Source: http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2009/05/musicians.htm
Jazz musicians meet and understand each other in a fusion of discipline and intuition. Without the discipline collective improvisation would be chaotic and have no meaning to the listener…
For those who have lived inside jazz it is obvious that there is a common denominator between the music and the personality of the musicians as well as the aficionados…
Jazz will never become the music for the masses as pop music or for a discerning audience as classical music. It demands ‘a special ear’ from the listener, being too esoteric and complex. It is in effect music for musicians. Since classical music abandoned improvisation and thereby left the original mainstream of music, those who have grown up with classical music have lost the capacity to follow what jazz musicians play. Instead they will have to settle for the great landscapes in classical music, perfectly executed and with great beauty, created on a set of totally different principles. Jazz to their ears is an incomprehensible muddle, much as would be the Coran read in Arabic. As it is also perceived as socially inferior, it is safe to dismiss it in patronizing terms. To expect a Copernican turn-around in our flat world amounts to latterday heresy.
Leave a comment