Do you like jazz?

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 4 Sep 2011 7:04 pm

My father was born in 1923 and turned into a serious trumpet player; he played his way through WWII in the Army Band and had offers from a few big bands when he got out. Fortunately (for me & Sis at least!) he took a good look at the life and the trends and didn't take them up, which was lucky because big band music fell off the face of the earth after the war. But it was always around to listen to, and I got an early visceral reaction whenever the Allman Brothers or Dead broke into swing time. I had to work backwards from Mahavisnu to fusion Miles to 50's Miles, sideways to Coltrane (up till '64 when he went insane), backwards to Barney Kessel, sideways to Chet Atkins etc. So, Yes.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 4 Sep 2011 7:06 pm

David Mason wrote: I had to work backwards from Mahavisnu to fusion Miles to 50's Miles, sideways to Coltrane (up till '64 when he went insane), backwards to Barney Kessel, sideways to Chet Atkins etc. So, Yes.

What a long, strange trip it's been...

Bob Russell · Post by **Bob Russell** » 4 Sep 2011 7:25 pm

I've been a jazz guitar player for most of the 46 years I've been playing, and I teach jazz guitar in a university for a living now. But I've loved the sound of steel guitar since I was a little kid (one of my very first musical memories is my dad taking me to a Red Foley show). Joaquin Murphey, Tom Morrell, Buddy Emmons, Doug Jernigan, Dave Easley - those guys blow my mind just as much as Charlie Christian or Wes or Pat Martino or Kurt Rosenwinkel. Great music is great whatever the instrument.

Butch Gardner · Post by **Butch Gardner** » 5 Sep 2011 8:37 pm

Yes..Yes..Yes..BeBop, Progressive, Dixieland, I love it all. I grew up a sax player and developed a liking, but as a relative newcomer to the steel guitar world I am amazed at the level of jazz being played. Jazz opens the margins of all music genres and allows players to push the boundries. Some are leaders in this venture and some are followers. The leaders usually risk criticism for their exploration into unfamiliar music realms. Even if you don't like it, if you allow yourself to listen with an open mind, you will get new ideas to explore in whatever music genre you prefer to play. I re-learn this everytime is listen to something new. Movie soundtracks are full of new musical ideas that play such an important role in setting the mood of the film or scene. BG

George Redmon · Post by **George Redmon** » 5 Sep 2011 9:51 pm

The only thing i would play would be jazz,swing, and standards if i could. 24-7 eat, sleep, dream jazz. My hat off to the jazz room at the convention, although i've never had the chance to check them out. But i hear those dudes really jam. Keep up the great work Jim. But Jim Cohen,reese anderson, emmons, jernigan, tharpe, chaulker, zane beck,Hal Rugg. I'd rather hear their jazz playing then their country. And of course Wally Murphey, although not a jazz player, not a country player neither. VIVA C6!! JMHO

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 6 Sep 2011 9:56 pm

Nowadays the word "Jazz" is just not specific enough to convey which style of music you are refering to.

Perhaps there was a time when everyone knew what Jazz music was, but I believe that now you need at least two or three words to describe the musical style...
For Example:
Latin Jazz, Gypsy Jazz, Jazz Rock (fuzion) Big Band Swing, Piano Jazz (Trio or otherwise) Vocal Jazz, and on and on.
Some of these styles I love, some I don't like as much.

That being said, I can play a Major 7th chord instead of the root, or add a Diminished 7th, or Augmented 5th chord to a simple I IV V song, and some of my musician friends think it's Jazz!
Substitute a ii,V for the dominant 7th in a country song and amaze your bandmates...

Edward Meisse · Post by **Edward Meisse** » 7 Sep 2011 9:53 am

Dom Franco wrote:Nowadays the word "Jazz" is just not specific enough to convey which style of music you are refering to.

Perhaps there was a time when everyone knew what Jazz music was, but I believe that now you need at least two or three words to describe the musical style...
For Example:
Latin Jazz, Gypsy Jazz, Jazz Rock (fuzion) Big Band Swing, Piano Jazz (Trio or otherwise) Vocal Jazz, and on and on.
Some of these styles I love, some I don't like as much.

That being said, I can play a Major 7th chord instead of the root, or add a Diminished 7th, or Augmented 5th chord to a simple I IV V song, and some of my musician friends think it's Jazz!
Substitute a ii,V for the dominant 7th in a country song and amaze your bandmates...

Yup. Many jazz players don't consider what I play jazz these days. Rather it's a form of roots music or folk. I have taken to calling my genre, "Great American Songbook," or Music of the, "Jazz Age."

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 7 Sep 2011 10:39 am

I've always loved and played music, but it wasn't until I heard Jazz that I realized just how deep music can go. The study of Jazz is my lifelong project.

I love all jazz from the earliest recordings to the most contemporary. There is so much to study that it's best to approach it one era at a time (for studying styles). The language changes so drastically from era to era.

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 7 Sep 2011 11:40 am

Mike, I completely agree that the era, is a great way to discribe many of the types of American Jazz music.

1930's Jazz really swung, and it is vastly different than the modern jazz of the 1950's and 1960's.

I truly love the Swinging Jazz of the big band era, roughly 1930's and 1940's. That's what I have been focusing on playing for the last few years.

Dom

William Lake · Post by **William Lake** » 7 Sep 2011 12:12 pm

I think all musical genres have to be sectioned off into periods. Do you like classical music? Yes...which one, Georgian chant, Bach, Schoenberg, John Cage.
Rock...Chuck Berry, Beatles, Mama and the Papas, Mothers of Invention.
Jazz I guess would be Ragtime, Dixieland, Swing, Bebop and all the junk that came after that.

Ornette Coleman made real jazz on a plastic sax.
Kenny G makes plastic jazz on a real sax

Don Drummer · Post by **Don Drummer** » 8 Sep 2011 12:07 pm

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 9 Sep 2011 5:13 am

i hate jazz
but i really love playin' it
( just a joke now....)

Edward Meisse · Post by **Edward Meisse** » 10 Sep 2011 4:17 pm

Dom Franco wrote:Mike, I completely agree that the era, is a great way to discribe many of the types of American Jazz music.

1930's Jazz really swung, and it is vastly different than the modern jazz of the 1950's and 1960's.

I truly love the Swinging Jazz of the big band era, roughly 1930's and 1940's. That's what I have been focusing on playing for the last few years.

Dom

Me too, Dom.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 10 Sep 2011 9:50 pm

Well, the truth is that Jazz of the Swing Era is much simpler to understand. The rhythms and harmonies were simpler. In the Bebop era things took a dramatic turn and even improvisation was now in a different language that even giants of the Swing era couldn't understand. Players like Lester Young, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest and even influenced the beboppers, was overmatched in that context. Fast forward to the '50s and '60s and the texture of the music changed, not to mentioned how radically different the harmony, rhythms and overall concept of it was. Jazz became listening music and was almost elevated to the level of classical music in some ways.

Like I said, I love jazz of all eras, but for me modern Jazz post-1950s is really where it's at. I chip away at it little by little hoping to understand some of the harmonic concepts of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Some day I'll get there....

Bill Ladd · Post by **Bill Ladd** » 11 Sep 2011 4:48 am

As much as I love the the picture on the album "This is Our Music," post BeBob is pretty much where I get off the train.

I get what they're doing, technically, but I like to dance, I gotta be able to tap my foot, hear the changes, ya know?

'Course I'll listen to them or Eric Dolphy or Rahsaan Roland Kirk or the Lounge Lizards all day long over friggen' Kenny G.

Bill Ladd · Post by **Bill Ladd** » 11 Sep 2011 4:51 am

Mike Neer wrote:Well, the truth is that Jazz of the Swing Era is much simpler to understand...

Hey! Are you callin' me a simpleton?

I resemble that remark!

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 11 Sep 2011 4:33 pm

Yes, I guess I am a simpleton too.
I believe that is also why the Jazz audience is so much smaller than pop, rock or country music.

I like to hear the melody once in a while, and when the harmonies become complex and dissonant, I just lose interest.

One more observation IMHO: After a song is over, If you can't hum the melody, it has lost all musical appeal to most people. And who are we playing for?

Dom