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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2019 19:18:41 GMT -5
What is Jazz, and what does it mean to you?
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Post by jbone on Sept 28, 2019 21:49:50 GMT -5
Big question Paul! I think jazz sprung from a desire by urban musicians primarily, to kind of pep up the current (at the time) blues idiom. Like blues it was initially very improvisational. Someone would find a riff that was catchy and danceable and expand and contract it to suit the current crowd. Over time it evolved and branched a lot.
Jump and swing came from jazz. Even Western swing guys like Bob Wills used elements from jazz among other genres. To me bluegrass is a sort of folk/country jazz. Me personally as a harmonica player, and a notorious improvisor, Once my skills developed enough, I found the West Coast Swing blues bands and the stuff they put out has been really game changing. George "Harmonica" Smith is considered the father of West Coast Swing harmonica and he gave my world a huge gift.
Jazz has offered a sophistication to music which could have become old and stale. Other hand though, for me, while I like the early iterations of jazz, when it gets too cool and cerebral I lose interest. Mine needs the buildup and resolution I find in blues.
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Post by earleg on Sept 29, 2019 15:21:20 GMT -5
Sneaking flatted 5ths, sometimes minor 3rds and chromatic notes into tunes that originally didn't have. That or creating tunes like that.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2019 15:58:02 GMT -5
According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Revised Edition 2006) jazz is "a type of music of Black American origin characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and a regular rhythm, and typically played on brass and woodwind instruments" and the origin of the word itself is given as "early 20th Century: of unknown origin."
The music commonly referred to as "jazz" has a range and diversity, a richness and beauty, that is totally belied by such a bland definition.At the same time, I do understand the difficulty faced by the writers of the esteemed dictionary - how on earth does one encompass within a few words, in the form of a lasting definition, a musical tradition and experience that encompasses the sounds of Jelly Roll Morton and Cecil Taylor, Bix Beiderbecke and Don Cherry, Coleman Hawkins and Ornette Coleman, Sidney Bechet and Steve Lacy, Johnny St Cyr and Pat Metheny, and countless others at the various extremes and points in between that constitute the territory of jazz?
As to the origin of the word itself, that is also a matter of considerable controversy, with many musicians commonly associated with the music actually disliking the word "jazz" because of its possibly unsavory connotations, especially the sexual ones. Among the musicians who did not like the word were Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus.
In a detailed study of the origin of the word Dutch musician and language expert Bob Rigter argues that the word comes from the French word "chasse" which he says is likely given the French Creole culture of the city where jazz originated, New Orleans.
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Post by whitefang on Sept 30, 2019 10:09:02 GMT -5
Wasn't it the divine LOUIS ARMSTRONG who, when once asked, "What is jazz?" replied, "If you have to ask,you'll never know."? Now, some of you can answer that question as academically as you wish, but you should know that once you start intellectualizing it you'll lose all the vital essence of it. Like the blues on which most of it is based... If you don't(or can't) feel it, you'll probably never be any good at playing it. Try playing either too "smart" you'll wind up playing it sterile. "Feeling" it will get you further than over thinking it. It's why say comics like George Carlin and Richard Pryor were much funnier than Dennis Miller or Jerry Seinfeld could ever hope to be. But then this is but one man's opinion (based on what he's heard). Whitefang
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2019 11:44:38 GMT -5
That sounds good to me! If you don’t have feeling, you won’t get it! That’s why I struggle with listening to certain people or trying to play.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2019 15:43:19 GMT -5
Wasn't it the divine LOUIS ARMSTRONG who, when once asked, "What is jazz?" replied, "If you have to ask,you'll never know."? I was never really a jazz fan truthfully, I like sweeter sounds, like the blues, 50's Rock and Roll, and country. But I do admire those players for their skill and musical knowledge however.
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Post by jbone on Sept 30, 2019 17:56:02 GMT -5
Where the lines blurred, between "blues" and "jazz, that is some sweet territory. A lot of early harp work was done in second position or cross harp. Somewhere a bit after the whole urban jazz thing came to be, some players figured out other positions to play harp in and it took the instrument and the genre to a new place. A lot of harp you hear on more jazz and jump/swing, is in third or slant position. For me personally, I had no idea about this kind of esoteric voodoo stuff for some years. Once I tried to become more of a student some doors opened in my mind. Some 20 years ago- nearly half of the time since I first took up harp- I played my first harp piece in 3rd or slant position. From that, a whole new world of possibilities opened up.
Stevie Wonder and Toots Thielmanns are 2 names I associate very much with jazz harmonica. There are many others.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2019 20:12:55 GMT -5
I took guitar lessons from several great jazz players, The Late Emily Remler, and Bob Aslanian (Bob taught Al DeMeola before he went off to Berklee College of Music) Bob was the most astounding player I ever saw up close and personal. Taking lessons from Bob was the most intense thing that I ever did on guitar. I took lessons from Emily Remler first, she taught me about the Modes, and talked about music as if it came in "flavors". She had the feel of an inspired master musician. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Remler Bob on the other hand was a superb technician. Very demanding in what he taught me, and what he expected from me at the next lesson two weeks later. He lived in a town called Forked River NJ. which is inland from the islands off the Jersey shore where I grew up. He was simply amazing for his technique whereas Emily was more into feel, but still well versed in theory. I never really wanted to be a jazz player however. So I never pursued those lessons after a half dozen or so from Bob and just a very few from Emily. From interactive Guitar Magazine excerpt below; Born in New Jersey in 1954, Di Meola picked up the guitar at the tender age of eight, under the tutelage of New Jersey instructor Bob Aslanian. As we will see later, Di Meola was soon heavily into the Beatles (he even credits the band as being the reason he took up the guitar in the first place) but Aslanian drilled him intensely on Jazz, theory and reading, making him a well rounded musician at a very young age. The pair would eventually release the handbook, A Guide to Chords, Scales and Arpeggios which gives you a great insight into the material Al had grown up on.
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Post by jbone on Sept 30, 2019 21:23:39 GMT -5
I will say this, if one strives outside one's chosen area, it can broaden their scope a lot. Not that I've gone too far out but over the years I have been challenged to try songs/genres I would not have picked myself. Result was good many times!
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Post by whitefang on Oct 1, 2019 10:26:37 GMT -5
Personal experience can help with some appreciation of other musical forms. While always liking the sound, I too admire orchestral music, like the various symphony orchestras and classical music owing to knowing the difficulty just four or five of us had in a "basement band" just managing to keep in sync with each other, and big orchestras do it routinely with 50+ musicians. And as jazz comes in many forms, and some of those are STILL being debated as to whether or not they really are jazz, I'd suggest to DBM that he take care to not put all that's called "jazz" into the same pigeonhole and claim to not be a jazz fan. I mean..... Some consider THIS to be jazz... But then too, there's this.... You claim to like "sweeter" sounds, so take your pick... Whitefang
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Post by whitefang on Oct 12, 2019 10:34:54 GMT -5
And too, here's a more recent "sweet" pick... And too, back in the '20's and '30's and so, many called this guy's music "sweet"--- Whitefang
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Post by whitefang on Oct 18, 2019 9:42:48 GMT -5
OK. Maybe this clip from the movie HIGH SOCIETY will help...... ?
Whitefang
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