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Welcome back, my friends, to the "Battle" that never ends.
We're so glad you could attend. Come inside! Come inside!
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This is 'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' ('BOTB') where you listen to different recordings and vote for the one you like best. A new Battle gets posted on the 1st of each month and on the 7th, I place my own vote, tally 'em all up and announce the winner.
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Friend? Foe? Stranger? No matter, ALL are welcome. So pull up a chair, pour yourself 24 oz. of DOG BITE High Gravity Lager (or the poison of your choice) and turn it up to Eleven!
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[NOTE: Links to the first year of 'BOTB' (#1 - #24) can be found at the very bottom of this page.]

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

'ROCK MUSIC 101' (Or, 'JAZZ 101')

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You know what Rock 'N' Roll is, right?
Rock 'N' Roll (later shortened just to Rock) is THIS.
[Fun Fact: I am one of the teenagers in the audience... somewhere. Seven or eight years of working on movie and TV sets and I only ever asked for two autographs: Chuck Berry's for me, and Joe Namath's for my Ma.]

Oddly enough, Rock is also THIS.

THIS is Rock?
Yep, that's Rock. And so is THIS (it don't get no punkier than Miller beer in a can!)

And Rock is THIS.

And THIS and THAT.

And THIS, THIS (Hot-damn! What I would have given to attend THAT concert!), and THIS.

And doggone if Rock isn't also THIS!

Now wait just a cotton-pickin' minute here! If that was Rock, then what the hell is THIS? ("You can't fool me! I recognized that music. It was 'Sing, Sing, Sing' by Benny Goodman's big band featuring Gene Krupa on drums!")

OK, so what is Rock "really" then?

Well, we all know that under the umbrella of "ROCK" there are a whole lotta love sub-genres. There's Doo-Wop, and Punk Rock and Prog Rock and everything in-between those last two (which is a lot of categories such as Folk Rock, Southern Rock, Blues Rock, Hard Rock, and Heavy Metal). One could even say there's Gospel Rock. I just heard that last one earlier today while in a .99 Cent Store. Has it really come to that?! (That last one was for you, 6-B.)

We rarely hear someone say, "I don't like Rock music", because that disqualifies an awful lot of musical styles from being liked.

And yet, it's not uncommon to hear people say, "I don't like Jazz". What makes that statement usually very silly is that a whole lotta love people don't seem to realize that there are probably just as many sub-genres to Jazz as there are to Rock.

My suspicion is that when people say "I don't like Jazz", very often they probably have Be-Bop in mind, thinking that all Jazz is like Be-Bop.

Jazz is my very favorite form of music but to be honest, I'm not particularly fond of most Be-Bop either. Some, yes, but not a whole lot of it.

If you have dismissed Jazz because you thought all Jazz sounded like that Be-Bop you just heard, then you have lost out on appreciating an amazing amount of varied musical types that fall under the umbrella of "JAZZ".

What if I told you that Jazz was THIS?

And Jazz is THIS and THIS.

THIS is Jazz also, as is THIS. (And ME, too!)

Ahh, I can hear you now. You're thinking: "All Jazz is instrumental only - no singing".
Not so fast, Chucklehead!

Did you know that THIS is Jazz?

"Oh, OK, I got it now! Jazz is the theme song to a TV show, even if it includes singing by a high-pitched Black guy".

Not close and no cigar! THIS too is Jazz.

"Uhm... Alright... Jazz is music from a movie or TV show, regardless of whether it's all instrumental or has vocals by a high-pitched Black guy or a saucy White dog... or saucy White woman?"

Wrong again, Fishface!

Jazz can come from places other than movie or TV soundtracks, and Jazz on the rocks can rock as hard as Rock rocks. Like THIS.

Or Jazz can be super-cool like THIS.

"I couldn't listen to Jazz because I'd miss the electric guitar."

Uh-huh... Ri-iiiii-ght... GOTCHA!
[Fun Fact: I once worked on a TV / Print Ad commercial with Jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour. Lemme tell ya, the cat can play.]

Jazz can make you want to DANCE. (If you thought their dancing was bad, blame Gene Kelly - he taught 'em everything they know.)

