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January 2005:
In his posthumously published Course
in General Linguistics (1916), Swiss structural linguist Ferdinand
de Saussure argues
that modern semiology includes a “depository” of signs. Jazz itself is
its own complicated language full of turns in the road that could leave
the novice listener in the dark. French literary theorist and
philosopher Roland Barthes emphasizes in his book Image-Music-Text (1973) that the placement and structural component of any aesthetic
language is of key importance. This means that the “signifier” and
“signified” coexist with their own internal logic: for the jazz listener
there are clues to zone in on like the “bridge” of a melody or a
harmonic 2-5-1 progression.
In The Art of Loving (1956), Frankfurt School psychoanalyst Erich Fromm explains
that any art form is a craft that involves the practitioner to master a
certain degree of technical prowess. Contemporary British sociologist
of consumer culture Don Slater, in his book Consumer Culture and
Modernity (1999), renders almost all consumption as cultural and that
supports the belief that jazz is the music of choice for a very
intelligent audience. Often the jazz connoisseur is considered to have
excellent taste in other things such as wine and watches (status
symbols). This touches on cultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of tastes and preferences
of the 1960s French middle class, done so in his book titled Distinction:
A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (1979), and also
involves a few of the rationalizations conceived in French critical
theorist Jean Baudrillard’s book
For a Critique of the
Political Economy of the Sign (1981). In these modern times we have entered
a phase in history that is ‘post’ anything man has ever imagined. This
means that the stage is set for a massive reconstruction of past ideas
and inventions…one big collage of many different things.
For jazz, the
listener should be prepared to hear cats improvising on Cherokee
one minute and then engaging in an Ayleresque squawk the next. The jazz
fan should be prepared to hear the music organized in a way never thought
of before. Yes…there is nothing new under the sun…but America’s art
form can be recreated with a precision never imagined by the forefathers
of several generations past. There are musicians out there who have
amazing ‘chops’: musicians who have listened to the whole history of
jazz from Fletcher Henderson to Billy Eckstein to Sun Ra…and they have
absorbed all of it! Now these musicians are ready to show the world
their take on the diverse jazz styles of the 20th
century…they have their own mix of the historical foundations of jazz
that includes everything from swing to extended technique.
A popular
idea recently has been for musicians to dedicate an entire album or
project to one particular lion of the past. I like how these musicians
present historical material in a modern fashion. Recent standouts
include Kenny Garret on Coltrane, Branford Marsalis on A Love Supreme
(in DVD format) and James Carter on Billie Holiday. |