Bosco-d-gama Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Recently I discovered ‘electro-swing’ and actually purchased new music for the 1st time in many years. Electro-swing is a reblending and revival of 20-30’s swing jazz using digital devices. I find it very uplifting. The popular group ‘Pink Martini’ plays in this realm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeloManiac Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Recently I discovered ‘electro-swing’ and actually purchased new music for the 1st time in many years. Electro-swing is a reblending and revival of 20-30’s swing jazz using digital devices. I find it very uplifting. The popular group ‘Pink Martini’ plays in this realm.I discovered GoGo Penguin's A Humdrum Star on Qobuz. I first thought it was electronic music, but then found out it is all acoustic bass/piano/drum. I even bought the vinyl double album.I used one song, Raven, during assembly at school and the students loved it. Jazz dead? No way... Verstuurd vanaf mijn 5047U met Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 You guys still don't realize that swing sucks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco-d-gama Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 15 minutes ago, LeftEyeShooter said: I discovered GoGo Penguin's A Humdrum Star on Qobuz. I first thought it was electronic music, but then found out it is all acoustic bass/piano/drum. I even bought the vinyl double album. I used one song, Raven, during assembly at school and the students loved it. Jazz dead? No way... Verstuurd vanaf mijn 5047U met Tapatalk Not familiar with this group and will check them out. Agree, as well about much of the instrumentation - but - I believe that the music is highly digitally mixed which accounts for hearing it as synthesized. Very bouncy stuff and rife with ‘ear worms’........ those songs that hijack your mind practically 24/7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Why did Parker and Gillespie go on to create bebop? Why did Monk go on to dissect the music into amazing tangents? It was because the original "swing" had been corrupted and co-opted by the likes of Miller, et al. Who here is familiar with the rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata? Jazz? Don't even try to go there. Miller's Moonlight Serenade, jazz? Give me a break. You might like it. Your grand parents might have liked it, but it is not and never was jazz. It was the Brittany Spears of its day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 22 minutes ago, oldtimer said: You guys still don't realize that swing sucks.... You old curmudgeon. Oh, by the way, did you ever meet Abraham Lincoln? Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Just now, T2K said: You old curmudgeon. Oh, by the way, did you ever meet Abraham Lincoln? Keith Yes. He was a giant self absorbed prick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeloManiac Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 12 minutes ago, oldtimer said: Why did Parker and Gillespie go on to create bebop? Why did Monk go on to dissect the music into amazing tangents? It was because the original "swing" had been corrupted and co-opted by the likes of Miller, et al. Who here is familiar with the rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata? Jazz? Don't even try to go there. Miller's Moonlight Serenade, jazz? Give me a break. You might like it. Your grand parents might have liked it, but it is not and never was jazz. It was the Brittany Spears of its day. Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Her thighs are hefty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco-d-gama Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 There’s genres of music I don’t like and choose to avoid. At the same time there’s so much music I do enjoy that I refuse to get ‘boiled’ about the stuff I dislike. The worst are those sound systems that punish the ears whilst destroying whatever music is being played. That is nails on a chalkboard to moi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeloManiac Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 13 minutes ago, Bosco-d-gama said: There’s genres of music I don’t like and choose to avoid. At the same time there’s so much music I do enjoy that I refuse to get ‘boiled’ about the stuff I dislike. The worst are those sound systems that punish the ears whilst destroying whatever music is being played. That is nails on a chalkboard to moi. Hmm... I still have nostalgic feelings about my student years. For a while, the only music playing device I owned was a plastic clock radio. It must have been as low-fi as could be. But the memory is very strong. Of course, soon, I bought a pre-owned Dual turntable and amp, with really good speakers. I still regret bringing those to the waste disposal, some years ago when I moved.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 13 minutes ago, LeftEyeShooter said: Enjoy Sure it is funny but it is not all that clever. Recently I heard a jazz rendition of the Rush song Tom Sawyer. For what it was it was interesting. The piano soloist played riffs that sounded a lot like Noncarrow...so it caught my ear but ultimately is it jazz? Another case in point is Al Jarreau singing My Favorite Things on the lp 1965. Very jazzy sounding but the song isn't jazz. Remember the scene in Amadeus when at a party he had the challenge of playing tunes in the style of Bach, and also Salieri? It's not that hard, so origin becomes a point of order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeloManiac Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Yes and Salieri was insulted and jealous because Mozart made composing look so easy. While it is not. Mozart was a prodigy. I guess Mozart was a jazz musician, improvising like that... Verstuurd vanaf mijn 5047U met Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Nope. And they were contemporaries and colleagues. Don't believe the movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 The movie was the author's fantasy, and he has said as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 1 hour ago, oldtimer said: You guys still don't realize that swing sucks.... Good grief man, get a grip. My 1944 78 album "A Symphonium of Swing" is one of my favorites. Benny Goodman, Fats Waller, Bunny Berigan, Tommy Dorsey Orchestras doing their very best. Gene Krupa playing "Sing, Sing Sing" with Goodman is spine tingling...finest drumming ever! As to the death of jazz, it's greatly exaggerated, just as with classical. More symphony orchestras now than ever, and more jazz groups. I can hear fine jazz any weekend here in Texarkana, which has a rich jazz tradition. Jazz is a VAST area, and I love it all. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Grip? I have the grip. That was a sense of humor test. You failed. Clearly you need more of my hot sauce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 But on a more serious note, what were all those white guys doing? Imitating and washing down a genre? When I was at TCU, we sponsored a Polish combo to visit and play a concert. What did they play? Autumn Leaves for one. Imitating what had gone before. Not that in and of itself that is a bad thing. Most music is comprised of a composer and then subsequent players recreating the composition. Jazz always wanted to feel different though. Part of that may be the improvisation aspect. Listen to Count Basie, then listen to the others. Who has more soul, more oomph, more emotional impact? My point has been why bebop came to life and this is why. It is a cultural phenomenon and reaction, and an attempt to repossess jazz as an expression of music and culture. It is impossible to separate the cultural from the music just as it is impossible to separate the cultural from other aspects of life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 2 hours ago, oldtimer said: Yes. He was a giant self absorbed prick. Ya'll must have been the best of friends. Keith 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 1 hour ago, oldtimer said: But on a more serious note, what were all those white guys doing? Imitating and washing down a genre? Yea, the Ken Burns Jazz series wasn't very nice to the white Swing bands--Paul Whiteman in particular. Most of the Be-Bop guys (who weren't white) were portrayed as trying to forget what they had to play during regular hours, and were in effect running away from the boredom of it, finally able to play "real music" in the wee small hours at rent parties. I really think that it was a rediscovery of the fundamentals of music theory (Charlie Parker once said that "there are no wrong notes--any note can be related in an extended chord structure or [church] mode"). He had apparently rediscovered the core of music harmony on his own, and worked out a totally new approach to improvisation, which he promptly started playing at gigs and rent parties. He became famous quickly (...he died at age 34...) and his fame of improvising spread like wildfire. By the time he was 30, there were literally dozens of players trying to emulate exactly what he was doing. I'm not sure of the story of Dizzy Gillespie, but he could play ANYTHING: his technique was famously intimidating (sort of like Harry James), and he was at ease improvising in any key or mode by the time that he was something like 15-16 years old. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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