And it can make you remember how you felt the first time you fell in LOVE (and I still say: "Listen to that with your eyes closed!")

Jazz should also make you think of the greatest, single most innovative American MUSICIAN who ever lived.

Now that you know what Jazz iz, I hope that when I post my next "Battle Of The Bands" blog bit on November 15th, nobody is going to type in the comment section, "I don't like Jazz".

If you're still not entirely sure what Jazz iz, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of the 2-CD set 'CLASSIC JAZZ: Jazz Legends (or Masters)'.



This 'Time/Life Music' compact disc is now officially out-of-print, but cheap new and ultra-cheap used copies can still be found at online music store sites.

The CD contains 30 Classic Jazz tracks of myriad styles, from 'Take The A Train' to 'Take Five'; from 'Mack The Knife' to 'Killer Joe'; from 'Misty' to 'Cry Me A River'. 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!', you couldn't possibly find a better introduction to the best of Jazz.


Please excuse me now, as I've got a Coal Train to catch.

~ Stephen T. McCarthy

POSTSCRIPT: Can anyone tell me what kind of music THIS is?


YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.

29 comments:

  1. I would have called the Sanford & Son theme funk....

    As you know, the jazz I like tends to be the vocal stuff, although some of the instrumental stuff will occasionally grab me.

    But still a good overview post....although I'm partial to Wonderful World over Dolly

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  2. I'd skipped the rock links in favor of the jazz on my first pass....don't you love the way the guy lowers his shades in American Pop?

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    1. DOCTOR DISCDUDE ~
      First of all... Thanks!
      Yeah, I feel it's a pretty decent overview considering that I threw it together totally on a whim (operating by the seat-of-my-pants from within the Blogspot Composition Window, rather than carefully composing it first in a Word file like I usually do).

      In my opinion, generally speaking, I feel Funk is closer to Jazz than it is to Rock (think: James Brown with all the horns). And, not sure if you're aware of this or not but the 'Sanford & Son' theme song was written by Quincy Jones.

      Wackypedia sez:
      Quincy Jones is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, composer, television producer, film producer, instrumentalist, magazine founder, record company executive, humanitarian, and jazz trumpeter. ... Among his awards, Jones was named by Time Magazine as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century.

      His work cuts across numerous musical "labels", as Wackypedia lists the genres as: rhythm and blues, funk, soul, big band, swing, bossa nova, jazz, hip hop, rock and roll.

      But "big band", "swing" and "bossa nova" are all sub-genres of Jazz, and his list of musical associations lean most toward the Jazz side.

      At the same time, part of my point with this blog bit was to illustrate how pointless "labels" can often be when discussing music. That's the reason I made the transition from Rock (Chicago) to Jazz (Benny Goodman) using the exact same song ('Sing, Sing, Sing').

      The transition turns on a pretty fine line. A line so fine that it's difficult to define.

      I'd actually thought about using '...Wonderful World' as my Satchmo song (and listened to a couple different recordings of it). But in the end I felt it was more "Pop" than Jazz, while 'Hello, Dolly" definitely leans more Jazz due to all the trumpet playing.

      By the way, I also thought about using 'Up A Lazy River', 'Chim-Chim-Cheree' (which is great!), and 'Stardust' for the Satchmo song - even watching a couple YouTube videos of Woody Allen speaking about Satchmo's 'Stardust' in Woody's movie 'Stardust Memories'.

      Decided on 'Hello, Dolly' because it is unquestionably Jazz, but also a very popular hit song that most "Jazz-haters" would recognize and perhaps think: "Whoa! I never really thought of that as Jazz before."

      Had to make a few judgment calls. The hardest one was choosing not to represent Bossa Nova (which I adore), but I got relatively close, I felt, with the Tango dance scene.

      Yeah, Little Pete had some serious personal style going on in 'American Pop'.

      In the comment section of the YouTube video for that Sex Pistols song ('Pretty Vacant', as animated in 'American Pop'), someone wrote this:

      I'm confused. None of these folks appear to be drinking coffee, yet they're all getting Sweet-n-Low from that affable blonde gentleman.

