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Jazzwise - or is that a contradiction in terms?


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Is that meant to be ironic?

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Just in case I get told off for thread creep...

Jazzwise is not a learned journal. It tells you what is happening, is not over-reverential to US jazz (actually, in Stuart Nicholson's columns its downright hostile!!!) and tells you a bit about latest releases.

One thing I've noticed in music magazines in general in recent years is how much space is cluttered with things like polls, awards, end of year lists, 100 best this or thats. Gramophone recently had a best modern opera houses in the world with sparkly pictures; and BBC Music Magazine had one on composers and their dogs! We've not had that yet in Jazzwise - jazz musicians and their dogs!

The most irritating thing for me in Jazzwise is the Bitches Brew panel (maybe the dogs are due to appear there). Various bits of news and hearsay flung together like a gossip column...but nearly always with some adolescent innuendo about which journalist got drunk at which festival party. Who, beyond those in the Jazzwise office, needs to know that? Strange.

Edited by A Lark Ascending
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I don't know about anybody else, but that's how I usually think about music - pre-Zorn, Zorn, and post-Zorn. Pre-Zorn is typified by artists like Bach, Charlie Parker, Dean Martin, and Led Zeppelin. Then, of course, there's Zorn, who needs no introduction. I've yet to hear any post-Zorn music that's really caught my ear. It's all that middle-of-the-road, three-star kind of stuff.

Actually it's "post-modern," which means it came after the "modern" period -- a period that spanned roughly from the end of the late Middle Ages until some time last year. :shrug[1]:

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Y'all got some sarcastic mothers over there?

Oh, that's a very nice way to talk about our mothers, I must say

Well given they way Miles used to talk about acquaintances' relations with their mothers...

(Davis, not Kington, by the way. Tu compris?).

I don't know about anybody else, but that's how I usually think about music - pre-Zorn, Zorn, and post-Zorn. Pre-Zorn is typified by artists like Bach, Charlie Parker, Dean Martin, and Led Zeppelin. Then, of course, there's Zorn, who needs no introduction. I've yet to hear any post-Zorn music that's really caught my ear. It's all that middle-of-the-road, three-star kind of stuff.

Actually it's "post-modern," which means it came after the "modern" period -- a period that spanned roughly from the end of the late Middle Ages until some time last year. :shrug[1]:

Always thought there was a great Jazz Messengers or Miles Second Quintet album title in this:

51BXGTPZ0DL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg

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It raises the question -- are there any albums by Zorn himself we could classify as "post-Zorn"?

If we focus just on the pre-Zorn period, then, sure, Hildegard was a major landmark. I myself see Zorn as a synthesis of Hildegard and hardcore music adapted for "the Jewish scale", as they call it.

There's other ways to look at it, too. Remember, "jazz" ended in 1959. Then there were 20 or so years where nothing of note happened, until the "Zorn" period began.

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It raises the question -- are there any albums by Zorn himself we could classify as "post-Zorn"?

If we focus just on the pre-Zorn period, then, sure, Hildegard was a major landmark. I myself see Zorn as a synthesis of Hildegard and hardcore music adapted for "the Jewish scale", as they call it.

There's other ways to look at it, too. Remember, "jazz" ended in 1959. Then there were 20 or so years where nothing of note happened, until the "Zorn" period began.

I'm sometimes slow on tthe uptake. ^_^

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Is it just me or is 'Jazzwise' getting very diluted these days? Scanned the latest copy in 'Ray's' yesterday but was undewhelmed with the jazz content and didn't bother buying it. Likewise 'Jazz Journal' - half of that was 'Critics Polls'. More meat required !

I gave up on both these publications some time ago. I found I could get more information about jazz from being a member of this forum!

Totally agree ! Plus the fact that it now costs best part of a fiver each. Having said that, they are a bargain compared with the rail ticket I ended up buying yesterday (just under £100, plus I wasn't going to Mars :wacko: ).

One of the Jazz Journals before Xmas had an article on Michael Cuscuna and Mosaic. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get hold of it. Anyone manage to pick up a copy and able to comment on it?

Edited by sidewinder
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It raises the question -- are there any albums by Zorn himself we could classify as "post-Zorn"?

If we focus just on the pre-Zorn period, then, sure, Hildegard was a major landmark. I myself see Zorn as a synthesis of Hildegard and hardcore music adapted for "the Jewish scale", as they call it.

There's other ways to look at it, too. Remember, "jazz" ended in 1959. Then there were 20 or so years where nothing of note happened, until the "Zorn" period began.

Today's 'irony' award goes to...

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Is it just me or is 'Jazzwise' getting very diluted these days? Scanned the latest copy in 'Ray's' yesterday but was undewhelmed with the jazz content and didn't bother buying it. Likewise 'Jazz Journal' - half of that was 'Critics Polls'. More meat required !

I gave up on both these publications some time ago. I found I could get more information about jazz from being a member of this forum!

Totally agree ! Plus the fact that it now costs best part of a fiver each. Having said that, they are a bargain compared with the rail ticket I ended up buying yesterday (just under £100, plus I wasn't going to Mars :wacko: ).

One of the Jazz Journals before Xmas had an article on Michael Cuscuna and Mosaic. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get hold of it. Anyone manage to pick up a copy and able to comment on it?

Bob, The Cuscuna piece in JJ was hardly worth reading, just one page with nothing of interest or anything we didn't already know.

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that's the whole review? They should demand he return the review copy. Thank you for getting that, I've been trying to keep an eye out for the foreign press.

FWIW - just to clarify - they do do longer reviews too: they just also have a 'round-up' section, which this review seems to have been part of. I'm not clear what the editorial policy is here as to what goes in which section, but many things do get a more extensive treatment.

Completely agree with comments about Kevin Le Gendre, who is both an extremely knowledgeable reviewer and sensitive interviewer. (Did anyone catch his chat with Roy Haynes at the London Jazz Festival? Fantastic stuff.)

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Completely agree with comments about Kevin Le Gendre, who is both an extremely knowledgeable reviewer and sensitive interviewer. (Did anyone catch his chat with Roy Haynes at the London Jazz Festival? Fantastic stuff.)

He knows his stuff, for sure. The one 'chat' I did catch with him was his interview at RFH with Charles Tolliver several years ago (before the Tolliver Big Band performance) - very well done. Since then, I've also caught his Cannonball Adderley Civil Rights/'70s' talk.

Bob, The Cuscuna piece in JJ was hardly worth reading, just one page with nothing of interest or anything we didn't already know.

Thanks John - I'll rest easier now. How can one possible write an article on Cuscuna/Mosaic and limit it to just the one page? I'd fill the whole mag. :D

Edited by sidewinder
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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for that Adrian! Yes, just got sent the PDF of that yesterday...here's the review portion if anyone's curious, although I think the short interview segment is possibly only in print/available to subscribers...

Can't you tell us what you said? Or did you sign a clause saying you would never repeat a word of it...? ;)

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Thanks for that Adrian! Yes, just got sent the PDF of that yesterday...here's the review portion if anyone's curious, although I think the short interview segment is possibly only in print/available to subscribers...

Can't you tell us what you said? Or did you sign a clause saying you would never repeat a word of it...? ;)

Yeah, afraid it's very much one of those 'If I told you, I'd have to shoot you' situations ;)

Seriously though - not at my own computer just now, but will try to put a transcript up if I remember later!

p.s. thanks everyone for the kind comments!

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