Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!hplabs!sytek!syteka!jtm From: jtm@syteka.UUCP (Jim T. McCrae) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: Time to talk about Jazz, again... Message-ID: <384@syteka.UUCP> Date: Wed, 19-Oct-83 18:04:35 EDT Article-I.D.: syteka.384 Posted: Wed Oct 19 18:04:35 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 24-Oct-83 21:19:03 EDT References: drux3.829 Lines: 25 Tom Buckley is missing the point when he says there are "absolutes" in music to which all executed music must be compared. The absolutes to be compared against are the absolutes defined by the particular goals of a musician and/or his/her particular school of music. There is far too much variance in interpretation of "what is good" in music to allow for absolutes. Ornette Coleman wanders, granted. And I've never been a big fan of Miles, either. But what about Bird? When he & the bebop crowd hit the airwaves, the sound was ridiculed as "Chinese music"(no offense to those of you who are Chinese or like Chinese music) and dismissed as garbage, yet the structures and forms of bebop today form one of the "absolutes" of jazz, i.e., if you're going to play bebop, you're going to be compared to Charlie Parker et. al. Jazz in its purist form has as its goal the manifestation of the most private thoughts of the musician in the world of shared sound. Its hard to nail down absolutes out there. There's good & bad jazz, don't get me wrong. More later.