Four Fried Chickens and a Coke: Greg Rosen Saturdays Presents: Kulture Korner: Jazztastic

This post is essentially a precursor to my next post so that it’s not stupidly long and grueling. My next post, in case you’re wondering, will be a countdown of the best jazz albums of the new millennium. “Why not of the past year?” you might be asking. I’m getting to that. Anyway, as a disclaimer, I apologize in advance if I sound condescending at all in this post. I don’t know what you know so I have to cover as many bases as possible. That being said…on with the jazz.

Jazz is a tricky thing to define. It has evolved into something much more complex than what one might think jazz is. Its not all big bands and swing beats. Jazz has come to encompass and incorporate all musical influences surrounding it. Just like jazz musicians of the past took old show tunes and turned them into jazz standards, many of them today are taking popular songs (mostly Radiohead songs) and transforming them into something else entirely. Go on youtube and check out some of Brad Mehldau’s or the Bad Plus’ covers. Anyway, jazz has also come to incorporate the feels, both rhythmically and harmonically, of other genres. Basically just think of a genre of music and add the prefix, “jazz” to it and you’ll have a new genre that I’m sure is existent. Among the most popular extensions of the jazz idiom are: Soul Jazz, Jazz Funk, Out Jazz, Progressive Jazz, and Garage Jazz.

Take note that I did not mention adult contemporary or smooth jazz in there. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this: I do not consider these to be music. Kenny “Christmas Album” G is, at least in my school, considered a joke. And I will go out on a limb and say that almost every other musician or any one who knows anything about music will feel the same way. Though I must give credit where credit is due.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering what some of those genres I spat out were, here are some very brief definitions as I see them that by no means covers the whole idea of the genre. I think the first two are pretty self-explanatory. Out jazz does not follow a particular harmonic structure and the musicians have a great deal of freedom to experiment and take their ideas to a new level. Check out Ornette Coleman. Progressive jazz is the jazz that I referred to earlier that incorporates a lot of rock influences and covers. Its not unlike out jazz in that it may not always sound in (that is within the chord changes or tonal center). And Garage jazz is a personal favorite. Its very gritty, distorted, and raw. It still employs the musicality of jazz with the intensity of rock or metal.

The jazz world is entirely different from that of rock or pop music. The community of musicians that make it up are actually a community. Almost all of them play together or have played together at one point. Almost no group lineups are set in stone. Chris Potter, one of the greatest tenor sax players ever, in my opinion, has recorded and toured with at least six different groups since 2000. The reason for this is that they want to make the best music. They couldn’t care less about an image or what their record label wants. They aren’t trying to sell out stadiums or creating hit singles. They just want to make the best music and experience as much of it as they can. The only way to do this is play with as many people as you can. Not an easy feat considering the number of working jazz musicians today.

And that clever segue brings me to my next point which addresses the previous hypothetical question in my opening. I can probably run off a list of about sixty or seventy jazz musicians today that are absolutely amazing and deserving of recognition. It is, however, nearly impossible to keep track of all their recordings and live performances. Its not that they record more often then other artists, its just that there are so damn many of them that are worth my time. My countdown in my next post will be somewhat limited as it only consists of music I own. This is by no means a definitive list but its pretty darn good if you ask me. It’s also a great place to start if you’re interested in jazz but have no idea what’s good.

Another thing about most jazz, in listening to it and learning it, is that it requires a great deal of patience. I think the longest jazz recording I own is 27 minutes long. Live performances especially are very lengthy. In a medium where every player in the band is expected to solo at least once and then often trade solos, time constraints are not a main concern. It took me a while to get used to listening to whole albums where every song is ten minutes long. And it took me a while to get the patience to learn jazz as well. There are a lot of monotonous tasks and exercises that go along with it and it can be very frustrating at times. But in order to be the best musician you can one must learn to the patience required for listening and learning. Once patience is learned, listening to the stuff becomes much more enjoyable. With jazz the best things are not always obvious. It is an art of subtlety and nuances. I could go off on a huge tangent here about training your ears and its applications but I’ll spare you. Just know that learning to listen the correct way is essential to succeeding as a jazz musician or any musician for that matter.

In summation, I may not have told you anything you don’t know already but I tried, damn it. Why don’t you try wrapping up a whole century long musical movement/ subculture in one small essay? Yeah…so jazz is basically impossible to define with words. You know it when you hear it and for me it’s a lot about the vibe. Jazz affects me as a musician in a way that no other form of music does. It is truly unique in this sense. I am straying into abstract concepts here so I’ll stop myself before I start… And let me tell you there is nothing more gratifying to a jazz musician than when someone not involved in the jazz community appreciates their music/lifestyle. So take a listen to some of the stuff I suggested here and listen to all of the stuff on my countdown next week.

And to any Kansasians (Kanz-asians), thats people from Kansas, why don't you show yourselves? What are you trying to hide? Show yourselves damn it!