Paul Davis wrote:
On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 2:10 AM, david <gnome@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Or (to me) the endless soundalike lookalike stuff that passes for way too
much jazz these days? Sorry, to my ears, the days of jazz performers that
actually sound like themselves seems to have passed. Too many players now
seem to be trying only to sound like someone else.
how are you "listening" to jazz in the first place?
Historically? Mostly recordings or live performances. Maybe what NPR
calls jazz.
if you do so
mostly via traditional broadcast radio then its not surprising that
you have this impression.
I don't even listen to much non-jazz via broadcast radio!
precisely what one calls "jazz" is pretty
hard to pin down (it is certainly not limited "that swing"),
I've heard that jazz is very "hard to pin down". Even amongst jazz players!
but i
listen to soma fm's "sonic universe" streaming music service, which
bills itself as being on edge of jazz, and you will find (as i have)
dozen's of artists there who all consider themselves as being very
much a part of the jazz tradition yet definitely do not sound like
someone else.
over the last six months, these are some of the people i've either
discovered or gotten very much deeper into thanks to sonic universe:
marc beacco (acapella + 1 instrument)
jon hassell (knew of him, but not since the 70's)
avisahai cohen (extraordinary bass player & trio, playing unbelievably
syncopated stuff)
marcin wasilewski trio (polish p/d/b trio with an incredibly delicate sound)
tomasz stanko (trumpeter, his trio is the trio just named)
portico quartet (UK quartet centered on the hang drum)
cinematic orchestra (UK ensemble that exists in the space between jazz
& trip-hop)
OK, I've heard of hip-hop. Is trip-hop the music that results when they
trip over baggy, drooping pants? ;-)
bugge wesseltoft (keyboard player blending modern electronica with
scandanavian jazz)
tord gustavsen (piano player who echoes bill evans but through a very
scandanavian lens)
andy sheppard (UK sax player mixing in non-jazz rhythms and sounds
from everywhere)
nik baertsch's ronin (extraordinary ensemble that blends minimalism,
jazz with a funkier sense)
dhafer youssef (incredible oud player creating stuff with influences
from around the world)
Cool - I'll have to check them out. Thanks!
there are many more that i've discovered by cruising around on
emusic.com. my experience is that jazz on the radio in the US is
basically dead, but that it also hardly represents what is happening
in jazz either.
I think radio music in the US is very limited! There's NPR's classical
side. There's the usual assortment of popular genres, and (here in
Hawaii) traditional Hawaiian music, modern Hawaiian music, and the
Hawaiian-Reggae fusion called Jawaiian. Jazz is played in some of the
clubs and art galleries, but there's no radio station here that plays
jazz. (Unless some older jazz shows up on an oldies station. Any oldies
stations still playing music from the 30s, 40s or 50s? Most of them seem
to think "old" music began in the 60s or 70s, and play only music that
was Top 40 stuff of that time.)
My best friend considers Baroque music to be just on the edge of new. He
really prefers older music than that - Gregorian chant, for instance!
--
David
gnome@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
authenticity, honesty, community
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