Is Jazz Relevant in Today's Society?
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 11:27PM Click on that and read it. It's only two paragraphs. Go on, I'll wait.
You read it? Great, let's talk.
I'm going to start by saying that I whole heartedly agree with Mr. Rollins on the music of Jazz. It has been (and probably will always be) relevent on some level thanks to what he refers to as "The Big Umbrella". The idea of spontaneous creation, has and always will be a part of music regardless of genre.
But that is only speaking about the music. Sonny also refers to an era of Piano Trios and people sitting around a club smoking and listening to the music. He says, "if that is your conception of Jazz, then of course Jazz is not relevant".
The question I would like to raise at this point is a simple (albiet multifacted) question.
What is the place of Jazz in today's society? In other words... What does Jazz have to do to sell out stadiums, pack in nightclubs, and fill our schools up with students thirsting to learn more about this music? Is there anyone out there willing to think outside of the old world mentality?
Frankly, I don't have any answers. For now, though I will continue attending my weekly Jazz Society Jazz Jams. I will continue harassing my fellow teachers at work that they need to dig into the music and listen to it, study it, play it. That seems to be all I can do for the moment.
So to answer Sonny Rollins question, what is Jazz to me? Well, Jamey Aebersold says that improvisation is "your voice". If that is true then true Jazz is one or more individuals speaking without words. Like a shared expression of a given moment.
What does Jazz mean to you? Is it just background noise or does it speak to you on another level? What do you think can be done to make Jazz truly relevant?
-Mike
Jazz, Relevance of Jazz, Sonny Rollins in Music Blog, Music Philosophy 
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Reader Comments (4)
Hi Mike,
Thanks for linking to The Jazz Session. For folks who are interested in hearing more of Sonny's thoughts, he was on the show on Election Day 2008. You can find that audio here: http://thejazzsession.com/2008/11/04/the-jazz-session-49-sonny-rollins/
All the best,
Jason
Sonny Rollins is right, asking whether jazz is relevant is a bit like asking whether freedom of expression is relevant. I'm only a casual listener, but it seems obvious to me that jazz as important a musical voice as any other method of approaching music.
Indeed, it's arguably the ideal many aspire to without even knowing it, after all what is a jam session if not a direct communication between artists? Don't most music lovers dream of jamming with their musical heroes? In this context I'd argue jazz is a connection, and exchange of musical ideas, what could be better than that?
Anyhoo, all in all I'd say all music is relevant, you just got to be open to hearing to it. Listen without prejudice as an old teacher of mine used to say...
Gift.
Argh missed a critical part of my argument out, meant to say jamming draws a great deal from the improvisational aspect of jazz.
Am I making sense? Ugh never post tired... ;)
Gift.
@ Jason - Thanks for the comment. I'll definitely check out that episode of the show!
@ Gift - Listen without prejudice. Words to live by there. :D Anyways, I totally get what you're saying. The spirit of what jazz is definitely spills over into other genres of music. The thing that always gets me kind of fired up these days is that jazz is supposed to sound a certain way.
For instance, at the Jamey Aebersold jazz workshops I've been to, they teach jazz in a way that, honestly sounds like the recordings from the past 50-60 years. The problem to me is that, like you say, jazz is more than simply an old language of words and specific ways to phrase. They're almost taking it and turning it into the music world equivalent of Latin. Yeah, it still exists technically and it's the root for a lot of what we say, but no one speaks it in common practice anymore.
And besides... improvisation isn't even an idea that was unique to jazz. Classical music already did that hundreds of years ago in the Cadenza. And to raise a huge speculation, I would bet that ancient music did it thousands of years before that.
Ahh... All interesting things to think about.
- Mike