What is the Most Popular Form of Jazz Today?

[Bluedawg]

Would this new from of Hot Jazz be included in the "Americana" category or something different?

There seems to be a group of modern young 'uns who are digging deep into the 20th century and bringing new life to some of the great music from the earlier years .... especially folk and jazz from the 1920s

Hard to find anything wrong with that ...


I hope it catches on and brings on some new and exciting stuff for the future

[Stevebol]

An interview with the Master of Malapropisms

Interviewer: Can you explain Jazz?
Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all Jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong.
Interviewer: I don't understand.
Yogi: Anyone who understands Jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it.
Interviewer: Do you understand it?
Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it.
Interviewer: Are there any great Jazz players alive today?
Yogi: No. All the great Jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead.
Interviewer: What's the difference between theory and practice?
Yogi: In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
Interviewer: What is syncopation?
Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In Jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be Jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.
Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.
Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand Jazz that well.

[Thumpalumpacus]

There's all this kind of stuff now:

Is it jazz? No, I don't think so. But it is certainly influencend by jazz and appeals to people who like complicated music with a rhythm/groove sensibility and soloing.

And it looks to the future, which makes me perk up my ears a bit in a time where most music seems to be imitating the past.

The hip hop/neo soul/jazz fusion stuff is big ATM, Kendrick, Flying Lotus and the musicians including Thundercat, and of course Kamasi Washington associated with that scene.

Personally, Kamasi's music I don't find terribly interesting, but I like Thundercat's stuff.

In a word, that's badass.

[Vladan]

The most popular form of Jazz today is World music kind of thing, Ethno.

[mrcee]

There's all this kind of stuff now:

Is it jazz? No, I don't think so. But it is certainly influencend by jazz and appeals to people who like complicated music with a rhythm/groove sensibility and soloing.

And it looks to the future, which makes me perk up my ears a bit in a time where most music seems to be imitating the past.

The hip hop/neo soul/jazz fusion stuff is big ATM, Kendrick, Flying Lotus and the musicians including Thundercat, and of course Kamasi Washington associated with that scene.

Personally, Kamasi's music I don't find terribly interesting, but I like Thundercat's stuff.

Sounds like Hall and Oates or Pablo Cruise

[mr. beaumont]

Chicago's jazz fest is all jazz too, though Detroit gets even bigger names.

The NOLA fest gets bashed a lot by jazz folks because all the big names are usually rock bands, but there's still TONS of jazz at it, real N'awlins jazz stuff. They just get the big dumb rock acts to get people in.

[Thumpalumpacus]

lol, with one guy doing bass, guitar, and vocals.

Badass.

[Bluedawg]

An interview with the Master of Malapropisms

Interviewer: Can you explain Jazz?
Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all Jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong.
Interviewer: I don't understand.
Yogi: Anyone who understands Jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it.
Interviewer: Do you understand it?
Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it.
Interviewer: Are there any great Jazz players alive today?
Yogi: No. All the great Jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead.
Interviewer: What's the difference between theory and practice?
Yogi: In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
Interviewer: What is syncopation?
Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In Jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be Jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.
Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.
Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand Jazz that well.

Messed up but still a lot of truth

LOL

[cosmic gumbo]

Western swing seems to fit into that hot jazz vibe that seems to be popular with live audiences because of the fun factor. It still ends up being a nostalgia act, but that's show business, and paying gigs.

Bruce Forman, another jazzer using western swing as an outlet.

[fasstrack]

Whatever happened to the 'swing' fad (featuring people like Brian Setzer) of a few years back?

Is that still going strong?

Old people, we get disconnected...

[fasstrack]

Bruce Forman, another jazzer using western swing as an outlet.

KILLIN' hat, Brucie...

[mr. beaumont]

Whatever happened to the 'swing' fad (featuring people like Brian Setzer) of a few years back?

Is that still going strong?

Old people, we get disconnected...

Dead. Setzer's stuff was fun, but most of it (usually a band of dudes in fedoras with the word "daddy" in the title) was crap. It was a slick pop-sell, and the kids--like 'em or not--can smell a phony from a mile away. So the Zoot Suit Riot was more of a party where folks went home early.

An even older style of music though--gypsy jazz--is thriving in a lot of cities. And despite the fact that it comes with a uniform as well, the music is actually good.

[Bluedawg]

Whatever happened to the 'swing' fad (featuring people like Brian Setzer) of a few years back?

Is that still going strong?

Old people, we get disconnected...

Brian himself is still going strong ... I saw his Christmas show in Tucson in 2015 and it was great


But the swing fad faded before the 90s were up IIRC

[Hep To The Jive]

Whatever happened to the 'swing' fad (featuring people like Brian Setzer) of a few years back?

Is that still going strong?

Old people, we get disconnected...

Nothing like that is going on now, there is a very small rockabilly scene, and there is a swing/hot jazz scene, and they are not inter connected. But yeah, on his own Brian Setzer is still going strong.

For myself, Brian is THE guitar player who sucked me into jazz. Before that, I did have a theory and basic training in jazz in college, but always loved rock'n'roll energy. The problem though, if you are in a typical rock band, you don't get to play all those jazzy chords and licks. So Brian was the first who opened my eyes that you can mixed both of those worlds.

I transcribed a lot of his stuff, and still use his ideas. It works great on hot jazz standards. I always go for the energy factor, even if I have to play simpler harmonically.