|
Post by BluesyThug on Mar 16, 2017 22:53:12 GMT 10
100 years ago this month, the first jazz recordings (having been recorded in February 1917) was released - "Dixieland Jass Band One-Step"/"Livery Stable Blues", by the Original Dixieland Jass Band. Though the band itself comprised of white Americans (two of which being the children of Italian immigrants) rather than African-Americans who had formed and developed the burgeoning genre, they nonetheless ensured their place in the history books by recording the very first jazz single. In the century that followed the release, jazz evolved to become one of the most important musical genres, with acts as diverse in the jazz spectrum from the dixieland styles of Louis Armstrong to the big band groups of the likes of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, to the bebop style of Charlie Parker, to the avant-garde forms pioneered by John Coltrane, to the fusion work by acts such as Miles Davis. Since the last of the original members of the Original Dixieland Jass Band died by the end of the Sixties, it is likely that most of them lived to see the grand developments of the genre which recording-wise they gave birth to. For now though, let's appreciate the recordings which started it all, and which has just celebrated its 100th year of its existence:
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2017 19:57:52 GMT 10
Listening to these pieces of music, I can't deny that it's not my thing. There is a couple unexpected, odd moments in the second song and obviously both songs keep moving forward while still retaining the hook which I can respect but the collective improvisation doesn't do it for me. The whole band are playing the same parts, very rarely diverting and that causes the music to lack humanity. I don't deny there is music I enjoy that is robotic and precise, Fear Factory's album Demanufacture for example even puts off a lot of fans of very precise metal because it leaves out almost all the air but it is exciting to listen for me and conjures up interesting and fun ideas of science fiction and film noir. Basically it's passionate and it's precision is there to illustrate a theme. It's intentional, even if it's attempting sound that generally shouldn't be attempted. The book exists for a reason and it's a point to make human music for human beings. These songs don't have any humanity despite clearly desiring to have humanity, and that is simply because all of the members are playing everything at once without diverging and giving you a different texture or flavour to listen to. Even the repetition of a lot of blues and electronica keeps you engaged with the changes in tonality whereas this gives you new melodies but none that shift the sonic colours. I want to hear a different sound but they are all playing the same sounds at once. Therefore it becomes sterile and boring. Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Seven Recordings changed this, with Louis and his band performing solos that expressed their technical prowess and melodic craftsmanship beautifully. It gave you a reason to keep listening. This on the other hand makes you want to turn it off because you've heard this, you know where it's gonna go, and because of that it all goes towards the background, it's wallpaper.
Now with all that said, no one would have thought this at the time. Of course there people who hated this music but for different reasons. This music was so earth shattering and revolutionary that it didn't matter of tonal similarities, you wanted to keep the buzz going. In hindsight I just find it dull and uninteresting and of course there's a chance that they were just lucky enough to get a recording contract and were just imitators of the great artists who didn't have a recording contract. However with the limited knowledge the world has, this is completely respectable for the time it was made in, a time where this was loud, energetic and never heard of before and it captures that within context very respectably. I don't really care for it but it's not bad and it certainly has it's place in history.
Moving forward though it's crazy to think Jazz is 100 years old. The artistic direction it head in under Charlie Parker and his contemporaries and descendants was nothing short of breathtaking. It was the first musical style to fight against the establishment and then it transformed itself into an art form that was even more politically tied. Just incredible.
|
|
|
Post by BluesyThug on Jun 3, 2017 16:27:38 GMT 10
Listening to these pieces of music, I can't deny that it's not my thing. There is a couple unexpected, odd moments in the second song and obviously both songs keep moving forward while still retaining the hook which I can respect but the collective improvisation doesn't do it for me. The whole band are playing the same parts, very rarely diverting and that causes the music to lack humanity. I don't deny there is music I enjoy that is robotic and precise, Fear Factory's album Demanufacture for example even puts off a lot of fans of very precise metal because it leaves out almost all the air but it is exciting to listen for me and conjures up interesting and fun ideas of science fiction and film noir. Basically it's passionate and it's precision is there to illustrate a theme. It's intentional, even if it's attempting sound that generally shouldn't be attempted. The book exists for a reason and it's a point to make human music for human beings. These songs don't have any humanity despite clearly desiring to have humanity, and that is simply because all of the members are playing everything at once without diverging and giving you a different texture or flavour to listen to. Even the repetition of a lot of blues and electronica keeps you engaged with the changes in tonality whereas this gives you new melodies but none that shift the sonic colours. I want to hear a different sound but they are all playing the same sounds at once. Therefore it becomes sterile and boring. Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Seven Recordings changed this, with Louis and his band performing solos that expressed their technical prowess and melodic craftsmanship beautifully. It gave you a reason to keep listening. This on the other hand makes you want to turn it off because you've heard this, you know where it's gonna go, and because of that it all goes towards the background, it's wallpaper. Now with all that said, no one would have thought this at the time. Of course there people who hated this music but for different reasons. This music was so earth shattering and revolutionary that it didn't matter of tonal similarities, you wanted to keep the buzz going. In hindsight I just find it dull and uninteresting and of course there's a chance that they were just lucky enough to get a recording contract and were just imitators of the great artists who didn't have a recording contract. However with the limited knowledge the world has, this is completely respectable for the time it was made in, a time where this was loud, energetic and never heard of before and it captures that within context very respectably. I don't really care for it but it's not bad and it certainly has it's place in history. Moving forward though it's crazy to think Jazz is 100 years old. The artistic direction it head in under Charlie Parker and his contemporaries and descendants was nothing short of breathtaking. It was the first musical style to fight against the establishment and then it transformed itself into an art form that was even more politically tied. Just incredible. One factor that should be taken into account is that it could be because jazz was still in its infancy, and it's only in hindsight that these recordings seem.... primitive. I think the 20 minute mark of this video would pretty much sum up why it would have been virtually impossible for the black jazz musicians to get a recording contract at the time, and that the ODJB themselves were lucky to make these recordings haha:
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2017 18:36:24 GMT 10
Oh I don't deny its in hindsight I just don't like it. I can see it for what it is though
|
|