Unvarnished Truth

[Bill McCloskey]

Great clip of Branford Marsalis talking about students today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rz2jRHA9fo

If only more people had the guts to speak their minds.

[Richard Sevigny]

children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for
authority, they show disrespect to their elders.... They no longer
rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents,
chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their
legs, and are tyrants over their teachers

[Mitch Drumm]

If only more people had the guts to speak their minds.

The lack of guts is a comment on the political and social environment in which we find ourselves in 2010.

Pretense is much more convenient than talking about the the very visible elephants in the room. Baby needs a new pair of shoes, you know.

His comments apply equally well to any field of endeavor--not just music.

Most importantly, the comments are an indictment of the culture, not just "students" or any other group.

[Bob Hoffnar]

News Flash ! Man over 50 thinks that the world is going down the crapper !

Being in my 50's I find fighting that self serving, delusional and frankly boring attitude in myself as important as trying to keep my cholesterol levels down.

[Scott Shipley]

No offense Richard, but that was a Socrates quote. Still very relevant though. Sad thing is, we've been goin downhill since day two. Nothin new.

[Barry Blackwood]

News Flash ! Man over 50 thinks that the world is going down the crapper !

Bob, it also took me until I was over 50 to realize that it was indeed, boring, self serving, and true. Good luck with your cholesterol, however.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Lets look at it from this perspective. Branford Marsalis is a legendary player to many. He is very busy, wealthy and successful. Charges amazing amounts of money for his time. So he may get a student now and then that can afford a workshop or a lesson with him. Now here is some hot shot kid that gets a chance to meet and play for someone he idolizes for 45 minutes. he play his best stuff. It would be so validating to have a legendary player approve of him. So instead of complimenting the kid and then doing what decent humans do and trying to help him learn he pumps himself up by degrading the kids. I find that as a teacher I often get students who's first impulse is to show off there stuff. My first impulse is not to tell them how lazy and stupid kids these days are.

What he is saying is not true. In NYC I saw 100's of kids coming out of the New School jazz program every year that were vastly more skilled and better trained than there elders. They can read down any crazy chart and bop is like playing twinkle twinkle little star for them. There harmonic knowlege is extremely advanced to the point that they are changing pop music with the beautiful use of modal harmonic concepts. Check out how slash major/minor chords are showing up on charts more and more. And the drummers ! Coming up in a world of samples and cross cultural stew make the playing of poly rythms feel natural. They can freely play and feel music that I can barely comprehend. Head down to the 55 Bar in NYC and check out Dan Weiss some time !

What about all those bluegrass kids coming up ? They did not get the ability to play that freakin fast by playing video games or by handing some pompous "master" $500 so he would pass his magic wand of humiliation over them.

Branford has been spouting off about how great he is and how much everybody else sucks for a long time. Weird way to live your life if you ask me.

[Barry Blackwood]

Branford Marsalis is a legendary player to many. He is very busy, wealthy and successful.

OK, that's a given. I don't know if he got to where he is by demeaning people, do you? It doesn't seem likely, but I'm no expert. Given the choice, would you want a "nice" mentor who's going to coddle you, or a tough one who'll point out your shortcomings before they become bad habits, etc. I realize it's not all one way or the other, but who's to say Marsalis is a "pompous master." Not me, I don't know him that well...

[Bob Hoffnar]

Branford is a truly great and gifted musician and may be a nice guy. But he sure does talk a load of crap. Look up some of his interviews.
Its amazing ! In one he talks about how he grew up in funk bands and how bad everybody but him plays it. In another he talks about how jazz teachers should not put a focus on vertical harmony and jazz should only be taught by ear like in the 30's while in the next sentence extolling the virtues of Coltrane who freakin invented extended vertical harmonic systems based on modern classical compositions. In another he will go on about how he is basicly a pop musician and proceed to trash talk his gig with Sting.

The bit about "those lazy kids today" is for grumpy dudes that don't get out much. I meet astonishing young dedicated players constantly. Met one today. A road player is picking up the steel as a double and wanted a couple pointers. He will be a bad ass in no time.

Bill,
If you want to see what the younger guys are up to in NYC keep an eye out for Eivind Opsvik, David Binney, Jacob Sacks, Dan Weiss, Jonathon Haffner, Chris Lightcap and on and on. And that is just a very small part of a small sub genre of new jazz players. You live in the heartland of bad ass young jazz guys. I'm amazed you could think the young players out there now are not dedicated.

[CrowBear Schmitt]

could'nt agree w: you more Bob

these times are great fer technocrats, ayatollahs, & scientologists

there goes the musik police.....

[Bill McCloskey]

I'm amazed you could think the young players out there now are not dedicated.

whoa, slow down. I never said that. The interesting part of the interview for me was his expressing his opinion in such non-pr friendly way. I was posting this, not because I don't think there are great young jazz players out there. I see them every day, and certainly Wynton's approach to teaching young people is very opposed to his brother. I just liked that he said what he was thinking, in our world were every thing is spun.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Bill,
I'm with you on that one. I'm into people saying what they mean straight out myself. Sorry for the assumptions.

[Brad Bechtel]

Boy, after listening to that interview, I feel sorry for the students Mr. Marsalis has. I wonder why his students are so unmotivated and unwilling to work to a level he finds appropriate.

[Andy Sandoval]

Sounds like Branford might just be a little too full of himself.

[Brint Hannay]

Ya think?

[Aled Rhys Jones]

The video is somewhat amusing, but I agree with Bob H. The 55 Bar in NYC is a great venue for checking out young (and not so young!) musicians developing their own voice and taking improvised music forward - and there are plenty of them.

[Bill McCloskey]

Love the 55 bar, but it is very guitar centered, at least when I've been there.

[Mike Neer]

I think there is some truth in what Branford says here, but I think one thing he does is underestimates the stubbornness of the younger players. Yes, they are looking for validation, but there is a whole new language being born in Jazz now. It requires a different vocabulary. Branford is post-bop player who is devoting a lot of his energy to playing Classical music, so he has a very high set of standards for technique; his students probably don't share this same desire.

There are tons of very good players out there today and a lot of systems for learning. Students have many options now, so if something bores them or pushes away, they have other choices.