how old are we

[Christian Miller]

Old.

The way that older people have squelched interest in jazz is by defining it too narrowly IMO.

For example, I think that Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead both played jazz, at least, for a significant portion of their music. David Grisman. Gypsy Jazz (I understand why Gypsy Jazz is jazz, but then I don't get why Bluegrass is not).

Smooth jazz is not accepted as jazz, at least by some purists.

One argument is, for example, that rockers didn't emerge from the jazz tradition. But, in fact, a lot of rockers have reported that they were listening to Coltrane. Jerry Garcia copied some of his chord stab style from big band horn sections. There are more examples.

Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead are older people. Quite a lot of them are no longer with us. The Dan's music lives on among younger people, probably the Dead too. They don't seem to draw the same barriers.

Young people seem more tolerant, even embracing of jazz than my Xennial cohort ever were. OTOH jazz has come to mean 'instrumental music played by lovely nerds.'

[TAA]

A good friend and I had a paper route in 1962-1963. It was brutal with about (85) mornings, (130) evenings and (225) Sundays…yes those huge papers with all the ads back then, lugging the bundles in the snow during Minnesota winters. We put a bond down of $300 each, kept it a year and quit. Problem….what to buy with our bond money?

About 1963-64 I bought a Kay archtop and my friend bought a Sears solid body in a rectangular case that had a built-in amp! We got together, taught ourselves Chuck Beery, Booker T and the Mgs and Beach Boy tunes. I traded up guitars having an ES-175D, then a rare thin body L-5CES with stereo and varitone. In 1967 I ordered an L-5C with a single Johhny Smith pickup. Eventually we found (3) other guys and formed a group. We played local jobs, dances, etc. becoming quite popular locally. That group broke up in early 1969.

Eventually I drifted away from playing in a group. In 1983 I sold my L-5 and Ampeg amp.But in all of those years since and up through even today, as I’m approaching 77, I’ve always loved the L-5. Our group had a reunion in 2021, not to play but to just catch up. That kind of lit a fire in me. In 2022 I found a 1951 L-5C on line and bought it. Not to play in a group but to entertain myself. Later in that year I had a Pete Biltoft single Charlie Christain replica pickup installed on it and then in 2023 I found Gibson GA-20 amp that I bought.

I got older but never drifted away from enjoying listening to my favorite LP albums by the jazz guitar greats. Wes Montgomery is my favorite. I met him and talked with him in April 1966 @ a small concert in Minneapolis. After hearing him that night, I decided to eventually order the 1967 L-5C.

So maybe….age is just a number…as the TV ad says.

Tom

[omphalopsychos]

I just read the rest of this thread after coming across it pretty late in the game. I concur with pamos on the nyc scene. It’s special for sure. So many zoomers at these shows.

But that’s not what I see on the west coast.

[James W]

Am I missing something here, but what's the (big) deal with this?

Sounds alright to me. Bit underwhelming perhaps but Fuze (who is the only one other than maybe Tim Miller who I recognised) should've soloed on the changes as well as the vamp.

[supersoul]

Am I missing something here, but what's the (big) deal with this?

Sounds alright to me. Bit underwhelming perhaps but Fuze (who is the only one other than maybe Tim Miller who I recognised) should've soloed on the changes as well as the vamp.

I'm pretty sure it's a Shreds.

[James W]

I'm pretty sure it's a Shreds.

Seriously? An overdubbed video? Doesn't seem so to me...

[mr. beaumont]

It's a too many cooks situation, as are most meetings of too many damn guitar players.

Sheryl and Tim are great players, can barely hear what they're doing really...Fuse is Fuse...not really digging what the guy with the LP is on, and he's too loud.

Any unrehearsed meeting of any 4 of us would probably be a train wreck too.

[pamosmusic]

It's a too many cooks situation, as are most meetings of too many damn guitar players.

Sheryl and Tim are great players, can barely hear what they're doing really...Fuse is Fuse...not really digging what the guy with the LP is on, and he's too loud.

Any unrehearsed meeting of any 4 of us would probably be a train wreck too.

Yeah parts of it are rough, but I'm not sure how four electric guitars on a stage with full band would be without obnoxious traffic jams.

The parts during the tune where they sort of split off and do their solos and duets are pretty cool, depending on what you're into.

Like Christian said, it was the most overcrowded and noisy parts of the vamps that made the rounds on social media. Which is lame. But also come on Berklee ... maybe you just scrounge up an extra ten minutes and let them play two sets of duets or something? Ah well.

[GuyBoden]

I attended a week long Summer School about 20 years ago with Sheryl bailey.

One of the best Jazz guitar educators IMHO and I've attended many Jazz Summer Schools/workshops in my lifetime with some of the best USA players.

[AllanAllen]

Am I missing something here, but what's the (big) deal with this?

Sounds alright to me. Bit underwhelming perhaps but Fuze (who is the only one other than maybe Tim Miller who I recognised) should've soloed on the changes as well as the vamp.

Would you pay $50,000 a year to go to jazz college and to sound like an average dive bar open jam?

Like it or not, everything these people do is an advertisement for Berklee, every post Berklee makes online is also an advertisement for the school. As such, it should all come off as top tier playing.

