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Music
Sunday, September 3, 2000
Pop Goes the Culture: All That Jazz, By Paul Tatara
I spent a good fifteen years of my life religiously
absorbing rock & roll before I ever approached jazz. In 1993—when I finally
decided to take a break from Dylan, The Beatles, and their lyric-heavy progeny—I
carefully read up on jazz history and purchased heaps of landmark CDs. Soon,
I came to appreciate what I now believe is the most reliably stimulating
of all musical idioms. It's an understatement to say that jazz means a lot
to me. I honestly feel that my orientation toward the world has been altered
by this distinctly American art form, just as it changed when I first started
listening to rock & roll.
It's a good article about one person's discovery of jazz and his recomendations.
Check it out. I discovered jazz in the late 60s. I got to see Miles Davis
live with his classic quintet in 1966. But it was when Miles went electric
that it got real interesting. Like Dylan before him, Miles was accused
of heresy when his band went electric. Actually, he still is. Miles once
said he could put together the best rock n' roll band ever and then he
did. There are three incredible albums of his early electric/fusion period.
Within weeks of ending the acoustic quintet he recorded In
A Silent Way in 1969. Six months later he did the classic jazz/rock
fusion album Bitches
Brew which I'm listening to as I blog. This has been a big influence
on musicians such as Trey Anastasio, lead guitar for Phish. In 1970 he
did my favorite, A
Tribute To Jack Johnson, which was a film score. I can only listen
to one now, Bitches Brew, since it is the only one I have on CD. I have
all three on vinyl but the turntable is broken. Sigh...
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