(note: this has primarily been brought about by hanging with an older player, who doesn't care for the term jazz, which is a sentiment that goes back much farther with the music than i do.)

my question in this post would be what picture of jazz are we talking about. because yeah you have big band stuff which was presented with sophistication. but you also have ragtime which preceded, which was a lot more loose around the edges. cool era in the context of big band isn't as sophisticated though viewed from the perspective of be bop is, which when viewed from the perspective of hard bop unless that's viewed in the perspective of west coast, unless that's viewed in the perspective of free jazz...

but we throw this label of jazz on all of them. so its like what is jazz, or rather what is the common thing which links them all. now there's two approaches that which is from the sonic literal which can identify jazz by the rhythmic modes, syncopation and harmonic structure, which of course will only cover some, and often will spawn variations in conflict with those as a result. or you can go with an overarching thing like improvisation. but improvisation isn't unique to jazz.

there's really nothing which can be identified as jazz or not jazz because jazz is kinda like funk, it's not a sound, its an approach to playing. and that approach is damn near unqualifiable. but recognizing it as not a sound frees al of the music from the burdens of labeling, because all the labels are are a means of pre-categorizing the music which prevent a level of listening from happening.

someone says, i like jazz, jazz is sophisticated. you play them some ayler and they freak out like nah that's not jazz. no its music, very emotional music, but your preconceived notion of jazz is keeping you from appreciating that emotion from its own context. which isn't to say you have to like it, but by allowing yourself the opportunity to emotionally connect with it as a part of the lineage of jazz may open you up to the expressive power of jazz (the approach not the sound) which helps you hear the sophisticated jazz you do like with new ears.

this is a theory which can of course be expanded out beyond the realm of jazz to all modes of genrefication, the labeling to filter ones experiences of music.

to tangential off of this it's one of the things about the hip-hop approach, particularly from a digging perspective. all fo the genrefication can be thrown away because the level of listening doesn't require genre. the music speaks and muses for itself (yeah diggers got lazy and all that but... nah meen?)


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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."