Try and listen to this piece by Dave Brubeck
Jazz is a very unique genre. Good Jazz frequents an extremely complicated combination of rythymns which fade in and out of focus. In addittion, a variety of instruments are isolated and combined, usually more so than in other genres, and in a more complicated fashion compared to the simple solo.
I'll admit that Smooth Jazz and that electic stuff, at least in my opinion, is pure garabage, but if you are interested in making an informed decision, try listening to the masters in the genre before you right it off.
Originally posted by: csf
Originally posted by: dwell
My first guitar teacher was a Jazz guitarist. He was such a wanker. He would put down rock and blues for being "unstructured." Isn't the the point of having soul in music is to just play it from the heart?
It seems to me that the only people who like Jazz are Jazz musicians. To me it sounds like every song is just a big wank-fest to see who can make the most technically complicated sound, but it rarely sounds good. Give me a good old simple I-IV-V-I progression and some soul.
If you are a Jazz-freak, I am not trying to flame, just expressing my opinion.
No you're not the only one. Aside from the irritating pretentiousness of the genre, I just don't like the sound of the instrumental arrangements used, as well as the lack of structured melodies, rhythm, etc.
A great deal of Jazz loves to "toy" with the melody, whereby it fades in and out of focus. Perhaps a saxaphonist or pianist may go off on a tangent here or there, but for the most part, the rythymn is still there, except it is not as obvious. Sometimes they really go astray, but always come back to it in creative ways. Although it comes more from experience, it is still not that difficult to visualize the now "invisible" rythymn when listening to one ofthose 'tangents.' You would be surprised at how the well the rythymn is kept intact in many instances.
Listen to Dave Brubecks's "Take Five," as his music is not as intense as let's say Miles', and will be easier for a novice to understand. (I'll post a nice version of it later) Notice how in this piece, an instrument always keeps the base rythymn while leaving other instruments free to modify the rythymn.
Originally posted by: dwell
My first guitar teacher was a Jazz guitarist. He was such a wanker. He would put down rock and blues for being "unstructured." Isn't the the point of having soul in music is to just play it from the heart?
It seems to me that the only people who like Jazz are Jazz musicians. To me it sounds like every song is just a big wank-fest to see who can make the most technically complicated sound, but it rarely sounds good. Give me a good old simple I-IV-V-I progression and some soul.
If you are a Jazz-freak, I am not trying to flame, just expressing my opinion.
I am sorry that you had such a bad first experience with Jazz. Honestly, I also find that it deals with seemingly unstructered rythymns that are not uncommon in other genres, although for rock, I haven't seen it implemented well or at all since the era of, now, classic rock.
For example, listen to the RCA Victor Recording of Heifetz playing the Concerto no. 1 in D by Sibelius.
There are some parts where the entire orchestra is silent and Heifetz's solo is amazingly rythmic. He breaks from the original rythymn and yet still plays with it in mind. From whole notes to 32nd notes, his rythymns are of an intense nature that serve to explicate the breakdown of the original rythymn.
Perhaps the reason you might want to look at jazz from a more complicated perspective.
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