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Great Music, Uninspired Name
Friday, April 11, 2008
Some of the greatest jazz groups have lousy names. No wonder all the “quartets” and “quintets” seem alike. Today, we examine how to fix jazz’s image problem with Will Layman, a jazz critic who writes for Pop Matters, NPR and other publications; and Anne Mette Iversen, a composer and bassist who leads the Anne Mette Iversen Quartet.
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Don't forget --The Bad Plus--, one of the rockingest cutting contemporary jazz ensembles out there...
What a weird name...
As a proud Dane listening to soundcheck today, I just wanted to let you know that you misspelled IVERSEN! Not super important, but the topic is band names....
Rock groups have adopted names of musicinas to perhaps sound a little more serious, e.g. Allman Brothers Band, Edgar Winters Band, Emerson Lake and Palmer, etc.
Yeah,
Happy Apple, Dave King's midwest project, is named after the plastic apple-shaped baby toy. King utilizes this jingling device, to which the saxophonist Michael Lewis improvises.... They also use 2 toy walkietalkies to create feedback noise...
When it comes to this problem (if you want to call it that)I think it alls go back to tradition. To both it's detriment and great achievement jazz musicians are obsessed with the tradition of jazz and the respect for the history. Jazz can be very conservative in that I think people who ignore or try and stray from the traditions of the way a jazz musicians "is" will suffer a lot of criticism from his teachers and fellow musicians.
"Jazz is not dead; it just smells funny," Frank Zappa famously observed. Today, it's really quite the other way around. Consequently, in no way should jazz be taking its cues from rock.
Could you imagine Wynton Marsalis calling himself "Purple Nurple?" So much for the quest for legitimacy.
The individual sounds that distinguish Kenny Dorham from Blue Mitchell are directly tied to their human identity, as much as SEX MOB is to Steve Bernstein.
"pRex"
The last caller personifies what I'm talking about - there's an obsession with being taken seriously - to people listening "for the music", etc. If you read Miles' biography he really gave this a lot of thougth and was desperate to be taken as seriously as a classical musician. It seems like todays musicians are somewhat stuck in this mindset as if Jazz is still not taken seriously which I think is not the case...
jazz, even tho everyone is extremely creative, still has a very strong distinction between sidemen/leaders. with all the freedom, there needs to be a strong leader and direction.
There is some tangential substance to this conversation. Jazz is facing a decline in popularity and part of that is the real and imagined over seriousness of the art and surrounding culture. the names of the bands are a part of the perceived seriousness and (i hate to say it) boringness. Marketing hooks matter in 'hooking' young and new listeners to the wonderful creative music. So a band called 'wild purple' may get a tad more interest than the John smith trio.
I'm sorry, but this discussion is very embarrassing. I would expect something a little less petty and contrived from WNYC.
brooklyn jazz trio, name:
soiled mattress & the springs - http://www.myspace.com/soiledmattressandthesprings
Speaking of Jazz groups, May 16, Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, mixing New Orleans with a cool hip vibe, will be on Sound Check. Don't miss Ken Field and the group.
>>RSM
It's not the name; it's the music. Difficult logic for most people.
I would rather have heard an actual performance from a jazz group rather than this silly discussion about band names. Who cares!
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