Rifftides reader Mel Narunsky writes regarding
Recent CDs, Part 4:
From a modern moldy fig
I know I’m going to get a lot of flak from this, but as an old timer, let me be among the first to acknowledge that, with a few exceptions here and there, I am one of those who do not “accept that jazz values can exist apart from standard song forms and harmony, and without being tied to a steady 4/4 pulse” – the exceptions mainly being some new recordings from the older, familiar musicians – many of whom joined the “funky”, “smooth”, “fusion”, “jazz rock” , “electronic” and other types of watered-down jazz at the end of the 1960s which became so successful commercially when discovered by the non-purists.
I now approach all jazz recordings made by musicians with whom I’m not familiar with much trepidation. My old ears and brain are unable to cope with improvisations that I find impossible to follow, ergo I don’t enjoy the experience. In most cases I find the sounds very ugly. The question has been asked before, and I ask it again: whatever happened to beauty in music? Similarly, I find it difficult to listen to contemporary so-called “classical” music. I think of it as anti-music.
But the worst aspect of the jazz in question is that it simply doesn’t swing.
And Duke Ellington was quite right when he said, “It don’t mean a thing……”
Let’s hear other viewpoints on this matter. To respond, click on the “Comments” link at the end of this post.