballad Book." Anyone
have any other suggestions?