Playing the "Music of Now"

[NSJ]

Playing the Music of Now: Personal Jazz Improvisation | jazzadvice.com

Excerpts:

"Improvisers frequently talk about being in the "moment", yet you hear the same type of performances all too often. A concert where tunes like All of Me, Blues for Alice, and Blue Bossa are played in which the arrangements are transcribed exactly from the record and the soloists attempt to imitate the solos they've learned from the record.

No originality, no unique arrangement, no reharmonization, or no interaction - just the melody, solos, and the melody once more."

"After turning the dial to the jazz station, you hear a "new" album with players playing tired out standards in the same exact way they have been played for decades. It's as if the idea of the jazz musician has become a parody in the minds of the performers and the audience alike.

This type of aesthetic is killing the music."

"Today we're still performing the music of the bebop era exactly as it was performed 70 years ago. Yes, that's right seven-zero years ago! The music of a different era and a different mentality, yet we continue to force these tunes and arrangements into our performance. This would be like Charlie Parker playing the music of the 1870′s note for note in the jazz clubs of 52nd st..

Not a reharmonization or implying different ideas over that tune, but playing the same arrangement, the same harmonies, the same solo. However ridiculous this may seem, this is what is happening in music scenes in cities everywhere. Night after night, musicians are rehashing the music from 50-70 years ago on the bandstand."

[Little Jay]

A lot of truth in there... but it's a generalization of course, there are positive exceptions.

You don't only see it in the jazzscene though; blues and rockabilly bands for example are worse: trying to be 'authentic' is there much more the main goal then trying to be original or creative.

And if you are a classical musician you mostly play music that's over four centuries old.....

Maybe that's what's going on in jazz: it's becoming classical.

[cosmic gumbo]

Originally Posted by NSJ

This type of aesthetic is killing the music."

You can't kill what's already dead.

[Sandor]

This guy just isnt listening to the right stuff. Like with all styles of music, you have to dig for the good stuff. If i based my impression of rock music on what the radio played, i would say the music is a sad joke, yet some of the best rock music ever is jsut now being made. It just doesnt get exposure because it isnt a "safe" sell.

[jamsebrown]

You can find several jazz guitar lessons online for free. Your guitar and Internet connection, you can safely sit in front of your computer to your house and take some notes to play jazz guitar how to develop .

[ES350]

As in classical music, there is a repertoire. The performance is what makes all the difference. What shall we do with twelve tones? Haven't we been through this since the 1890's? Ultimately, the final results were sterile academic exercises. There is a quote from a Stravinsky lecture about how freedom thrives in the midst of structure...

[richardluthar]

This guy just isnt listening to the right stuff, And I Like with all styles of music. My free time in computer to my house to play jazz guitar. and all guitar album with players playing tired out standards in the same exact way they have been played for decades.