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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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Monday, January 9, 2017
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“We overanalyze we let others define
A thousand precious feelings from our past
When we express love and tenderness
Is that jazz” — Gil Scott, Heron
PROBABLY one the most abused word in music is jazz. It seems everyone who wants to be hip, trendy when asked what his music is, almost always will say “I’m into jazz.” When further asked what is jazz, “you know the music of Adele or Kenny G.” I beg your pardon but definitely not jazz. If the reply was the music of Amy Winehouse, close but not quite. But it will do and most probably will not offend the jazz purist.
So really what is jazz? “A type of music of black American origin characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm, emerging at the beginning of the 20th century. Brass and woodwind instruments and piano are particularly associated with jazz, although guitar and occasionally violin are also used.”
I’m pretty sure all of the above sounds too technical for you; of course they are, considering this definition came from the dictionary. But chill, we’ll discuss jazz as a music genre, its forms and artists.
There are several forms of jazz as music genre i.e. traditional jazz, mainstream jazz, free jazz or avant-garde jazz but we won’t talk about them as they’ll probably leave you dazed and confused.
We’ll talk about the more popularly known and radio-friendly forms of jazz i.e. fusion jazz and smooth jazz.
From Wikipedia: “Jazz fusion (also known as jazz-rock) is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined aspects of jazz harmony and improvisation with styles such as funk, rock, rhythm and blues, and Latin jazz. During this time many jazz musicians began experimenting with electric instruments and amplified sound for the first time, as well as electronic effects and synthesizers. Many of the developments during the late 1960s and early 1970s have since become established elements of jazz fusion musical practice.
After a decade of popularity during the 1970s, fusion expanded its improvisatory and experimental approaches through the 1980s, in parallel with the development of a radio-friendly style called smooth jazz. Experimentation continued in the 1990s and 2000s. Fusion albums, even those that are made by the same group or artist, may include a variety of musical styles. Rather than being a codified musical style, fusion can be viewed as a musical tradition or approach”.
During the late ‘60s till the ‘70s, jazz fusion developed parallel with rock so it was inevitable that the musical genre will eventually fuse together. The early beginning of jazz fusion was jazz fused with Brazilian samba, the result is what we know today as bossa nova or “new trend.”
The notable artists in this new form of jazz were Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Sergio Mendez, Aierto Moreira, Flora Purim, and Stan Getz. Yup, they’re all Brazilians except for Stan Getz, an American. Locally, there are two notable artists in bossa nova: Sitti Navarro and Aileen Sison with band Guarana.
The fusion between jazz and rock was like a marriage made in heaven as both genres are into improvisation, making it the ideal “trip music “for the psychedelic generation. Most notable artists in this genre are Carlos Santana, Pink Floyd, Tower of Power, Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago and Steely Dan. In the local music scene we have Grace Nono and Radioactive Sago Project in this genre.
Jazz fusion developed into a more radio-friendly easy listening and very commercialize form that is known today as: smooth jazz – a popular genre of music that grew out of jazz and is influenced by rhythm and blues, funk, rock and roll, and pop music styles (separately, or, in any combination. Musicians such as Kenny G, Ramsey Lewis, Dave Koz, and Spyro Gyra have had hits with instrumental recordings, while singers such as Anita Baker, Sade, Sting and Norah Jones have found success with vocal releases. George Benson remains a popular smooth Jazz artist as both a singer and guitar player.
Smooth jazz was once successful as a radio format. However, in 2007, the popularity of the format began to slide. Even today jazz purist still refused to accept this as jazz preferring to call it “jazz-influenced pop music.”
So there you go, if you’re still “lost in translation” then you must probably be intellectually and artistically challenged. In short, baduy./PN
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