      I literally laughed-out-loud (LLOL) for 3 minutes straight! That was an A+ comment! (Wish I'd thought of it.)

      Anyway, thanks again, LC - glad you liked the overview(s).

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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    2. But....I don't like jazz!

      I did not know QJ wrote the Sanford & Son theme...and I guess I'd be splitting hairs to argue funk in rock over jazz....certainly jazz came before either (as did blues and R&B) and both rock and funk have roots in all three.

      I have had Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong CD's in my collection from as early as 1986-the only reason I don't have vinyl is that my mother did and I just spun hers. Linda Ronstadt's efforts with Nelson Riddle were also early acquisitions-so vocal jazz always had a spot om my shelves.

      A lot of instrumental jazz is what I would refer to as "noodling," but I think I mean it in a different sense than you do when referring to the drawn out rock solos.

      It's more like a lot of "jam band" music-when they go too far afield, they kind of lose me. So while I respect the musical proficiency, it does not hold my attention (hard to do that for me without lyrics)

      Also, there is a quality to a lot of jazz-and my uncle's CD is a good example of it-that I just do not like to listen to-not sure if that is be-bop or not.

      But like rock, it would be hard to label all jazz, since jazz is so many things (wouldn't big band also fall under jazz?-I forget if you had a big band link up there)-and would you say bossa-nova isn't jazz or did you just feel like you had enough samples at that point?

      I think I have American Pop somewhere in a box somewhere-I may have to gi it out..I was a big fan of Bakshi's non-Fritz efforts.

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    3. Part 1 Of 2:

      LC ~

      >>... It's more like a lot of "jam band" music-when they go too far afield, they kind of lose me.

      Yeah, well, as I showed, there are just so many forms of Jazz. But one of the big draws of Modern Jazz is improvisation, where they start with a melody but then gradually begin improvising on it - taking the sound in different directions while often maintaining a theme that they touch base with again and again as they experiment. Most often pulling it all back in again to the melody at the end.

      Some of it goes way too far even for me. Be-Bop often goes on fast, wild excursions, and a lot of it loses me too. Interestingly, I find that I prefer Be-Bop when the principal instrument is the guitar as opposed to the horn. But there are exceptions to even that, just as there are exceptions to my general rule-of-thumb about Rock music too.

      For example, you know I'm not a fan of ProgRock, and yet I do like a smattering of it. ELP I can listen to, and Manfred Mann's Earth Band got pretty Proggy too, but I genuinely liked them. I don't like Punk Rock either, but... what about the Sex Pistols' 'Submission'? Still like it. And a few tracks by the Clash, also.

      With Jazz - particularly the more experimental forms - it can take a number of listenings before it really starts to come together in one's mind and begins to make sense. Good sense.

      Continued Below...

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    4. Part 2 Of 2:

      >>... Also, there is a quality to a lot of jazz-and my uncle's CD is a good example of it-that I just do not like to listen to-not sure if that is be-bop or not.

      Funny you mentioned your Uncles' CD because I very nearly put it on my new Bose CD player last night but it got too late and I would have awakened the house. I've got it playing right now though, and here's what I would say about it:

      A great deal of it is what I term Straightforward Modern Jazz, although it does dip into Be-Bop at times. I dig it though, even the Bop. That first track, 'WINGS OVER PERSIA' definitely has Bop shadings that come into play at times. It's really good though. Track two, 'WAY DOWN', is just straightforward Modern Jazz and it's a real gem!

      The more you listen to it the more you might come to wrap your mind around what they're doing. It takes time because it's such complex, sophisticated music. I probably catch on to what they're doing a bit sooner just because I've been listening to this stuffs for decades now.

      And by the way, these names probably won't mean a great deal to you but to anyone who's truly big into Jazz, they'd recognize the names Art Farmer and Teo Macero INSTANTLY. Dude, that your Uncles had them backing 'em is... Hokey-Smoke!... man, that is BIG TIME! Those guys were Jazz superstars.

