All that jazz

[The Good Reverend Roger]

1812 Overture going, here.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Da dada dada dada da da da BOOM 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Da dada dada dada da da da BOOM 

What ya gotta do, see, is you gotta clamp that wax ring down TIGHT.  That way the hydraulic effect blows the NEIGHBOR'S pipes out.

[LMNO]

So, this is when things start to get a bit weird. The 40s are still seeing Ellington write and orchestrate some amazingly thought-out and arranged pieces, you're starting to see some of the younger musicians pull away, and go back to smaller combos.  While some of it is incredibly lovely and smooth, there is now a sense of "Art" in the air, and an apparent desire to move away from dance music, and get, you know, serious.  For them, this means speeding up the tempo, taking extended solos, shying away from the melodies as they are written, and all but abandoning arrangements.  They even decided that they could just re-use older songs, and the idea of a "standard" was born.  For example, there's this complex arrangement that has a danceable groove and hummable melody, and then this happened to it.  There's still complexity there, but of a much different kind. 

The rise of the complex arrangements opened people's eyes to the breadth and depth of music theory, and the conceptual "availability" of notes expanded greatly.  Long, looping glissandos and trills jump around the space, while the beat precariously holds onto the ride cymbal, letting the snare and kick drums stumble and scatter unexpected punctuation about.  Meanwhile, the bass is "walking", creating its own line that weaves through the chord structure – which itself has blossomed new progressions and architecture due to the advanced music theory that was brought into jazz by the big band sound.

But then there's this guy, who was so out there, it often sounds like he was confusing himself.  Odd chord clusters on the piano, conflicting melodies, and an almost confrontational playing style.  He's fighting to get those notes out there.  There's this weird juxtaposition, because he's not going balls out with speed, and there's a bounce to the rhythm, and every once in a while you can here a really catchy melody.  But then it all tumbles to the ground in a glorious mess, only to be caught through outstretched fingers, slipping, bobbling...

Needless to say, these guys are probably the ones who gave jazz a bad name in terms of epic wankery and pretension.  They were no longer there to entertain, mind you.  They were creating something.  They were making ART™.  And for a time, speed and agility were the markers of that.  But it wasn't all screeching and fluttering.  When they slowed it down, things could get really, really beautiful.

But things could get weirder.  And they did.

More to come.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

How is moving away from dance "getting serious"?

[LMNO]

Ah.  "Serious" as in "SRSBZNZ".

Where do you think the term Hipster originated, anyway?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Ah.  "Serious" as in "SRSBZNZ".

Where do you think the term Hipster originated, anyway?

And see, that's my primary problem.  Music, to me, is for stomping to, for dancing until you spit blood.

If I am expected to sit still and snap my fingers as applause, I'm going to get my stomp on by other means.

[Don Coyote]

LMNO, I would pay money so I could take a course on the history of Jazz taught by you.

[LMNO]

Ah.  "Serious" as in "SRSBZNZ".

Where do you think the term Hipster originated, anyway?

And see, that's my primary problem.  Music, to me, is for stomping to, for dancing until you spit blood.

If I am expected to sit still and snap my fingers as applause, I'm going to get my stomp on by other means.

Yeah, the next phase or two ain't gonna be pretty for you.  Actually, most jazz from the 50's on up is made for listening, usually difficult listening.

[LMNO]

LMNO, I would pay money so I could take a course on the history of Jazz taught by you.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Ah.  "Serious" as in "SRSBZNZ".

Where do you think the term Hipster originated, anyway?

And see, that's my primary problem.  Music, to me, is for stomping to, for dancing until you spit blood.

If I am expected to sit still and snap my fingers as applause, I'm going to get my stomp on by other means.

Yeah, the next phase or two ain't gonna be pretty for you.  Actually, most jazz from the 50's on up is made for listening, usually difficult listening.

If I want difficult listening, I'd actually attend meetings.

I want something that makes me want to moonwalk on the ruins of my city, with a bottle of rum in my hand, and my horribly diseased genetalia hanging out.  I don't get that from "listening", which is why I loathe jazz.

Every city should have someone like me.  A hulking freak with 2 left feet that dances like an epileptic ox and DOESN'T CARE, because the MUSIC is what it's ALL ABOUT.

[LMNO]

It's like you're a living embodiment of The Troggs.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

It's like you're a living embodiment of The Troggs.

Youtube is locking up on me (nannywall is twitchy about ads), but I know that song.  And that's not really it.  I just wanna dance.

[Don Coyote]

Ah.  "Serious" as in "SRSBZNZ".

Where do you think the term Hipster originated, anyway?

And see, that's my primary problem.  Music, to me, is for stomping to, for dancing until you spit blood.

If I am expected to sit still and snap my fingers as applause, I'm going to get my stomp on by other means.

Yeah, the next phase or two ain't gonna be pretty for you.  Actually, most jazz from the 50's on up is made for listening, usually difficult listening.

If I want difficult listening, I'd actually attend meetings.

I want something that makes me want to moonwalk on the ruins of my city, with a bottle of rum in my hand, and my horribly diseased genetalia hanging out.  I don't get that from "listening", which is why I loathe jazz.

Every city should have someone like me.  A hulking freak with 2 left feet that dances like an epileptic ox and DOESN'T CARE, because the MUSIC is what it's ALL ABOUT.

Like how there is poetry and then there is Poetry^TM.

[LMNO]

It's like you're a living embodiment of The Troggs.

Youtube is locking up on me (nannywall is twitchy about ads), but I know that song.  And that's not really it.  I just wanna dance.

Perhaps to this?