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From:
Michael Upton
To:
Date:
Fri, 11 Aug 1995 12:37:13 +1200 (NZST)
Subject:
Acid jazz vs. _free_ jazz
Msg-Id:
<Pine.B44.3.91.950811120800.25670A@tao.sans.vuw.ac.nz>
In-Reply-To:
<Pine.LNX.3.91.950810131915.4256C-100000@latifundium.pc.cc.cmu.edu>
Mbox:
idm.9508.gz
On Thu, 10 Aug 1995, Matthew Lehrer wrote:
quoted 4 lines Well, I think it's important to remember that when a lot of electronic> Well, I think it's important to remember that when a lot of electronic > dance fans call something "jazzy" it's in the adjective sense of the word > (cool, mellow, sophisticated) and not in the noun sense of the word > (improvised music).
I'd agree, but I really think that to say "jazz" as a noun refers to improvised music is fairly sketchy, although lots of people seem to be saying so. I believe you are referring to a very small part of jazz, free jazz. *Most* jazz is, to the best of my knowledge, based on a structure, with improvised passages on top. I'd put acid jazz in that category. Often the structure in jazz is based on another song, so sampling passages to make acid jazz is consistent with that. If people want examples, I'll find them. And a little comment on Matthew's choice of .sig file, for those who are worried about acid jazz having low IDM content:
quoted 4 lines "I grew up thinking that techno music is actually something that you> "I grew up thinking that techno music is actually something that you > can't imagine. That is techno at its best. If you hear something that > you'd never expect to hear - that's techno. If you hear something that > kind of sounds like you've heard it before, then it's not techno."
I find this an absolute joke. In the creation of genres of music, things get defined in styles by virtue of their similarities, not by their differences. If people are claiming that techno is very varied, I honestly think it is only because they are using an extremely broad definition of it. What if I had never heard Balinese gamelan, with absolutely no electronics involved whatsoever, and suddenly came across an orchestra performing that? Hey presto: it's techno at its best, according to the above idea. Sure, people like Jeff Mills (it was his quote wasn't it?) can make up their own definitions, but I don't think they're at all functional, in terms of being in line with other people's meaning of the word. I think it would be like me deciding that I'm going to use the word "motorbike" to mean "a state of forlorn, with vaguely sexual overtones". I've got every right too, but it is not at all useful. Michael (In grumpy bitter mode today :) ______________________________________________________________________________ "If I wasn't a giant cheese, I'd make you pay for that remark." scrot@sans.vuw.ac.nz (Michael Upton) - Pink and the Brain ______________________________________________________________________________