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By Walter Price
Time to gloat and brag about the greatest music in the world-Jazz! I can think of 10 good reasons why Jazz is the greatest music in the world and let me assure you jazz fans I have 90 more that are just as good.
- The Jazz Gods. What other music has as many secular giants that people worship, praise, or just plain fanatical about? I mean Jazz Gods that are only obscure to the general public, not us jazz fans. Miles, Monk, Ellington, Coltrane, Getz, Bird, Evans, Dizzy, Holiday to name a few invoke emotions and pleasures that only can be described as nirvana. Each jazz fan has their own deities” they prostrate to BUT they are there hovering over any kind of musician instilling unworthiness to dare play the same instrument as Bird!
- The Music. Dare I mention just a fraction of tunes from past classics of “Take the A Train”, “Salt Peanuts”, “So What”, “Killer Joe”, “A Love Supreme”, to the contemporary “Birdland” and “Maputo”.
- The Styles. Free, Latin, Traditional, Fusion, Funk, Contemporary, Beyond, Transcendental, Metaphysical-whatever your flavor jazz covers it all .
- All the “Unknown” local artists-The reason why jazz stays alive are the local bands and artists that really play for the love of jazz. They are the jazz musicians that open up for the “Stars” and leave people wondering how the opening act was so much better than the main attraction (by the way always pissing off the “Stars”). When asked to play somewhere their top questions are “where” and “when” instead of “how much.” Most of all it is why the few jazz clubs can stay in business. Those “unknowns” attract daily and weekly business These artists unfortunately will remain obscure but keep jazz in perpetual motion and they keep making money for all the rats and hacks of jazz.
- The Musicians. Kenny Garrett is a monster, Bela Fleck is indescribable, Marcus Miller is the Puff Daddy of Jazz, People love Diana “Crawl”, “Louis” Marsalis will continue to try to be “Pops” incarnate, Joshua Redman can now play after the hype, Brian Blade is a mother, Nicholas Payton isn’t cocky yet, Regina Carter is “cool” because she plays violin, Herbie can do no wrong unless he plays what he wants to, Brad Mehldau has the big MO, Sonny is the living God , and it is still cool to hate Kenny G. Yanni, and John Tesh.
- The Small Recording Labels. The trouble is I’m not knowledgeable who they are. These conglomerates and multinationals own jazz recording labels as well as toilet paper, insurance companies, law firms, and a line of snow boards. But these labels work on shoestring budgets selling CDs out of their basements, cars, and during break at high schools. They like the local artists keep jazz in the recording bins and springboards many future stars.
- Jazz is Cool. Listening to Rock is not cool. Listening to funk is hip, BUT not cool. Listening to classical gets boring, world music eventually gets on your nerves, New Age is too New Age, Pop is suicidal, Country is not cool and never will be cool because the music is called COUNTRY, Soul was cool but not anymore, I don’t even know what is adult contemporary besides Celion Dion, and I’m convinced Rap is for young people and young people never ever use the word cool anymore
- Jazz music is not mainstream. Even though we fight for its growing popularity it is still cool to be the only one in a room to know more about “Blue Monk” than about Scottie Pippen.
- Jazz is improvisational, spontaneous, evolving, mesmerizing, and changing and that is in one solo!
- Jazz is timeless. My prediction-2,000 years from now when Mad Max and the boys are fighting for road dominance people will admire and thank American civilization the most for Jazz and judge us harshly for Britney Spears!
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