Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:12:17 PST
Comments:     Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Comments:     Resent-From: Mike <MASUDA@SJSUVM1>
Comments:     Originally-From: Jeff Beer <ujwb@UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU>
Comments:     Warning -- original Sender: tag was ALLMUSIC@AUVM
From:         Mike <MASUDA@SJSUVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Dizzy Gillespie - RIP (sob)

>In article <930107101329.2d8034b0@UNHH.UNH.EDU> Russ Gelinas
><R_GELINAS@UNHH.UNH.EDU> writes:
>>Got any good ideas of just what this new form of jazz will be?  Perhaps
>>a marriage between trad. jazz and modern synthesis (ie. MIDI, computers)
>>You should be right there.  Most m.s. stuff I've heard has little to
>>do with jazz sensibilities, but i'll admit to being far from the cutting
>>edge of that stuff.  Anything interesting to report in that vein?

>I think Diz speculated along the lines of a world music thing, but that
>a tough distinction to make, since virtually every era of jazz since
>Ellington had a world music thing.

>If I knew what the next innovation of jazz was going to be, I would try
>to do it :)

>Jeff

IMPO, I think that the next innovation in jazz will incorporate
other senses, like visual arts.  Lighting has been a part tof the live
set for a long time, but I think with the advent of computer generated
graphics and real-time holography (in the near future), there will be
more for the artist to control.  MIDI will play a big part in the
control of these things.

Other things to consider:  Drums do not have to be the way they are now.
Drum kits were derived from the "contraption" put together by
percussionists back in the early 1900s for early jazz combos.
It is a handy configuration, having a snare and a kick with a few
toms and cymbals for good measure, but it should not be the
ultimate configuration.  In India, tabla drums are used--why not
see where this leads to?  How about MIDI tabla sets?  Or electronic
tabla (can you imagine Roland putting out a tabla-like MIDI controller?)?
How about a MIDI dhumbek or framedrum that picks up all the harmonics
played on the skin of the drum?  In South Africa, around 1950, there
was an uprising of "jazz"-like music called kwela--a hybridization
of dixieland music on washtub bass, acoustic guitar, and pennywhistle.
(Thumper would surely 'preshade the pennywhistle bit)
It's amazing how different a style Spokes Mashiyane produced on his
pennywhistle.  Or we can learn from the Turkish scales:  8 notes
between the seventh and the octave (between Bb and C).
It's not a matter of creating a new style of jazz anymore, because jazz
has become so varied, it is near impossible to create a new niche
that no one has ever thought of doing.  All of the permutations
and fusions have probably been done in jazz.  I think it is a matter
of just doing it--making the connections, tying two or more
styles together.  Let's see...

Rhythm:      the early 1900s     swing
Melody:      the 1910s to 1940s  big band
Virtuosity:   the 1930s to 1950s bebop, cool jazz
Mood:        the 1950s to 1960s  "Kind of Blue" mood jazz
Ingenuity:   the 1960s to now    fusion

(this is the 5 step "evolution" I saw in musical trends.  If it holds true
(and there are many on this list who say this scheme is poppycock), then
we are at a standstill in jazz evolution, UNTIL there are new genres of
music invented to fuse WITH (pardon the preposition at the end of the
sentence).  This is where world music comes into play as a key role in
the direction of jazz in the future.  Fusion did it, because it opened
the floodgates to all possibilities.  Jazz can be anything now, short of
pink noise.

As long as jazz is something tasty, I'll bite.

 3
M
    Re: Dizzy Gillespie - RIP (sob)                                         -0
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU