"yes, its from Poland - is this jazz too?"
No. |
I am not sure it can be defined in a definitive sense.
A musicologist would talk about the historical roots. Southern black music... spirituals, blues, gospel etc... And that would be very informative and very true. The great French Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli once said, 'I never forget, it's a black art form'. He played it well, and made his contributions via his performances, but he never tried to define it or re-define it. This is the heart of the problem. Not so much, WHAT is Jazz, but, WHO should define Jazz. This problem exists in many genres of music.
The best answer for me is, to paraphrase the Supreme Court Justice's views about obscenity, I can't define Jazz, but I know it when I hear it. So we all live in different musical universes, and in my universe, the definition of Jazz is stored on that hard drive between my ears. Put there bit by bit during the years of my musical experiences.
One contributing factor in all this confusion concerning genre, is the idea, prevalent in this country, that a person can reach any goal, with hard work. This is a good positive idea in a general sense, but not absolutely true. When it comes to the arts, talent is the deciding factor. Talent trumps everything else. Desire and hard work are helpful, but talent is vital element. Some refuse to let a lack of talent stop them from reaching their goals.
The result is, we have guys from London calling themselves bluesmen. People from europe playing 'euro' Jazz. They make a lot of money and some of it sounds ok, but it ain't the real deal. Stephane never called his music 'euro Jazz'. hmmmmmm. I think the low point in my musical experience was listening to a German Country and Western band in Franfurt. I still cringe!!
Orpheus10: great question |
Now that we have discussed, debated, disected, ad naseum
lets discover:
Today's playlist
El Jazz Cubano:
various artists including heavyweights like Irakere, Chucho Valdes and Rubalcaba. Very enjoyable straight-ahead jazz. Great piano work.
1993
Jive at Five
Clark Terry & Red Mitchell
Mitchell is a very underrated bass player
1990
Plays Ellington
McCoy Tyner
Includes latin percussionist. 'Caravan' is a standout
1964
The Best of Brailian Jazz
Various Artist (most of whom should desire anonymity)
YAWN. sets world jazz back a few centuries. Only good as a soundtrack for a TV travel show.
as always IMO. :)
Peace |
"Unfortunately, the reality is Jazz is percieved as an 'old' music that's best days happened decades ago. Not only here, I've even found this mindset on jazzsites!"
You mean just like classical music? Show me the 'new' mozart, bach... the 'new' Mingus, cannonball, armstrong et al
It could be that Jazz, the REAL stuff, has just about run it's course. Just like classical. There are some modern composers out there, but the repertoire is still almost totally pre 2oth century, with damn few exceptions. The same can be said of the Blues, R&B, rock & roll, country and gospel. Their most creative era is behind them. If this were not true, today's opera would not be just the tried and true in modern wardrobes. There would not be 302 different recordings of Beethoven's syms. We would all be listening to the 21st century beethoven, the new howlin'wolf, the latest elvis, where is the modern motown? ... you get the drift. The golden age in pop and jazz and classical and gospel and r&b and country IS OVER!! The only thing we have left are reissues that hopefully have improved sound quality. The new music is not saying anything. Metal and rap were never music to start with. BTW, rock & roll and Rock, are not the same thing, so, the stones and several other social security aged rockers are still active because there are no replacements. Same holds true for Jazz. Sadly. |
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Mapman
Thanks for your comments. I did watch the Video you sent and also one by the same group entitled 'meet me halfway. My impressions are:
Very nice video images, pleasant enough music, the vocals expressed nice seniments. A little too political correct for my taste. As I have said before, try listening to the music without looking at the video. Does it changed your opinion of the music? It does for me.
I think my main problem with music like this is that I do not preceive it as 'serious' music from 'serious' people. Why the weird hair and wardrobe? Can you picture John Coltrane or Marvin Gaye in a mohawk hair cut? Why the special sound effects? Motown managed to make the best pop music ever, wearing coats, ties and gowns. Same applys to the Jazz greats. They were SERIOUS people playing SERIOUS music. They dressed accordingly. MJQ even took it to a higher level. Even dirt poor blues players most often managed to dress with coat and tie. It's called, respecting yourself and the music you play. If the video you sent is the wave of the future, I won't argue that point. I got off the train back at the motown, blue note, and chess stop. I use these labels as metaphors for an era. I am still on the classical train. Its has never been better.
Overall it reminded me of european pop from the 70s / 80s. Boney M comes to mind. BTW, I typed this response while 'reviewing' a cd called 'The Best of Brazilian Jazz' I could have been in an elevator or Doctor's waiting room. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :)
Peace. |
Lord my burden is great!
People in India or Japan or any place for that matter, playing American Jazz, does not make it Japanese or Indian Jazz. No more than the New York Philharmonic playing Mozart, makes it American Classical music. The two clips were good, but it was AMERICAN music being played by folks from India and Japan. I think what you are looking for, MAY be found in Cuba. |
Inna: nice indian music. The text refers to some sort of discussion about Indian Classical music and Flamenco. No one mentioned Jazz. Except you of course. I like indian music, some of it is mesmerizing.
Jazz players go and went overseas for the money. Why would any artist limit themselves to one country? Esp, if the people in those countries like and demand their music. I think rockers and blues guys do the same thing. Classical soloist. Most of the Jazz artist that went to Europe, esp, and primarily France, went to get away from the racism rampant in this country. Most came back later. Some didn't, and were soon forgotten in this country, but they made a nice living over there and when Americans artists toured, they would often get picked up by them for the duration of the tour. The choir at Fisk university toured Europe back in the time of Queen Victoria, and sang for her. They probably could not have performed at the white house in that day. You people need to read more. A lot of black writers, such as Richard wright and the great dancer, Josephine Baker went to live in Europe also. Social conditions in this country were the main factor, not europeans love of Jazz. I have lived there for 15 years, and I can assure you, the average european has no more appreciation of Jazz than the average American.
Most of the entries here are getting to be silly. You aren't even talking about Jazz anymore, just third world, 'we loves everybody' clap-trap. Too bad. Some of you could and need to learn something. |
"Orpheus10, this is really good, very powerful and sophisticated performance. Thank you."
Hope a sudden gust of wind does not blow their sheet music off the stands. They look and sound like our local high school band. |
