Re: Jazz recommendations for newbie

Date: 18 Jun 2003 17:48:29 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
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Nick writes:
<< If you insist on promoting 1920's stuff, the avant garde, and maybe a few
bebop things, your converts will be few in number. With more "accessible"
stuff, a lot more people will respond, and maybe some of them will evolve to
appreciate the stuff you think is the "real deal." >>
No one, save maybe Zed, is suggesting the music you and tritone promote should
be ignored. But you keep insisting it's an "either/or" situation. If you're
constructing a list with 20 slots, then you have plenty of room to include a
vast selection of styles.
<< On the contrary, I think the "snob" stereotype is a result of people who
say, e.g., "only swing and bebop are the true jazz; anything else, especially
that jazz-rock stuff, is a bunch of crap," or something similar. >>
I believe you're wrong about that. I think the mainstream, which holds the
"jazz = snob" stereotype, is blissfully unaware of those petty arguments which
exist within the jazz realm. As I said, I think it's the broader attitudes
about jazz -- that it's better, that rock is inferior, and particularly that a
pop fan would require "tutoring" in order to bring himself into the jazz fold
-- that perpetuate this stereotype.
So we disagree.
<< The cold, hard fact is that jazz doesn't, and will never, resonate with a
majority of people. No amount of media exposure or marketing will change that.
It's a human nature issue. >>
That, I agree with. At least here in the States, people have been conditioned
to expect less from their music; and when it delivers more, they are
unpleasantly surprised. It's not what they want.
But your statement, with which I agree, is NOT what JC was saying. He argued
that "old jazz" doesn't/will never resonate with people, but that modern jazz
would. That, I believe, is hogwash.
And of course, it's coming from someone who instantly accuses any fan of older
styles as a "Marsalis/Crouch crony." This is a miserable attitude, and
unfortunately common in RMB: the belief that a person promoting one thing is,
by definition, denigrating something else.
I stand by my statement: Those of you insisting that a newbie cannot find his
own way, that he must be carefully led through "introductory" music until YOU
feel he's ready for artists X, Y & Z...you're condescending, you're elitist,
and you give the rest of us jazz fans a bad name.
And BTW, I see that someone referred to the Yellowjackets as "fluff." They're
not. They're each incredibly serious musicians, and a lot of their music is
quite heavy. Check them out, or ignore 'em...but don't make wildly inaccurate
characterizations. I dislike smooth jazz, but they ain't it.
crib