Well, I've already got a blog on "old music" as it were, but after a while I just felt that was kind of constricting when dealing with a musical form that encompasses such a wide span of styles and genres. I figured, I like ranting about jazz the most anyway, so why not just stick up another blog dedicated just to that most American of art-forms, Jazz?
Jazz is America's greatest contribution to the artistic world. This is a controversial statement, but one that has been echoed many times. One could perhaps argue that cinema rivals jazz for the title, cinema popped up all around the world around the same time and so America cannot lay claim to it - unlike jazz, which is uniquely and inarguably American. In saying that though, I reveal the great paradox of jazz: it is the product of incredible cross-cultural integration. A lot of people like to type jazz as typically "black" music but this isn't right...jazz comes from so many different places and cultures that it's not possible to put your finger on it and yet it all came together in America as it did nowhere else. It is a folk music form, created un-educated, non-sight-reading working class people and yet at its most complex it rivals the highest classical forms.
Of course, this is exactly where the problem with jazz lies - the dichotomy between all the various genres is so wide that it causes a lot of confusion and, as such, there is a rift in criticism and audience figures. There are the New Orleans purists who believe that if it ain' N'awlinz, it ain't Jazz. There are your grandparents generation who swung out with Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman when jazz was pop music. Then are the modern jazz-fans who casts a disparaging-eye on the concept of "entertainment". The basic problem here is that most people find it hard to accept all these myriad forms as one. There are people who will sneer if confronted with a Fats or Satch record while clutching their precious 'Trane and Bird records to their hearts, while some dismiss bop and its descendents as just jarring noise. And swing is almost universally reviled on both sides...
All of these attitudes are wrong, quite simply. There is no reason to that one cannot appreciate and enjoy the likes of Fats Waller and Thelonious Monk equally in spite of their respective genres. It is not even accurate to say that there is a differing sense of "entertainment" and "complexity" - Monk sure as hell couldn't stride like Fats could...it's all just different. Not a case of better or worse.
Still, the biggest problem confronting jazz is one that already snared classical music from the public's grasp - the problem of snobbery and pretentiousness. There is no more horrific sight for me than finding a copy of "Kind of Blue" or "A Love Supreme" gathering dust in the bottom of someone's collection and then having that person make a lengthy rant about how much they "love" and "get" jazz, before they proceed to play a Killers CD or something...so jazz has become known to all as "highbrow" music that is more valuable as a form of intellect boosting than as a genuine enjoyable art form. When was the last time you saw someone dancing at a Jazz Club? For a music which is so based on rhythm and syncopation, the lack of physical involvement is just ridiculous.
Well, that's where I step in! I'm going to set the record straight on this matter, if it kills me. So without further ado, let us be taken to the land of Jazz...
No comments:
Post a Comment