JAZZ IS DEAD

Jazz serves a cultural function in the music scene. It is a signifier for musical "adulthood." To embrace jazz is to don a kind of graduation cap, signifying a broadening of tastes outside "mere" rock music. This ostentatious display of "sophistication" is an insult, and I find the graduation cappers transparent and tedious. Certainly there must be interesting music one could call "jazz." There must be. I've never heard it, but I grant that it is out there somewhere.

Jazz has a non-musical parallel: Christiania, the "free" zone in Copenhagen. In Christiania, like in jazz, there is no law. People are left to their own inventions to create and act as they see fit. In Jazz, the musicians are allowed to improvise over and beside structural elements that may themselves be extemporaneous. Sounds good, doesn't it? Freedom -- sounds good.

The reality is much bleaker. Christiania is a squalid, trashy string of alleys with rag-and-bone men selling drugs, tie-dye and wretched food. Granted Total Freedom, and this is what they've chosen to do with it, sell hash and lentil soup? Jazz is similar. The results are so far beneath the conception that there is no English word for the dissappointment one feels when forced to confront it. Granted Total Freedom, you've chosen to play II V I and blow a goddamn trill on the saxophone? Only by willfully ignoring its failings can one pretend to appreciate it as an idiom and don the cap.

You have no idea what jazz is

Could be the "free-form jazz" gag from Spongebob a direct reference to this Steve Albini's rant?

what a hack, honestly

he's right

>Christiania is a squalid, trashy string of alleys with rag-and-bone men selling drugs, tie-dye and wretched food.
Almemi can go off himself, Copenhagen is awesome

...

He's just talking about the Freetown of Christiania

It's always funny to me when somebody tries to criticize a genre that they clearly know absolutely nothing about.

if you agree with this leave

I read something where a writer said that you have some sort of aversion to jazz?
It's a fun party trick, but I am allergic to jazz. I was raised to be a jazz musician, my father was a jazz musician and I was steeped in jazz from the moment my ears blinked open, which is why I am immune to jazz. And my main reason why I love dissing jazz is jazz musicians. The problem with jazz musicians is that they are all crap. It's sort of like jazz is the refuge of the talent-less. If you really want to be a musician and you are prepared to really work hard at it, but you don't have the gift and you don't have any soul and you don't have any talent, jazz is what you should do; because all you need to do is just spend hours training your fingers to wiggle very quickly and you'll be a hero in the jazz world. Not so in blues. In blues you need talent, you need X factor, you need heart, you need to have lived a life, you have to have something to say, you need to be an actual musician to play the blues. Jazz, any fool can do it; all you gotta do is practice.

And do you think that hold true for the elite, for folks like Jack DeJohneete?

I love Jack DeJohneete. Some of the others – Miles [Davis], mostly crap. Some of his early records where he had Tony Williams, great, I love those. But mostly it was crap. He was out of tune and he was a fucking junky and it sounded like shit. It was utterly preposterous. The king just wasn't wearing any clothes. Coltrane, same thing. [in a condescending voice] "Love supreme, love supreme" it's a joke

this

and also how can someone whose songs have boring structure and the only element that could make someone like it is edginess say that jazz is boring?

Is jazz pronounced 'jay-azz'?

triggered af right now

Because jazz musicians have "complete freedom" apparently. Albini calls his music "rock" so I guess that makes it ok that it's cliche power chord crap.

it's /dʒæz/

Duke ellington count basie sun ra> a retarded git with a chip on his shoulder, who doesn't know point a about jazz' history.

NOW IF I FUCK THIS MODEL

Nice

yeah and it's great

He hates the more straightforward stuff. He would love the modal, free, avant garde, etc. stuff.

He hates the more technical modal, free, avant garde style stuff. He would love the more straightforward kinda stuff (already mentioning Miles+Tony and Jack.)