      And the notes with the CD stating that your Uncle Dennis had John Coltrane as a student and "deepened Coltrane's interest in harmonic possibilities and in musics of many cultures", ...uhm ...all I can do is laugh because that's like someone being able to say they were Babe Ruth's hitting instructor! Do you have ANY idea?!?!

      >>... But like rock, it would be hard to label all jazz, since jazz is so many things (wouldn't big band also fall under jazz?-I forget if you had a big band link up there)-and would you say bossa-nova isn't jazz or did you just feel like you had enough samples at that point?

      Yes, like, Jeff Beck, especially albums such as 'WIRED' and 'BLOW BY BLOW', could just as easily be filed under Jazz as Rock. I used to like his live album with Jan Hammer, too. And the track 'BECAUSE WE'VE ENDED AS LOVERS', that's some beautifully melodic playing with Jazz lines.

      Big Band is definitely Jazz. It's a sub-genre, and unlike Bop and some of the more Modern Jazz, it usually didn't feature nearly so much improvisation, with most of the music carefully arranged, written out in charts with improvisation occurring mostly in small segments of the song where it's noted that, say, "the clarinet solos for X number of bars here", etc.

      Yes, I included Big Band - it was that link to Benny Goodman's 'Sing, Sing, Sing' that's playing during the war scene from 'American Pop', (And incidentally, for years I used to tell people that Goodman's 'Sing, Sing, Sing' had as much energy as any Punk Rock, but also had something Punk didn't have: GREAT musicians playing it.)

      Absolutely Bossa Nove is a sub-genre of Jazz, and one of my very favorites. I considered including a link to Bossa Nova but didn't want to wear everyone out (which I probably did anyway) so I just let the TANGO music from the 'ONE FROM THE HEART' dance scene fill in for Bossa Nova. It's not BN, but it does have that Jazzy Latin influence to it.

      This morning I went back and included a link to a one-minute clip of the tune 'SUICIDE IS PAINLESS', better known as the theme to the TV show M*A*S*H. I wasn't a big fan of the show, but the theme song is one of my all-time favorites and, yes, it too was Jazz.

      Thanks yet again for the CD of your Uncles' music! Some terrific stuffs on that disc. Right now 'DIRGE FOR DORSEY' is playing. Hoo-Wee! That's some Bluesy Jazzy piano work there.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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  3. Looking forward to this coming battle!

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    1. Thanks, JOHN!

      There are a few BOTB regulars who will have NO PROBLEM with my next "Battle", and you are certainly one of them.

      Although you and I don't always vote alike, I've seen enough of your blog to know that you also really dig Jazz and Blues - and I mean "REAL" Jazz and Blues. We both love much of the same music.

      My next BOTB entry will feature two fairly lengthy Jazz instrumentals. The first by a genuine Jazz legend, and the second version closer to Jazz Fusion. I don't know how you'll vote, but I know you won't find the "Battle" offensive or challenging in the least.

      Other BOTB regulars whom I know will NOT find this next one offensive or challenging are Arlee Bird, Sheboyganboy Six, and Chris Fries. Everyone else... hmmm... I dunno. Time will tell.

      I've wanted to do my November 15th BOTB since Day #1 of BOTB's existence, but I've put it off until now for fear of chasing too many voters away. But I'm not as worried about that at this point. I feel BOTB is established enough now that voters will return again even if they don't care for my next "Battle".

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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  4. I do happen to be a jazz fan introduced to it by hubs, including the retro type (30s, 40s and 50s) and some modern artists. We have lots of Miles, some local jazz musicians (saxophone predominant), Dr. Lonnie Smith and the list goes on. . . We like it funky, smooth and hot as in Stephane Grappelli and Django R. What's not to like?

    Liked your comparisons and great variety of examples. I do hear that comment a lot from others (about not liking jazz). It is a truly American style of music. Bravo.

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    1. D.G. ~
      I thank you!

      Alright, I'm gonna type something and you're probably gonna think I'm bullshitting you (and honestly, I wouldn't blame you for thinking it) but...

      1) I don't lie. I'm an honest person, even if my honesty at times makes me seem like a lunatic or the most politically incorrect person who ever lived (see some of my blog bits at 'Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends')...

