Jazz Articles

Jerry Heinz: Geneva Bay

by Mark Corroto
September 1, 1999

Context. Today’s lesson revolves around the contextual relationship between musician and his environs. Place a musician on a horse, out West, and you get cowboy songs. An urban environment gives us a frenetic sound. Think about the birth of jazz, as the bluesmen moved into the cities, the thing was that swing. Give the musician a kilt and place him in the Scottish Highlands with a sheep’s bladder and, well, nobody can explain bagpipe music. Context is everything for guitarist ...