johnagrandy Posted January 14, 2006 Report Share Posted January 14, 2006 (edited) My own feeling is that the "problem" we're seeing here is also that so much focus gets put on the few artist with major label deals. Folks like Kurt Rosenwinkel and Greg Osby (good as they may be) get focussed on to the exclusion of everything else. And for me the really interesting stuff is happening on independent and self-produced releases. --eric If Savage Beast ... uhh, I mean Pandora adds more jazz into their music genome database then potentially that won't be a problem anymore. They certainly have the talent to pull this off. Currently however they have to spend lots of time figuring out how to rate various Eminem and 50 Cent raps for obsenity on a scale of 1 to 5 ... "let's see ... three 'm/f', two 'bitch slaps', one 'cap his ass', one 'fuck the police' ... that's about a 3, eh?" Looks like some effort has gone in the jazz direction : dialing-up Greg Osby Radio gives Steve Lacy "Hornin' In", Wayne Shorter "Valse Triste (Live)", Chris Potter "Star Eyes (for Charlie Parker)", Greg Osby "Visitation (Live)", Steve Lacy "Four In One", Dexter Gordon "I Was Doing Allright", Gregory Tardy "Forgiveness", William Parker Quartet "Sound Unity (Live), Terence Blanchard "My Only Thought Of You", "Nick @ Night" by Nicholas Payton, Eric Reed "Cosa Nostra (Our Thing)" ... dialing-up Kurt Rosenwinkel Radio gives Kurt Rosenwinkel "Heartcore", Chicago Underground Quartet "Tunnel Chrome", Kurt Rosenwinkel "The Kloister", Enrico Pieranunzi "My Old Flame", Kurt Rosenwinkel "Zhivago", Terence Blanchard "Sidney", Myron Walden "Like A Flower Seeking The Sun", Robert Walker "El Cuervo", Curlew "Sensible Shoes/Proper Fit", Brecker Brothers "Song For Barry" ... .... uhhh .... this making sense to anyone ? Are there really definite musical connections between these selections or is it more like all the modern jazz in their database being randomly distributed across whatever modern jazz musician stations you create ? Well, it's actually kinda a workin' for me ( ! I'm glad I got hipped to William Parker and Robert Walker ! , the latter of whom must be pretty obscure because I had to Google for 5 mins to find metion of him: Martin Johnson of Jazz Times has his CD #10 for 2005 ) ... I think nothing beats having your own vast collection of music ... but how to keep up? I guess I'll try Pandora at my workplace or in the car where I'm not paying as much attention to what I'm listening to. Most of the jazz I listen to at home makes it impossible for me to get any work done. If any Robert Walkers sneak in then my company's productivity loses. CD sales have been falling for years, meanwhile hrs/wk radio/web (and soon cell device) listening has been on a steep upward trend ... so clearly Pandora is onto something big ... but whether it can ever really apply to jazz is another question ... In theory, Pandora could steer those knowledgable of big jazz names to underground names. Level the playing field ??? But would anyone actually stop and buy anything ? Or would they just use Pandora more and more , creating a "station" for each one of their favorite jazz musicians , including the obscure ones they just found out about? Another possibility is that jazz listeners are just too hip and knowledgeable to have their tastes grocked by a AI algorithm. But also know that lots of folk are hard at work on poker bots that pattern-analyze even the better poker players and look for weaknesses to be exploited. It would be terrible for me to find out the my love for WS and Dex is based on some numerically quantifiable metrics that excite my brain ... It's gotta be BS .... uh, right ? Ok, I created a Robert Walker "El Cuervo" station : Nicholas Payton "Captain Crunch (Meets The Serial Killer)", "Right Now!" by Jackie McClean, John Coltrane "Resolution (Altenate Take)" ... oops I don't see a good connection on any of these ... especially when the spiritual Trane comes on .... but I didn't mind it, at all, but it's supposed to be an "El Cuervo" station ... Edited January 14, 2006 by johnagrandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnagrandy Posted January 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 Well, I'm getting hooked on Pandora today. The way they connect the jazz tunes is remedial, but it's all high quality stuff. Somebody knew who's who. So what if the only connection between tracks on a "Woody Shaw station" is mostly modern straight-ahead jazz tunes featuring a progressive trumpet. Still a great way to hear a lot of high-quality Blanchard , Roney, Hargrove, Isham I haven't had my ears to yet. People should check this out. It's the future of music -- because (once it evolves) you will be paying for something that would require quite a bit of time to create on your own (even assuming downloading bootlegs) .... and even then you wouldn't get the surprise element of "what's next?" or "what's that?" that radio has always offerred. Plus you can create as many of your own stations as you want and switch amongst them. Imagine switching between an "Art Blakey station" and an "Ornette Coleman station". And it will make it much easier for larger labels to sign smaller local unknown groups ... because they just add them into the overall libs they sell to intermediaries like Pandora who sell them to Sirius or iTunes or whomever. It makes the lib that much more valuable because people need variety and they crave the unknown. The question of losing money does not arise: You don't have to swing for the out-of-the-park shot every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcello Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 I've been fooling around with this also. I think this is another great way for a artist to be recognized and heard. Pandora Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnagrandy Posted January 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 I met a couple of the guys working there. Lot of jazz heads on staff. http://eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2006-01-1...ws/feature.html The problem is that their current rating metrics for jazz seem to be too simplistic ... either that or the database doesn't have enough home-brewed or out-of-print jazz CDs in it yet ... for example, for Woody Shaw all they have is what is available on Amazon. But jazz is probably not where the money is ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesbed Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 I discovered this site just this evening. I'm listening to those who sound like Merle Haggard. http://www.pandora.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baryshnikov Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 wE DONT GET MUCH DECENT JAZZ ON RADIO HERE, ONLY SMOOTH JAZZ, THE MOST IRRITATING NOISE EVER, NO SOUL, SPIRIT OR VIBE, ABSOLUTE LIFT MUSIC, PAUL UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 Pandora just gave me Betty Carter and immediately thereafter offered me Big Mama Thornton...in felt pretty damn Bill Cosby-ish, to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.