Jazz
- Started
- Last post
- 107 Responses
- mr_snuggles0
jaga jazzist are very good, saw them in the summer, they rocked tha house!
- ********0
what is jazz?
- Blofeldt0
Jazz is hard to define on here huh? A lot of stuff you guys have mentioned I'd class as hip hop, funk or electronica especially Madlib.
I've never got into that Miles Davis 'silent sessions' period. I thik it's to introspective and too clever by half. I like the way he tries to push form but i surprised anyone listens to it I also reckon it's dated badly, not his fault of course but it does sound very 'arty' I think it sounds like the half way point it is, between the small group Jazz he was playing and the jazz rock of bitches brew.
I reckon you'd have to be stoned to really enjoy it (man)... oh hang on.
- ********0
that's the trendy thing to do, shit on Miles by proclaiming that you'd have to be stoned to listen to Bitches Brew....it wll get you stoned....seems like Jazz is controlled by the Marsalis Mafia these days anyway....
- aliendn0
when i mention madlib i mean checking out the sources he uses, cause that's what i used to discover a world of jazz i never knew existed, like art blakey, sun ra, gary burton, rholand kirk etc...also exposed me to some psyche rock and stuff like electric prunes and david axelrod...anyhow it makes more sense to say "i like good music" than to say "i like jazz" since there are so many different aspects of it.
- ********0
true, true
- Baskerville0
Woohoo! A jazz thread.
I totally understand that some people don't like jazz. Apart from some more modern classical music it is the most complex form of western music and therefore can be quite difficult to understand
It definitely helps to be a musician who's had formal music theory education to get to grips with understanding what's happening musically (chord progressions, modes, meters etc).
But it does sound unbelievably cool too, so even if you don't understand it from a technical pont of view you can still dig it.
I devised a system recently to depict music in a visual way so that someone who doesn't read music can get a feel for how it sounds by just looking at the sheet music. It is based on musical theory of harmony:
1)Notes that fit really well together (chord tones) are coded green
2)Notes that fit ok together (chord extensions) are coded orange
3)Notes that clash are coded red
When this system is applied to sheet music is gives the music an overall colour. So a musically simple piece such as pop music looks mainly green and orange (since there are no complex harmonies). Whereas some John Coltrane may look more colourful with more red.
You can see a sample of this system on my website:
http://www.joshualeigh.co.uk/syn…
I stress that it is not at all subjective, I didn't decide what colour the notes should be coded – music theory determined it for me.
- ********0
nonsense, the 'soul' of jazz is the polar opposite of the technical diatribe you just dropped.
unlearn
- ricstultz0
I think jazz is too large of a term to pin down... and I agree, Madlib is mostly hip hop... but he also was invited into Blue Notes archives to do his Blue Note mix... so yeah, hes kinda jazz too.
Im not a big fan of Bitches Brew... too all over the place... I do dig the Jack Johnson tribute tho.
- Blofeldt0
Ah ha, i get you. I went the other way, listening to Jazz and hearing samples in tunes, and then listening to the tunes themselves too. Leads to lots of other styles. I reckon to be 'Jazz' though, it has to swing and the rhythm should use dotted quavers. Otherwise you can call almost anything jazz. When you get together to play 'Jazz' the style is pretty tightly defined by the rhythm and standard chord progressions.
- mr_snuggles0
I love that project Baskerville, very interesting way to look at it.
I love all sorts of Jazz but it has a time and a place and for me it's mostly saturday and sunday mornings over coffee with me wife.
Some of the stuff I really dig is definitely more "break" oriented. If the drum break doesn't grab me, then it's sorta just easy listening. I never got too into free-jazz and the likes of Sun-ra, pharoh sanders, etc, but I really loe the pharoh sanders rendition of "A love Supreme"
I'm much more into soul and funk and even blues, but again, mostly for the breaks.
- aliendn0
Baskerville awesome! that reminded me of a gem of a site i've been reading a lot recently to understand music theory on a basic level, it might help you cause the author made these things called chord maps that show visually how some chords go with eachother
http://www.chordmaps.com/chartma…
keep it up! you're helping people like me new to the music theory game!
- Blofeldt0
Hey mr_snuggles, did you know that guy who's behind the whole doping athletes with THG thing used to play guitar for Tower of Power?
- aliendn0
oh and u jazz fans, any documentaries to reccomend? i got a thelonious monk one, coltrane and miles davis and was wondering if there were any other fascinating documentaries to watch?
- BobaFetus0
I don't fear free-jazz. I hate free-jazz.
- ********0
you hate yourself
free
- mr_snuggles0
Seriously Blofeldt, that's hilarious!! Not such a good career move I guess..
- shaft0
I had a my chance to take some shots of Jojo Mayer recently.
http://www.miloopa.com/jojomayer…
His music was awesome, it was all jazz, a rave and plenty more in one night.Also, be sure to check out these guys: http://www.ninjatune.net/ninja/a…
- mr_snuggles0
aliendn have you ever seen that short documentory with some of the old jazz drummers mixed in with DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist and those guys. Sorry I'm being vague, but can't remember who all was in it, but Shadow screened it a couple years ago last time he was in Toronto...Anyhow, it was pretty cool, I know you'd dig it..
- aliendn0
oh and i dont know if was snuggles, but someone recommended the "Dusty Fingers" compilation, but its beautiful and i bump it like at least once every couple of days. its harder to find samples of rare tracks that hip hop artists have used to sample, a lot are jazz/funk which i dig....and some european/french jazz as well. You can soul seek them.
its like listening to a radio station that would never exist on the radio, amazing stuff