Comments on: Jazz Death? V. 59 http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/jazz/ Night Lights is a weekly classic jazz program and jazz blog by host David Brent Johnson produced by WFIU Public Media in Bloomington, Indiana. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:29:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Jason Parker http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/jazz/comment-page-1/#comment-5339 Jason Parker Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:08:49 +0000 http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/?p=3208#comment-5339 Nice piece, David! Welcome to the ever-growing list of folks taking on this topic (see my take at http://oneworkingmusician.com). I think the best thing about the Teachout article is the fact that it's gotten us jazz musicians and fans talking about the subject, which is only a good thing. You make a great point with this: "Don’t set the expectations of jazz’s future by what it was in the past. I love the music of 1945-1990, the era that Night Lights covers; it was an age of wonders in jazz. But life and music are going to keep moving on, in ways that won’t conform with our own personal wishes. Jazz as we know it today will survive, I think, to a large degree in much the same way that it has for the past 25 years–with occasional surges and blips of popularity and decline, operating at a marginal level, commercially speaking. But jazz as a creative force will move in ways which we may find hard to anticipate." Jazz has always moved forward in ways that make the current new-guard uncomfortable. The dixieland cats hated swing. The swing cats hated bebop. The bebop cats hated fusion, etc... And that's OK. We shouldn't be afraid of new streams of the music. Ultimately all they do is bring more people to the party. I think you touch on this here: "For me, the future ends up being more murky than gloomy… I know I’ll never get tired of listening to Ellington, Coltrane, Bird, Bud Powell, etc. I could probably live with just that music for the rest of my life! But I know my life would be a richer one if I also kept my ears open and listened for new sounds, albeit ones that might not give me the same immediate pleasure/comfort that Ellington et al do. And in fact, new sounds tend to rejuvenate my appreciation for the older players, whether I find myself liking said new sounds or not." I say bring on the murk! Nice piece, David! Welcome to the ever-growing list of folks taking on this topic (see my take at http://oneworkingmusician.com). I think the best thing about the Teachout article is the fact that it’s gotten us jazz musicians and fans talking about the subject, which is only a good thing.

You make a great point with this:

“Don’t set the expectations of jazz’s future by what it was in the past. I love the music of 1945-1990, the era that Night Lights covers; it was an age of wonders in jazz. But life and music are going to keep moving on, in ways that won’t conform with our own personal wishes. Jazz as we know it today will survive, I think, to a large degree in much the same way that it has for the past 25 years–with occasional surges and blips of popularity and decline, operating at a marginal level, commercially speaking. But jazz as a creative force will move in ways which we may find hard to anticipate.”

Jazz has always moved forward in ways that make the current new-guard uncomfortable. The dixieland cats hated swing. The swing cats hated bebop. The bebop cats hated fusion, etc… And that’s OK. We shouldn’t be afraid of new streams of the music. Ultimately all they do is bring more people to the party. I think you touch on this here:

“For me, the future ends up being more murky than gloomy… I know I’ll never get tired of listening to Ellington, Coltrane, Bird, Bud Powell, etc. I could probably live with just that music for the rest of my life! But I know my life would be a richer one if I also kept my ears open and listened for new sounds, albeit ones that might not give me the same immediate pleasure/comfort that Ellington et al do. And in fact, new sounds tend to rejuvenate my appreciation for the older players, whether I find myself liking said new sounds or not.”

I say bring on the murk!

]]>