On 30-Apr-07, at 3:40 PM, John Howell wrote:
Andrew's point is a good one. "Jazz" itself lacks a rigorous
definition aside from, "I know it when I hear it"!
Is it a STYLE, or is it a PRACTICE. Does a vocalist have to do
scat to qualify as a jazz vocalist? Is a big band chart in perfect
jazz style but with no provision for improv solos a "real" jazz
chart? I'm asking, not arguing. But just to be clear, to me it is
a style.
Some jazz musicians (not me!) would argue that any singer who doesn't
participate in the "jazz process" is not a jazz singer. This usually
means they need to scat, or at least to improvise interesting
phrasing. Since so many singers sing "Route 66" pretty much the same
way Natalie Cole sings it and proclaim themselves to be jazz singers,
I understand the resistance. About the only singer I hear who
participates in the jazz process at the same level as most
instrumentalists do is Curt (or is it Kurt?) Elling, so that leaves
out almost everybody else.
Yes, in her mind (which means in the minds of the professors at
Miami where she got her Jazz degree), ALL of American popular music
was and is a subset of jazz!!
Well, you have to admit, the vocabulary IS very similar, as is the
technique and repertoire as well as the general approach. Also, early
on in the history of jazz, there wasn't much of a distinction made
between jazz and popular music, in fact, jazz WAS popular!
I try to keep the meaning of jazz to be as large as possible. That's
not to say that I enjoy all jazz-derived music, but that is more a
matter of taste than of philosophy or formation.
So much for an art form that's supposed to leave the performer free
of artificial restrictions!!!
Huh? Who told you that? Jazz is very restricted, though I wouldn't
say the restrictions are artificial. It is also very free, though you
can't do just anything. In jazz as in all art, and in politics and
life in general, more freedom means more responsibility, which means
restrictions.
That being said, I don't care for the "jazz police" mentality. I
routinely laugh back at anyone who says "that's not jazz!" Who really
cares, except for the record stores who have to keep things in bins
by style, and the Grammys?
Christopher
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