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funny jazz discussion with a bus driver


CJ Shearn

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I was riding back to campus when I got into this discussion with a bus driver about jazz vs. rock, in short he claimed that "rock had way more differences than jazz because jazz is just guys playing up and down scales all the time", and that Jerry Garcia was the greatest jazz player ever..... I listened to the guy's opinions, guess he's a casual guitarist or something, we got into this weird discussion about Stanley Jordan where he said that he stole the tapping from Van Halen, and that Eddie's record sales prove he's a better guitarist. He also felt he could play anything Stanley does if he heard it for a few mins.. I listened to the guy and said respectfully that his views on jazz were sadly mistaken, but anyway just a funny story.

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Yeah and Eddie stole tapping from Steve Hackett of Genesis, what's his point?

The guy obviously doesn't know anything about jazz or he wouldn't make such stupid comments. Was he saying that he himself could play anything Stanley Jordan played or Eddie Van Halen could play anything Jordan played? In either case he would be wrong.

Tell him to learn a Wes Montgomery solo and get back to you.

:)

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lol, well, he said jazz just doesn't move him theres "no melody", etc. But he was very uneducated about jazz Originally the convo arose out of his talking about his stereo in his new pick up truck I asked him what music he listened to, he replied rock and roll. So I then said that I wanted to eventually get a stereo system with analog tube equipment eventually for serious jazz listening, asked him if he had any Japanese imports of albums (I was testing to see if he was an audiophile) and he said yes to a Grand Funk Railroad album but that it paled in comparison to a US remaster because there was "no hiss" :-p I've had a tape hiss argument with one of my friends before who said it automatically makes an album sound bad. I said that Japanese discs of anything are superior to much US product even though US remasterings are great nowadays, but they pale in comparison to much Japanese product. Lol, well he replied that Americans are the "best technicians for sound especially rock and roll" I respect the opinion but still they were pretty ignorant comments, basically he turned some of my comments into a pissing contest re: jazz and why it's inferior to rock, needless to say we won't talk about that again, nice guy but very stupid.............

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...and that Eddie's record sales prove he's a better guitarist.

That is weird; I've never heard anyone who was really into music (as opposed to background noise) make the claim that better sales were proof of anything.

I have, a few times over the years.

:wacko:

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Some people drive a bus because it is their calling in life. Some people do it because it's a good gig for them. And some people do it because their ignorance and stupidity severely limit their options in life. I'm guessing that with this cat...

Was his name Otto by any chance?

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true GregK, I suppose that's why I'm a TA for the Jazz in American Music class this semester because I wanna try to spread the word to get people into the wonderful music that is jazz, to show it's beauty or depth. Mike Carbone, the director of jazz studies here at Binghamton University is trying to bring that point home as well. I've known him since middle school where he also teaches at the school district I went to middle/ high school in.

Edited by CJ Shearn
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true GregK, I suppose that's why I'm a TA for the Jazz in American Music class this semester because I wanna try to spread the word to get people into the wonderful music that is jazz, to show it's beauty or depth. Mike Carbone, the director of jazz studies here at Binghamton University is trying to bring that point home as well. I've known him since middle school where he also teaches at the school district I went to middle/ high school in.

I wish I had been able to have some sort of jazz class like you describe when I younger. I would have saved a lot of time wasted looking for more meaningful music as I slowly learned that rock and roll is NOT where it's at

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yeah, I know what you mean GregK. I grew up on jazz and really, rock was never part of my cultural landscape like it is for others, I certainly heard it, just never really paid that much attention. The driver, his name is Tom, he's a nice guy but not that smart musically, I told him that I like harmonic complexity and high level improvisation and for me, jazz is where I can find all that, he said I should listen to Yngwie Malmsteem, I've heard quite a bit of him from other people, he's very accomplished technically but musically there is nothing there, and to say that Malmsteem is on a level with the likes of Montgomery, Burrell, etc is ridiculous, they have far more musicality and wisdom than Malmsteem will ever have...

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