Is jazz dead?...

[misanthrope]

...good article

[Zomby Woof]

1. Although I love jazz

It is a dead genre. There is no innovation, no freshness anymore. Anything that is good is pretty much a retread, no matter how enjoyable. Kenny Garrett and Joshua Redman, hailed as some of the better new sax talents of the past decade or so, are recycling Branford Marsalis and Wayne Shorter, for example.

If it isn't dead, it sure smells funny.

[grasswire]

5. why must jazz change?

Why not appreciate jazz as it was, America's national treasure, and just start up something else under a new name if you must? There is nothing more euphoric than carefully listening to music as old as the ODJB or Lu Watters or Pops himself. And GAWD, have you really, really listened to Ellington's blacker stuff? Plenty of musical genres have spun off jazz and still can, for those who must head out.

[DancingBear]

10. It's funny, but Joshua Redman sounds nothing like his dad

i really enjoy his father's playing (Dewey Redman), but the son just sounds too sterile.

Seems as if many musicians have the required ability, but for some reason (culture, upbringing, whatever) the music comes to me (at least) without a soul.

James Carter is another one who strikes me this way. Brilliant musician, but he leaves me cold.

Eric Alexander,on the other hand, is a young (not so much anymore) musician who brings a passion to his playing that I don't see too much of in the modern crop of jazz musicians.

And please do not get me started on "talent" like Norah Jones and Diana Krall. Come back Sassy - please.

[chaska]

2. Jazz has thoroughly ossified, but...

Wynton Marsalis should be hung by his balls for what he's done to jazz. Jazz practically means change, WM is a freakin' fossil.

However, there is a great underground scene of people who play for little or nothing and who are constantly pushing the envelope. They might not even sound like they're playing "jazz", but jazz is really more of a concept than a sound.

It's good that the classic jazz is moribund. It's also good what's happening in small clubs and people's garages. Good music rarely makes much money (money as a measurement of popularity).

[grasswire]

6. exactly what do YOU mean...

...by "classic" jazz?

[misanthrope]

7. I wouldn't say...

...that "classic jazz is moribund" if you've ever been in an intimate venue listening to some cats that are real players.

Remember, too, there's a million different ways to play "Yardbird Suite" or "Footprints" if you're really listening.

Jazz seems to be a fairly esoteric genre that will stay that way.

And that's probably a good thing.

Even when it was at the height of its popularity, it wasn't because people were more "tuned in" to the music, it's because it was the trendy thing to do.

For some of us, jazz is almost a type of philosophy that the average Joe might find unsettling in the way that it looks at ideas of expression and risk.

[ChoralScholar]

3. The Little Rock NPR affiliate, KUAR 89.1 plays

a lot of jazz at night, but it ALL SOUNDS THE SAME....

It's just high-speed be-bop syncopated chromatic runs for hours...on the sax a while, then on the trumpet, then on the piano,... ad infinitum

[MuseRider]

4. I hope not since

both of my sons are planning on making their lives as jazz musicians. The avant-garde scene in Chicago is pretty interesting but I sure as hell can't understand how they do it.

[sendero]

8. As dead as rock.....

... which was a much more limited genre to begin with.

Luckily, a lot of great music has been recorded, and its a good thing - it seems the recording industry has killed most of the artistry in music :(

[evlbstrd]

9. It just smells funny.

Courtesy of Frank Zappa.

[KamaAina]

11. Perhaps it can be reborn right alongside its birthplace

indeed many in (and outside) NOLA feel that jazz is an essential component of the city's renaissance.