Double Bass Why no new Jazz Standards?

[damonsmith]

"Roooxxxxxxxx-Anne....You don't have to put on the red light...." Would fit nicely over this "standard".
How Ironic.
(Not much of a composition, IMFO.)
Thanks.

It is blues form with a nice minor head, the call and response between the bass and 'cello is nice on the original and the bass guitarist trying capture it I thought was nice. Still, if it takes out Roxanne - I will take it.

All arguments aside, the reason "The New Standard" rep. will not become standards is we all like different pop music. There is no reason to assume a multi-generation jazz group would all like Radiohead. There is a far higher chance of all of them agreeing on Paul Motian, Elmo Hope, Carla Bley or Horace Silver, however.
I RARELY play any sort of tunes at all, but, I have nice trio album coming out next month with the German pianist Georg Graewe, we do "Ictus" by Carla Bley and "Nothing ever was, Anyway" by Annette Peacock, as well some Georg's music, the great Michael Vatcher plays drums.

Speaking of Annette Peacock, she has a lot of incredible music here is an album of her music with Franz Koglmann, Gary Peacock & Paul Bley:


This is a tune from an outstanding double CD of her music by Marilyn Crispell, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian:

You can get the album here and lots of other places:
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[J_Bass]

I just laugh very hard when I read here that Jazz is old music and there is nothing new to listen to. I laugh very, very hard.

 

[Groove Doctor]

Very interesting reading.

Why Jazz is Struggling to Survive | Jon Burr - Bassist, Composer, Arranger

TL/DR - learn composition & write better music.

 

[buldog5151bass]

At least in the states, no 9ne young, other than musicians playing it, are being exposed to jazz. Go back when jazz was really popular, and it was the dance music of the younger set. Simple as that.

 

[PauFerro]

Very interesting reading.

Why Jazz is Struggling to Survive | Jon Burr - Bassist, Composer, Arranger

TL/DR - learn composition & write better music.

My takeaway is that a good song is all about developing an idea...not simply making sure the melody in the current bar fits the current bar's chord.

 

[damonsmith]

The "silver lining" here is that those kids now don't buy CDs and when young people get into the music, they are doing it as part of "growing up", and the values of physical media is passed on to them. The absolute worst idea, even worse than covering pop is trying to "update jazz" with "contemporary" dance beats. The so-called Dilla beat and other "beats" from Hip-hop and techno or any other closed, looped rhythms are so far behind Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Milford Graves in terms of musical ideas. It is ten times worse when classical kids do it! At least the jazz kids get around rhythmically better on top of it.

At least in the states, no 9ne young, other than musicians playing it, are being exposed to jazz. Go back when jazz was really popular, and it was the dance music of the younger set. Simple as that.

 

[PauFerro]

I've never seen serious research on whether jazz is really dying. At one time you could just look at record sales but people don't buy CD's and such anymore. You could look at the trend as a percent of the population.

There is also total enrollment at jazz studies programs at universities, as well as the average age of jazz musicians and listeners. Jazz programs at high schools...So, until I see some really good research, I'm gonna suspend judgment on whether it's actually dying.

I do know that when given a chance, young people still enjoy jazz. I just started a jazz combo for a bunch of early high school students, and they have a gig booked in March 2019. I know I loved it when I was a teenager.

The idea of being liberated from the need of a singer was a huge drawing card for me, plus the melodies of instrumental music and the greater focus on instrumental improvisation.

 

[Steven Ayres]

learn composition & write better music.

I dunno, I think the headline is misleading and purposely inflammatory. To me this is an academic critique of ideas about composition rather than anything to do with jazz as I understand it. Yes, I agree the craft of composition has generally diminished with the anyone-can-do-it-and-should idea that's underpinned popular music since the fifties, and it's left jazz with a much smaller fund of popular touchpoints to adapt and reimagine. Maybe I'm the naif here, but I see jazz as mainly an approach to interpretation, not the iconoclastic subculture this writer seems to see, and composition as its own craft, meaning in my world there is no "jazz composition" per se. I think the capacity to transcend genre ideas and serve a range of interpretive styles is a hallmark of good, effective composition.

 

[Paulabass]

Isn't 'new' standard like saying 'new' classical music? Songs BECOME standards over the years. Heads up- You can't write 'new' classic rock either.

 

[PauFerro]

Isn't 'new' standard like saying 'new' classical music? Songs BECOME standards over the years. Heads up- You can't write 'new' classic rock either.

I have found that certain songs can become standard pretty quick. Everyone was playing Don't Know Why by Norah Jones pretty fast, for example.

 

[Paulabass]

^ For sure. Moondance became a standard while it was still on the charts. I was just arguing semantics.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Very interesting reading.

Why Jazz is Struggling to Survive | Jon Burr - Bassist, Composer, Arranger

TL/DR - learn composition & write better music.

FWIW, I pretty much completely agree with the article. Most of the chords are ornamental, and serve the melody. The melody is where the story is being told, whether during the "head" or during any solo. All IMO, FWIW, EEMWCB, etc.

 

[damonsmith]

FWIW, I pretty much completely agree with the article. Most of the chords are ornamental, and serve the melody. The melody is where the story is being told, whether during the "head" or during any solo. All IMO, FWIW, EEMWCB, etc.

+ 1, speaking in terms of "jazz" composition, of course. It was also Ornette Coleman's "radical" theory.

 

[lurk]

Very interesting reading.

Why Jazz is Struggling to Survive | Jon Burr - Bassist, Composer, Arranger

TL/DR - learn composition & write better music.

For those who are unfamiliar with him, Jon is a phenomenal bassist. In reading his blog post I was happy to see him recommend Longo's book which has helped me tremendously and I also recommend it every chance I get.