      2) When I named (above) the BOTB regulars I felt sure would not find my next BOTB installment offensive or challenging, I damn-near typed in YOUR name too!

      I know you think I'm lying, but I'm NOT! My fingers even paused over the keyboard for several seconds while I mentally deliberated on whether or not to include your name.

      Something about things you'd written in previous BOTB comment sections (and not just on my blog) made me think you might dig Jazz pretty well.

      In the end, I decided to play it safe and leave your name off, but I really DID think hard about including you.

      [You'll know I'm lying if you see me write the same thing to any other commenters who might post a comment here. I even thought about my good friend FarAwayEyes - who is really the true creator of the BOTB concept here at Blogspot - and although I know she likes some Jazz stuffs, and although she DID vote for Richie Cole's sax instrumental in my last BOTB blog bit - I felt more confident that you would appreciate my next Jazz-centered BOTB post more so.

      I could very easily be wrong (it happened once before, in 1972) and FAE may like my next BOTB blog bit even better than you do - we shall see soon enough - but my initial thought was that if I were to add one more name to the above posted list of BOTB regulars whom I think will appreciate my next "Battle", that name would have been yours.]


      Now watch! I'm gonna tick off a ton of BOTB regulars because they're all gonna be thinking: "How could that simple-minded jerk have thought that I wouldn't love to hear two 7+ minutes, totally instrumental, Jazz tracks to evaluate and vote upon?"

      There's just no winning. The best one can hope for is to survive as long as possible with the fewest number of bruises possible.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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    2. POSTSCRIPT:
      D.G., I meant to add that I own the compact disc 'THE TURBANATOR' by Dr. Lonnie Smith. It's a wacky title with a wacky cover but - Hoo-Wee - that's some hot B-3!

      ~ D-FensDogg

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    3. You can always include me on the list, I've been a jazz fan for a long time. We met Dr. Lonnie Smith at a jazz club here in Vancouver and talked to him for a long time. And he does wear a turban but is a friendly guy. Great B3 performance too!

      Delete
  5. I liked it when Bing and Satchmo got together on High Society and explained, "Now That's Jazz!"

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  6. Oh, that's just great, BROTHER MARTIN.
    NOW you tell me!

    If you'd-a told me that earlier I could have just linked to 'High Society' with Satchmo and Bing and saved myself all the time it took to dig up all those other links! Thanks for nuttin', dude.

    Speaking Satch, here are a few classic Armstrong quotes followed by a couple quotes ABOUT him:

    If you have to ask what it [Jazz] is, you’ll never know.
    ~ Louis Armstrong

    [Bebop is] Chinese music.
    ~ Satchmo

    Hot can be cool, and cool can be hot, and each can be both. But hot or cool, man, Jazz is Jazz.
    ~ Satch

    He was the only musician who ever lived, who can't be replaced by someone.
    ~ Bing Crosby

    You know you can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played — I mean even modern.
    ~ Miles Davis

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  7. It's times like these I wish I had a show 'n' tell class to go to. I didn't know that Quincy Jones wrote the Sanford and Son theme. I think that was the best part of the show. I also would've never thought of "Suicide Is Painless" as jazz. Most people have never even heard the sad lyrics to the song before. Looking forward to your next battle!

    PS - This is long overdue, and for some reason I couldn't leave a comment on your other blog. Just wanted you to know, I also loved SCTV, and would enjoy seeing the gang on a reunion show (minus John Candy and Harold Ramis who both sadly passed away). Andrea Martin and Martin Short are still hysterically funny! Best skedy 3D movies ever!

    Julie

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    1. JULIE ~
      You're right, the theme song WAS the best part of 'Sanford & Son'! I liked the show when I was a stupid kid, but seeing it many years later I thought: GAH!

      Still better than 'Welcome Back, Kotter', but not by much.

      Most people don't even know that the MASH theme was titled 'Suicide Is Painless' - which it ISN'T, by the way. Yeah, it can be for the person who takes their life, but it isn't for those left behind who cared about him or her.

