I can understand why average punters do not like jazz. Often the music and performance can be boring. Jazz in many ways has become academic. You know what I'm talking about - people with great chops and knowledge but no musicality, who just run scales and don't have anything to say. Don't get me wrong, I am not referring to every jazz musician - just some. Here are a few things I think the general music audience don't like about jazz:
1.
Walking Bass Lines - some in the audience simply can not hear the harmony when bass players walk so get bored.
2.
Ride Cymbal Swing Beat - some in the audience can't feel the beat and lose interest.
3.
The Tunes - jazz musicians often play tunes they like rather than what the audience wants to hear. Some tunes called standards are anything but standard.
4.
The complexity of the music - Some jazz musicians are more interested in playing clever than music that feels good.
5.
Chord Scale Relationship - jazz has been too much about playing scales over chords in my opinion. Jazz education is to blame for this, but thats a different topic beyond the scope of this blog.
6.
Poor Presentation - Many jazz musicians put little or no effort into their presentation. I saw a gig recently at a club and the guitar player (who was leading the band) did not say one word to the audience all night. He set up, played, the packed up. What is up with that!
7.
Out There Soloists - some soloists are incredibly difficult to follow. Some play all kinds of out lines that do not relate to the melody (which the audience wasn't familiar with in the first place) and wonder why the audience is not digging the gig.
This is just the beginning of what could be a long list ...
For these reasons and more - I hate the term jazz. Many people have had bad experiences of jazz music and I do not want my music to be included in that. The term 'jazz' implies music that my grandfather was listening to - music of a foregone era if you will. One time I even had a students father say that to me 'my son listens to music his grandfather would have loved'. Ha, awesome!
I really believe jazz music can be fresh again. I believe that jazz music at it's best in incredibly exciting, uplifting and relevant. Sadly, the vast majority of people will never hear jazz at it's best and have already made up their mind about what the music is going to be, long before we start. Therefore, it is our responsibility as jazz (for lack of a better term) musicians to win people over and to win the audiences back to the music.
What I think is missing:
1. Fun! Music and jazz was never meant to be super serious. I am not suggesting for one second that people get up and 'take the piss' or don't play well in performances. Rather, I'm saying you have to take care of business, but have fun in doing so, and the audience will like it. They want to see you having fun.
2. Play tunes that people understand and know. The tunes that are now considered jazz standards were once the pop tunes of the day. Some standards have become museum pieces. Play the new stuff - please! However, there is nothing worse that people playing the most recent stuff in a way that is so obscure that no one will recognise the source. This achieves nothing. Some musicians think, I will play this MJ tune, reharmonise it, play it in 7/8 and modulate into a new key for the bridge - then people will love my music and think I am clever. Wrong! Those who like MJ, won't get it, and will hate it. Those who like jazz will think you are doing silly stuff for not playing something they can understand. No one wins.
3. The dance element. Jazz is not an academic sport. It was conceived as dance music. Make the music feel good and you stand a chance - 'it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing'. Right?
I think The Bad Plus has it right in so many ways. What a great concept they have hit upon. I would love to see this happen more often. Oz Noy has a great saying when describing his music - 'It's jazz. It just doesn't sound like it'.
If you have an opinion about this let me know? I am curious to know what people think of jazz and what can we all do to lift our game as jazz musicians.
Maybe a big priority for you is reading music? If so, that should be first on your list.
