 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2011-12-05 19:45
http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/on-why-jazz-isnt-cool-anymore/
FYI there are a few expletives.
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2011-12-05 19:58
Seems like he's more concerned about what the music is called than the music itself.
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Author: dtiegs
Date: 2011-12-06 00:50
I beg to differ! JAZZ LIVES ON IN MY SCHOOL/HOME!
DTiegs
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Author: Buster
Date: 2011-12-06 06:34
Read some of the other postings on his website an extrapolate a bit; he obviously holds a very strong view about the way of the world as a whole- far beyond music. Yet, can you not see what he is getting at?
Be offended by some of his language if you will, but to view "Jazz" is to deal with the past/current racism that it grew from. That IS inescapable.
"Damn right, I’m upset. Damn right, I’m defensive. Why wouldn’t I be? This music ain’t some **** I do for a hobby. This music represents a people’s path to freedom. Black American Music was the disenfranchised Negro’s passport to the world. Black American Music made white people across the globe have to come to terms with the fact that blacks were people, too. That we were not savages, animals, slaves, small-minded descendants of apes or whatever other thing whites had to think of us as in order to justify how they treated us. It was through Black American Music that whites had to face the fact that blacks were equally intelligent human beings.
They didn’t give it up all at once either. It was a long hard road to acceptance. We have made much progress, but we still have a long way to go."
-but lest you misinterpret what he is getting at
"First, I think we should acknowledge its origin: Black. But it’s more than that. Secondly, it’s also American. Though it is a Black invention, without Whites , Latinos , Native Americans, Jews or any of the cultures that make America what it is, it would not be possible. And of course lastly, it’s music.
To that I say, I am Nicholas Payton and I play Black American Music.
Black American Music was created by Blacks, but it belongs to everyone."
Beyond that, I think discussions of race should be left to other forums.
-------------------------------------------------
What he is saying about the state of music quite apt.
"The very fact that so many people are holding on to this idea of what Jazz is supposed to be is exactly what makes it not cool."
"Jazz is a label that was forced upon the musicians.
The musicians should’ve never accepted that idea."
"Jazz is haunted by its own hungry ghosts.
Let it die."
"Playing Jazz is like using the rear-view mirror to drive your car on the freeway."
"What are you so afraid of?
That you actually might have to think for yourself?
That you will be responsible for the information that has been passed down from generation to generation though the lineage?
That you have to live up to the great legacy this music demands?"
"What do Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gary Bartz and myself share in common?
A disdain for Jazz.
I am reintroducing a talk to the table of a conversation that my ancestors wanted to have a long time ago.
It is on their shoulders that I stand."
"I am for the music and against the name."
"This is the problem with the Internet. Everybody’s a blogger and a critic. Everyone is an authority on a subject, regardless if they are not qualified to speak on it."
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Do some of his statements contradict? Yes, and that is the point: to spur some thought.
Honor what those in the past did by creating now, but don't worship them. It isn't idle idol re-creation that we should be after.....
and maybe listen to what he plays...... though our opinions would matter not.
-Jason
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Author: BobD
Date: 2011-12-06 12:19
Must read it when I have a little more time. As I recall "it" was originally Jass.
Bob Draznik
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