Comments on: Are The Meters jazz?

By: Grego Edwards

Grego Edwards — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:05:52 +0000

As you know Jeff, I agree with you that this issue is rather an important one in terms of the music being made today. In my own musical past, my confusion about genres helped me find great music. When I was in third grade, my favorite music was the Champs, especially their tune “Tequila.” I had gotten it in my head that this music was jazz. So in the fifth grade I traded a friend of mine some baseball cards for two records, “Eddie Condon’s Treasury of Jazz” and JJ Johnson’s “First Place.” My friend assured me that these were JAZZ, so I made the deal. I listened and dug them both, though neither sounded like the Champs! From there I stumbled on Miles, then Mingus, Monk, Trane and Ornette, and dug it all eventually. I never would have heard the music (at least then) had I not had a mistaken idea about the genre. On the other hand, I got exposed to Stravinsky because a recording of “The Firebird” had a cool cover. Had I known that it was “classical” music, I might have shied away. I still love Miles, Ornette, the Champs, Stravinsky and a lot of other things. Genres only seem useful to my present life in terms of where to stick a CD or LP on my shelf, and because everybody else seems to care. As far as making music goes, and its reception, I think the less people try to pigeonhole, the better for the music. If you choose, Jeff, to add a string section to one of your dates, no one should start complaining that such an act is anti-jazz. A trick though is getting people into the music that’s beyond mainstream of pop, and genre labels can be a ladder for people to climb into new and different music. Then, once they get there, like with Wittgenstein, they can throw away the ladder! Just some thoughts.

By: Michael Drake

Michael Drake — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:31:18 +0000

I’d say the Meters are Jazz-Inflected New Orleans Funk – or Jazz-INOF (pronounced “Jazz-enough”).

By: Uncommon Priors » Sleep-deprivation roundup

Uncommon Priors » Sleep-deprivation roundup — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:45:21 +0000

[…] 4. Jeff on the fuzzy border between jazz and funk. […]

By: Jason Crane (jazzhead) 's status on Monday, 27-Jul-09 00:42:38 UTC - Identi.ca

Jason Crane (jazzhead) 's status on Monday, 27-Jul-09 00:42:38 UTC - Identi.ca — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:42:47 +0000

[…] http://scratchmybrain.com/?p=784 […]

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:44:42 +0000

Categories may only be useful if you don’t really know much or anything about the music. I think I know what klezmer is, but klezmer players would most certainly scoff at my delineations. At the same time, they, like us jazzers, would likely have trouble saying what’s truly klezmer and what’s not. Why doesn’t Firefox recognize klezmer as a real word?