Thursday  May 29, 2003

I would say that bebop and post-bop are dialects of the jazz language in a giant book that's still being written.

Jack Keroac's "On the Road" style of writing is just as fresh, alive and relevent today to the artistic communication of the author as it was in the 1950s, and I think the same is true of bebop.

Now it has been aptly pointed out that the bebop style (and the style trombonists adopted to get as close to bop as they technically could in the 1950s, which is to say not very close at all!) has become, in many circles, the foundation of the current jazz vocabulary. I think this is true, but to put it more succinctly, post-bop (which to me represents bop as the starting point plus a point of departure towards more modern [and traditional!] directions) is still today largely the framework of improvisation in mainstream settings.

So I sympathize with those that are "sick" of eighth notes and sax players and non-stop sound, just as I would sympathize with those who are "sick" of the poetry and literature of the Beat genre.

But as a person who considers himself more-or-less rooted in the post-bop tradition (but has trouble figuring out what "kind" of player he is ), I have to consider lumping the admittedly frantic "burn" sound of bop and post-bop with the "frantic world we live in" to be a spleen, venting.

What it all comes down to is different strokes. I honor the frustration, but going off on bop is just going off, and ain't nobody holding a gun to yo' head. Free to bash what we wish, too, just be aware that here we're inevitably bashing something that is another's life pursuit and be prepared for backlash.

I personally don't see any way in my artistic sensibility to compare two players as diverse as Ray (Anderson) and Steve (Turre). I think they're both incredible, and as I focus on each I fervently wish I could play like both (each). But then I pull my horn out and yet a third thing comes out of the bell. A work in progress? Yes!; but a third direction altogether.

It's possible to have a strong sense of self and yet an intense admiration for others. When I listen to Bonerama, all I can think of is how much I'd like to be doing what Mark Mullins is doing. And yet I like doing what I'm doing more - it's that simple.

OK I'm yammering now...

Back To Rants

©2003, Joe Jackson. All rights reserved.