spangalang

THIS.

I'm going in a few weeks and would like to see some shows but hoping to avoid the tourist traps. I'm also partial to bebop and contemporary, but I'd be interested in hearing some trad too. Any suggestions?

Bump. Loving my Klipsch S4s lately... sadly, between working out and being tethered to my phone, they're the only cans I've been able to enjoy on a regular basis. But they are great.

That's the one. Stanley Crouch was there too, if I remember correctly. Great episode.

Last night I saw Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman. One of the best shows I've ever seen. I cried like a baby the whole time.

Did anyone else see him on Treme?!

I have been enjoying it from afar. Unfortunately, I don't have as much free time now as I did when I first made that meandering post. I'd like to wait until I have more time to post thoughtfully... I will say that upon further reading of Baraka, I am just as disturbed by his seeming misogyny, which appears just as blatant and problematic: "The average ofay [white person] thinks of the black man as potentially raping every white lady in sight. Which is true, in the sense that the black man should want to rob the white man of everything he has. But for most whites the guilt of the robbery is the guilt of rape. That is, they know in their deepest hearts that they should be robbed, and the white woman understands that only in the rape sequence is she likely to get cleanly, viciously popped." Again, I'm open to the possibility that this is taken out of context or that Baraka passionately repudiated this mentality later in his career, but it seems a shame that someone who styles himself such a revolutionary thinker would be so myopic and chauvinistic to the oppression of other groups.

1. Billie Holiday 2. Sarah Vaughan 3. Nina Simone

Agreed...and couldn't it be argued that all humor is based on irony in some form or another?

LOL It's funny, my original sentiment was totally sincere. Wynton Marsalias can make anything sound profound! His commentary always seems so charming and impressive and then (many times) I realize he hasn't said all that much. My point was that he could ramble semi-eloquently about even the most uninteresting artist, and I think Burns takes full advantage of it. But with 20 hours of commentary, I wanted a few more experts, rather than just relying so heavily on Marsalias. Oh and incidentally, I would watch 20+ hours of Gerald Early talk about jazz in a heartbeat.

I apologize. I did do a "Ken Burns" search but did not click over to the second page of results because I am lazy and impatient. Surely there is a mod somewhere that could move this to a more appropriate place. Also, I didn't mean to give the impression that I don't appreciate the series in general. I am actually in the midst of watching it for the 3rd time all the way through. I do love a lot about it, and I feel grateful something as ambitious and mainstream has been done on jazz. Much of the little I know about jazz has come from the series. Having said that, some of it is... well... silly. I won't go further for fear of rehashing things people have probably mentioned a million times before. Again, my apologies.

I'm in the midst of watching the PBS Ken Burns documentary that you all have most likely loved, hated, or perhaps judiciously avoided. My most recurring thought is: "Can Wynton Marsalias sound profound while spitting out any random cheesy platitude for any subject at a moment's notice?" You can imagine him giving the commentary for some Ke$ha documentary and earnestly shaking his head, smiling wistfully: "Man, she is a lady with all these thoughts. And she sings those thoughts... just like, like she's talking to you. Like you ain't never heard such thoughts. And the whole time, there are so many words and you have this person saying things to you, saying things to your ear, but they are coming straight from her brain. Those words, you just gotta listen man. You gotta listen in your ear."

Well then I've found my people. : )

I totally love this thread, although at times I have wondered if my questions are considered too pedantic for even jazz fans... I will check out the additional recommendations ASAP... oh and by the way, it's Ms. spang.

Thank you so much for the recommendations. I will really enjoy sifting through them.

I am a big Michael Nyman fan, but I do sometimes wonder how much of that stems from my obsession with Peter Greenaway films...

Today is Dexter G's birthday, and I wanted to start a little thread to commemorate him. Easily in my top five favorite Tenors of all time, his music makes me incredibly happy in this bleak and absurd world. I've always found his playing so lyrical, sexy, and but never showboaty. Anyone else feel like celebrating? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI4mUgVPyT0&feature=related

Sidenote: I know some downplayed Bill Evans' influence, but I wonder how Charlie Haden was seen in that context. Also, in the book Baraka admits to listening to Brubeck in college. (As with many past embarrassments, I'm sure the "in college" designation was necessary to minimize such a shocking transgression!) Since late Coltrane, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, etc., who would you consider a real innovator (Zorn maybe?) in the genre currently- or at least in the past 10 years or so? I'm not arguing against the possibility, but rather fishing for recommendations...

Is there a form/genre that provides a counterargument to Hard Bop in this way? In other words, is there a form of jazz that you would say is "alive" at this point?

hence my scare quotes.

I enjoy and appreciate all of the relevant responses. It is understandable how Baraka's political priorities informed his experience of the music. Yet I still find it ironic that while Hard Bop musicians saw the music as more "authentically" Black and as a conscious return to its African-American roots (a reemphasis which would in-and-of-itself have been a type of protest to the current White/capitalist paradigm), a radical such as Baraka would see the same sentiments as regressive, if not an example of the "modern minstrelsy" of which he speaks . It definitely hints of the nuances of the role of jazz within the larger racial, civil discourse at the time and about the obligations a Music might have for social or political statement, or whether that obligation should ever trump the aesthetic value of the art itself. ...No argument in there, just a few thoughts.

I appreciate reading and discussing different viewpoints on all sorts of things, especially from people whom I intellectually respect (i.e. Amiri Baraka). I sincerely want to learn more about the music that I enjoy and elicit further considerations and opinions from people on this site. I don't know when that became "feeling guilty" about enjoying hard bop or "looking for approval" or some such patronizing nonsense...

Today "Modal Mood" literally made me swoon, and I was driving!