      Yep, the MASH theme is Jazz. It's "lite" Jazz, to be sure, but it is Jazz.

      How many people have ever thought of the 'Peanuts' theme by Vince Guaraldi as Jazz?

      I can't believe that there could be more than a handful of people who truly don't like at least SOME Jazz, even if they don't realize it's Jazz they're hearing.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  8. Ha, thank you for the nod! Yes, Paul Simon and his crazy gospel rock. It HAS come to this. Some say it's even better on Christmas, the miraculous day of the year when... an old Jewish man sings an entire sermon by (and with) black preacher J. M. Gates.

    Getting Ready For Christmas Day

    Damn that wonderful movie American Pop for making me love jazz. Now, I'm more of the Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller and Clyde McCoy style of jazz lover, but it has grown on me immensely. It's also inspired a great deal of my latest novel, in which one of my hero's few joys on this Earth is his portable crank record player and his Benny Goodman records.

    Lookin' forward to the upcoming battle! Bring on the jazz!

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    1. 6-B ~
      In being a fan of Glenn Miller's and Benny Goodman's music you are a fan of Big Band Jazz. But, Clyde McCoy is something completely different. That's more like Small Combo Jazz. So you may even find you like a lot more types of Jazz than you currently think you do.

      Every form of Jazz appeals to me except for Hard Bop (which is just a way of saying "extreme Be-Bop).

      Incidentally, Clyde McCoy is relatively obscure. There are probably plenty of people who dig Jazz who aren't really even aware of McCoy but he did some cool stuffs with a muted trumpet. Some would call it "gimmicky", and it was, but I still enjoy it quite a bit.

      If you've got some down-time someday and feel like it, see if you can find McCoy's 'SUGAR BLUES' and 'THE NIGHTMARE' at YouTube and listen to what he does with that trumpet. He's also got a goofy novelty song I like called 'PALOOKA (It's A Grand Old American Name)'.

      I don't listen to Clyde McCoy as much as, say, Dave Brubeck or Pat Metheny, but there are times when I REALLY get into the mood to play some McCoy.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      POSTSCRIPT: I've often thought that Paul Simon might be ripe for a Christian conversion if the right person presented the case for Christ to him.

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  9. Yeah -- I'll go with Larry: The Sanford and Son theme is more funk than jazz.

    But these labels are artificial and arbitrary. It's like trying to define a rainbow by calling it "Red" "Blue" and "Yellow" -- it's really a continuous spectrum of infinite colors.

    When I think of Jazz, I think of all you've mentioned, including the "Peanuts" Lucy and Linus theme, and a LOT more. Heck, there's a whole universe of just guitar in "jazz" McGlaughlin, Wes, Scofiled, Metheney, Django, and like THIS which was just made recently:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNpE8VSG-TY

    I think the core of "jazz" is improvisation -- live, in-the-moment interpretation and exposition that relay emotion and immediacy.But there's a lot of that in Blues and Rock, too -- it all overlaps, man.

    But even then -- playing the same thing exactly the same way every time can be jazz, too.

    It's like Pornography -- I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see (or hear) it. ;)

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    1. GgC ~

      Well, I'd have no problem calling the S&S theme music "Funk", but as far as I'm concerned, most - not all, but most - Funk can be pretty comfortably placed under the big umbrella label of Jazz.

      I mean, 'FUNK #49' I would call (if I were forced to label it) a semi-funky Rock song. But when you get all those horns playing - when you've got a trombone, a trumpet and a saxophone out front and in-your-face, it's just too "horny" to say it doesn't qualify as a form of Jazz.

      But there are just so many points where some music merges that - like I said in a comment to LC - "the transition turns on a pretty fine line; a line so fine that it's difficult to define". (Here's where I'll drop in your rainbow metaphor.)

      At what point is Jazz Fusion just "Jazz"? At what point is Country Rock just "Rock"? I don't think anyone can really say.

      I could point to a couple Bocephus songs in which I feel he, at the same time, is more Country than Lynyrd Skynyrd and more Rock than them too!

      It's not hard to find the Jazz in Funk, nor the Blues in Jazz, because I think it all came from the same basic source: Gospel and other Black music forms.

