My Problem with Jazz
I pride myself in a willingness to listen to different styles and genres of music. I have favorites in rap, heavy metal, Irish folk, country, classical, even opera. So my strong negative impression of jazz may come as a surprise. To be fair, there is a lot of jazz I like, mostly the early stuff and the great singers. Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, basically back when jazz had melodies and was meant to be danced to. Before rock and roll came along, jazz was young people's music. It's what people danced to, it was rebellious, it was accessible, it was listenable. Then something happened.
The young people started listening to Elvis, The Beatles, Nirvana. Jazz became the domain of stuffy pipe-smoking intellectuals and pretentious fast-talking pseudo-intellectuals. If you aren't like, totally into Coltrane, man, you have no clue. You aren't worthy to dine at the table of the musically educated elite.
I guess what bothers me about Coltrane is precisely that his music is not accessible to the "common folk." I understand that sometimes you have to put in a little work to appreciate something new and different, and that much of the time it is very worth it, but in some of his work it seems he is intentionally making it challenging just for the sake of it, forgetting that there is true skill in creating a melody that hooks the listener instantly. A good song should not require an owner's manual.
As an analogy, I have the same complaint about the writing of James Joyce. He often seems to be showing off how erudite and knowledgeable he is, while forgetting to tell a good story. Similarly, in the art world, I don't want to have to know that the supposedly genius artist involved is a transsexual, HIV-positive, war protester. A painting is a painting, and it should stand alone without needed to be explained.
The best artists can create a "layering" affect, where on the first listen you're hooked by the instantly accessible melody, but subsequent listens continue to provide new surprises and challenges. An example in the popular music world for me would be the first album by The Counting Crows (let's pretend they quit after that one), or some of the Beatles' stuff.
To continue the analogy, it's sort of like the way Shakespeare would include bawdy jokes for the rabble in the cheap seats of the theater, while not sacrificing the intellectual depth of his works.
Some of my opinion may be caused by timing, too, of course. I'm sure if I listened some more to Coltrane in the right environment I would appreciate him more. At the time, I said, "I'm going to give this 'jazz' stuff a try, but it better be good!" and I wasn't in a patient frame of mind. (What can I say, I was young?) Maybe some day I'll try again and will be blown away. For now, there is enough music in other genres to keep me occupied.
I encourage anyone who agrees or disagrees to use the "comment" link below and let me know what you think.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:10 pm I do agree with you in regards to Coltrane. I have also felt that way when listening to some of his stuff, and that would be easy listening if you compare it with 'Free Jazz'. You want to feel lost and challenge yourself to be patient..? Listen to Free Jazz. Personally I tried to, but just couldn't enjoy it.
Now, when talking about the broad genre of Jazz of today (contemporary composers and musicians) there is material like the one you describe, but there is also lots of stuff that DO have beautiful melodic ideas being proposed to the listener, and these touch you just as deeply as any other type of music but with a distinctive feel. I invite you to listen, for example to these two pieces from 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet':
The name of the Album where you can listen to these is: Dave Brubeck, The Essential. And the two songs I really love from this album are in the CD - Disc 1, Track # 5 Name: Audrey, and Track #11 Name: Brandenburg Gate (both with Paul Desmond on Alto Sax) Also if you get a chance, for Jazz Guitar, listen to Luis Salinas (he is from Argentina) Listen to a piece called ''Latin Bebop'' and go from there.
Good Luck..!
August 9th, 2008 at 11:01 pm I agree as well, no good stories told over there.. decides, did you hear about "Smooth Jazz"?! that style makes me want to throw up!
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 pm No melodies in Coltrane ? Cmon, listen..there is plenty of beutiful melody. Listen to round midnight where miles and coltrane play together.
July 26th, 2009 at 11:40 pm Well, jazz is a pretty big category there. Maybe I can offer a little context.
When you listen to Louie Armstrong, Duke Ellington, or anyone playing before bebop, I would say that you get exactly what you're talking about. They're pop tunes played very melodically, and the solos, with few exceptions, stay close to the melody or at least stay "in" the chord changes. It was dance music and it was played to be enjoyed by an audience that wanted to dance its collective rear end off.
Well, after gigs, a bunch of wise guy musicians started meeting up at bars in the wee hours and playing for each other. They began exploring all kinds of altered scales, crazy tonalities, fast tempos, and spare melodies over hideously complex chord changes. Players would get together and "cut" each other, each trying to outdo the other in furious musical battles.
The thing is, bebop wasn't really meant originally to be performed for anyone else but musicians! Miles in his autobiography talked about the early days with Bird and Diz and he said that the musicians were standing 6 deep at the bar... But eventually the critics got wind of what was going on and it was publicized and was performed for people.
So yeah, bebop and all that insane post-bop and free jazz and what have you sounds insane, like they don't care if the listener enjoys it or not, because it comes out of a musical tradition that is by musicians, for musicians, and NOT for an audience of anyone but musicians. Don't get me wrong, non-musicians can love it too!! But I think it just serves a different purpose than regular "pop" music.
Anyway, I'm a jazz player so maybe I'm biased, but it's important to remember where the music came from and what it means today.
PEACE