Everyone has a bad night, but you can choose not to post that bad night on your social media. Berklee posted this, I feel like that's the bad move.

[James W]

Would you pay $50,000 a year to go to jazz college and to sound like an average dive bar open jam?

Like it or not, everything these people do is an advertisement for Berklee, every post Berklee makes online is also an advertisement for the school. As such, it should all come off as top tier playing.

Everyone has a bad night, but you can choose not to post that bad night on your social media. Berklee posted this, I feel like that's the bad move.

I wouldn't call it bad, though. In any case, anyone who knows anything (and if you're potentially going to Berklee, you ought to know anything) knows that these cats can play. Besides which, it sounded like you took issue with the use of distortion, which sounds like a matter of taste to me.

[pamosmusic]

Would you pay $50,000 a year to go to jazz college and to sound like an average dive bar open jam?

Like it or not, everything these people do is an advertisement for Berklee, every post Berklee makes online is also an advertisement for the school. As such, it should all come off as top tier playing.

Everyone has a bad night, but you can choose not to post that bad night on your social media. Berklee posted this, I feel like that's the bad move.

Also $50,000?

lol

I do take issue with how much music school (and college in general) costs in the states, but if I were going to pay the money, Sheryl Bailey would be on my short list.

[Alter]

I didn't know David Tronzo teaches at Berklee. Not many players around playing jazz with a slide!

[2bornot2bop]

Am I missing something here, but what's the (big) deal with this?

Sounds alright to me. Bit underwhelming perhaps but Fuze (who is the only one other than maybe Tim Miller who I recognised) should've soloed on the changes as well as the vamp.

Completely unlistenable to me.

[Stevebol]

It's over my head but so are a lot of things.
I need to make some taters.

[DMgolf66]

I love Sheryl. She's a great player and even better person. She was super close with Jack Wilkins and visited him often when he in his last days. He was super fond of her and her playing. There are videos out there of them together. Good stuff.

I'm glad to read nobody slagging on her, but I'm biased.

[Stevebol]

I love Sheryl. She's a great player and even better person. She was super close with Jack Wilkins and visited him often when he in his last days. He was super fond of her and her playing. There are videos out there of them together. Good stuff.

I'm glad to read nobody slagging on her, but I'm biased.

I'm not biased and there were bits of her that were quite nice in the rest of that job security poop.

[pauln]

Am I missing something here, but what's the (big) deal with this?

The only positive construction that comes to mind; imagine
that their exposition was titled "The Emperor's New Clothes".

[benhatchins]

Haha, very old indeed! Old enough to be searching for Madonna tickets on StubHub https://stubhub.pissedc?nsumer.com/review.html. It’s funny though—some of my kids’ friends don’t even know who she is! I guess it’s a sign of the times, but I still think she’s an icon, and seeing her live would be amazing.

[rpjazzguitar]

I liked it. I could have lived without the distortion solo, but the rest of it had a lot of interesting ideas with good execution.

Sheryl's interesting chord voicings while comping were especially noteworthy. I'd gladly study with anyone who could help me learn to do that.

[AndyV]

Well, let me count the rings ...... Damn! ......I have a lotta rings.

[jazzshrink]

"How young are you?
How old am I?
Let's count the rings around my eyes"*

*"I Will Dare" by the Replacements

[Gitterbug]

Late joining this thread. Always late. Weeks overdue in birth in November 1946. Late starting to play jazz at around 50, after 25 years of occasional noodling on a nylon-string and a bit of folk revival and rock in the 1960s. Late from lessons and rehearsals. Lazy, undisciplined and not gifted enough.

Speaking of gifted and disciplined: Enjoyed a recital by Sir András Schiff in Helsinki last night, all 75,730 notes of Bach's Goldberg Variations in perfect order and balance. Almost 16 notes per second. Full house, standing ovation. He's 71.

It's always interesting to see how threads like this meander. Most of the posts have little to do with the poll summary, which tells us that 75% of the Members/respondents are 50 and over, with my 70-80 cohort heavily represented. Our swarm pool of experience is deep but not always relevant to today's and tomorrow's challenges.

Studies say that the music you dig at 17 will stick for the rest of life. I was 17 when the Beatles rose to stardom. When an old friend asked me to join his fledgling swing band in 1995, I was reluctant at first. Swing was my dad's music, which I didn't particularly like. My sons gave me a few lessons from Finnish jazz guitar greats Petri Krzywacki and Teemu Viinikainen as my 50th birthday present, and that helped me to a new start.

Enough of me. My main concern is that, in the eyes of young people, this Forum may look like a closed, backward-looking club of old f--ts. Currently active working musicians don't need it or don't have the time to contribute. I've dealt with quite a few NY jazz cats - long-distance - and only one or two are active here. While we are politely keen to welcome newbies, we're bored to see the same questions coming up time and over again.

The Guitar, Amp and Gizmos section is the most populated corner. Some currently active threads have been initiated 10-15 years ago. Some time ago I suggested a rewrite of the amp tutorial, which is definitely outdated. I first raised this with Dirk, who never responded, and then on the Forum. The response was lukewarm at best. How to become more present and future oriented?

[fep]

Well, I was 50 when I joined this forum.

[AS193]

Just turned 70 today.