      >>... there's a whole universe of just guitar in "jazz" McGlaughlin, Wes, Scofiled, Metheney, Django, and like THIS which was just made recently:

      Sure. I just let Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour on stage together represent that whole universe because I wasn't going to post a separate link for every Jazz guitar artist I could think of.

      [Incidentally, one of my very favorites is a guy named DANNY CARON. I'm in love with his style: he plays with such tremendous sensitivity. You probably know of him - played with Steely Dan and others - but he deserves so much more notoriety.]

      Yeah, totally agree about improvisation in Jazz. Satchmo is quoted as having said: "Never play anything the same way twice."

      But I do also like Jazz (especially Big Band) that is primarily written and arranged in music charts. I just enjoy most forms of Jazz, which I cannot say about Rock..

      The reason for this blog bit was to try to head off at the pass those who might comment "I just don't like Jazz" on the BOTB I will present tomorrow.

      I wanted to do a 101 lesson showing how many styles and types of Jazz can fall under that one heading. Because I find it difficult to believe anyone could dislike EVERY type of Jazz. (I think people who make that remark - and a LOT of people do - just don't realize that there are as many sub-genres to Jazz as there are to Rock.)

      Thanks for the comment, Brother.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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  10. Whoa, this has been quite the tutorial on Rock and Jazz. It took me awhile to listen to everything, but I finally made it through.

    I laughed that you claim to have no idea how I might feel about Jazz, but then I thought 'I guess it's nice that there might be ine area where I could keep you guessing.

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    1. FAE ~
      I don't think you and I have ever discussed Jazz before. At least I don't remember it coming up, nor do I recall you ever mentioning any particular favorite artists within the realm of Jazz. (In Rock, I know some people you like, such as Van and ELP, some Rickie Lee. But have you ever mentioned any Jazz favorites?)

      Knowing that you loved the Richie Cole instrumental from my last BOTB, I would guess that you like Jazz. But how much, I couldn't say.

      I guess I'm about to find out.

      Did you ever receive the last E I sent in which I said that I fear today's BOTB might be a shutout? I haven't heard from you for awhile.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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    2. POSTSCRIPT:
      Wait! Now I remember... 'Moonlight Serenade' (Glenn Miller) and 'Canadian Sunset' (Danny Gatton).

      Alright, who gave me the lobotomy when I passed out from all the Jim Beam?!

      ~ McDogg

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    3. ELP, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I think you know me pretty well and then...

      Delete
    4. ...and then...

      ...you light up a doobie, Sister.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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    5. Apparently, the Jim Beam and the lobotomy haven't entirely eaten your brain...you do remember the ELP reference and the best use of their double album. Ha! Much safer than Boone's Farm any day (please tell me you never really did drink that stuff - Thunderbird maybe, but Boone's Farm?) Now pass me another chocolate chip cookie, please

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    6. Oh, yeah, Boone's Farm was my drink of choice when I was 17 and 18. Then I graduated to Southern Comfort and Coke when I was 19 and 20.

      When I became 21, I began experimenting with lotsa different kinds of booze.

      During the height of my League Of Soul Crusaders era I did occasionally drink a little Thunderbird, but I was serious about preferring Night Train (I'll take red poison over white poison).

      However, during those years I was liable to drink beer, Night Train, Jack Daniels, Tanqueray gin, tequila, and Bacardi 151 all in the same night.

      To put it mildly... I was insane.

      Yes, we have no chocolate chip cookies today.
      Doritos OK?

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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    7. Yep, that's a good definition of insanity!

      Doritos? You mean death by orange powder? How about some Rum Raisin ice cream? That's my choice of poison.

      I'm still dying to try that chilli pepper wine you mentioned awhile back. I can now have an occasional glass.

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    8. Rum Raisin ice cream is good stuffs!

      Is there a 'Total Wines & More' store near you? There's a good chance they might carry it. I found it, however, at Sprouts market. Not sure if they're located in your area but if so, check it out because they carry a lot of interesting things beyond just Hatch Green Chile Wine.

      ~ D-FensDogg

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