- I grew up playing a lot of jazz in the late 2000s and there was always a strict canon - big band was seen as kind of cutesy and not worth putting much effort into while the Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Coltrane, Davis, Hancock, Shorter and a few others were the "real" musicians. But the internet was in its infancy at the time and YouTube/spotify started showing things that I had never heard of like a bunch of Japanese jazz musicians, so I always wonder what musicians coming up today see as "the canon". Is it still mostly the names I mentioned or does it include a lot more?
On a separate note, I always saw Chet baker and Gerry mulligan as "real" musicians but was taught early on that Brubeck was "staid" and boring. After judging it myself I guess you could say his soloing was a little underwhelming but he was incredibly creative in a way that a lot of the "serious" musicians weren't. Jazz people can be such losers sometimes
by iainmerrick
1 subcomments
- Glad to see Vince Guaraldi prominently mentioned here. Like the author, I got into Guaraldi via the Peanuts music, then found I loved the rest of his stuff as well.
I think Guaraldi is almost like a jazz version of Erik Satie, who’s been discussed here a few times. His music seems very simple, almost simplistic, but his taste and feel are superb. It’s just really good and easy to listen to, which unfortunately means it gets dismissed as “easy listening”.
- Does it not? It feels like it’s taken seriously nationally.
All the local high schools in the Seattle area had/have serious jazz programs that sent students to The Essentially Ellington competition/festival - the one the movie Chops is about.
Seattle probably has the most overall bands sent of any city in the country. I guess we sent 4 this year - https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/4-seattle-a...
- The idea that Chet Baker and some of the others named are not “serious jazz” is too ludicrous to take.
- The etymology of the word “Jazz” originates on the west coast and migrates east to meet up with the new music as musicians emigrate north to Chicago and New York audiences. Jazz is truly improvisational and very much American in origin.
https://archive.org/details/howirishinvented0000cass
- "The Latin Side of Vince Guaraldi" is my favorite jazz album cover.
- It's not just west coast jazz. Music journalists snub their nose at anything that doesn't have the "right pedigree". If it doesn't fit their narrative for what jazz should be, it might as well not exist.
That included decades of Japanese jazz musicians, conservatory-trained session wizards without a hard-luck backstory like Michael Brecker, etc.
As much as modern music sharing/streaming has its downsides, the best thing it ever did was make everything discoverable and make the opinions of gatekeeping assholes irrelevant.
You don't need respect. Respect doesn't even pay the bills. You just need listeners and a way to sell to them.
by BewareTheYiga
0 subcomment
- When I think of west coast jazz, I think of Tom Scott and I was surprised to not see him in this article.
by KolibriFly
0 subcomment
- What's sad is how much of that judgment hardened into history
- The article doesn't even gesture at the reason why West Coast is disfavored by some: it's the white flavor. A lot of people feel that the White clique of West Coast jazz capitalized on the popularity of the genre without really contributing much to it. It was the safe, commercial style at the time.
Note that this isn't my personal take. I love Art Pepper. I can tolerate some Brubeck. But I admit there was plenty of slop in the record stores, too.
by ZebusJesus
0 subcomment
- Agreed there has always been good jazz on the West coast, good article. Seattle has had great jazz scene for a long time.
https://www.kuow.org/stories/jazz-has-a-storied-past-in-seat...
Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kenny G all honed skills on the West coast.
by onraglanroad
0 subcomment
- Betteridge's law of headlines.
- Do ya like jazz? [0]
[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLthw2YWb4s
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