Week 6-Jazz and its Ties to Today

I suppose these blogs are forcing me to read about the past with the intention of being able to draw connections between the old and new. But after reading “Beyond New Orleans” this week, I apologize if any of the connections I make seem forced or nonexistent; it’s just my interpretation. I am not very familiar with many of the jazz artists or songs mentioned throughout the reading (nor do I have to the time to look up and listen discerningly to many of them), so I don’t think the reading lent itself to my posing opposition to what Szwed was saying; but rather, I could highlight some contemporary examples of what he discussed. With regards to page 117 where he describes using different, complicated/unexpected rhythms to almost jar the listener, I feel as though many pop artists today are afraid to venture outside the box rhythmically (aka to depart from the typical 4/4 or 3/4 time signatures, or even vary it up a little bit). The most prominent examples I can think of are Maroon 5’s “Wake Up Call” from It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, which, at the very beginning of the song introduces a pulsing beat which gives the listener a false sense of the down-beat, so when the song finally starts a couple bars in the down-beat is in a place that no one expects. I am inadequately expressing this tricky musical feat in words, but the title “Wake Up Call” is surely apt, as the tempo isn’t what you expect right from the start. Also, Dave Matthews Band, as I will discuss in a different light later, does a phenomenal job of switching up complicated time signatures and rhythms (backed by the most distinguished and talented drummer in the world; also, to show how varied rhythmic features can be successful, DMB happens to be one of the highest grossing touring bands out there). I would cite specific examples (“Satellite,” “You and Me,” and many others), but there really are too many to cite. Their variation is—in my opinion—what makes them so great. Perhaps their success mirrors the success of early jazz artists that pioneered rhythmic features that seemed alien to popular music mentioned in the reading. When the text noted the use of the saxophone to be a “comedy” instrument, I was incredibly surprised; as I associate saxophone with ska music and most prominently with jazz. Then, Szwed points out, Coleman Hawkins transformed the sax’s image into one of distinction in the jazz community. This brings to light several current examples in my mind, one of which being the use of auto-tune. Other than the musical innovation of the Beatles (they widely acknowledged as pioneers in instrumental experimentation in the modern pop era), I am straining to think of many examples today in which totally new instruments are used that completely take over the pop landscape. I mean, Bollywood certainly has permeated pop music to some extent offering Indian influences that have definitely taken hold in our music culture ( ). Autotuning, however, originated as a way to (simply put) fix bad notes. It transformed the decent singer into someone with impeccable pitch. Now, however, it’s become the mechanism whereby terrible singers are transformed into pitch-perfect robots. The technology, though not technically a musical instrument, is a device that is used in virtually every pop song on the radio. Whether or not that is a good thing and its implications for musicianship in our present music culture are not what I will talk about here...though its omnipresence does make one reassess what musicianship is. On a similar note, techno used to be this sort of fringe musical outlet that seemed sort of weird and underground. But now the techno beat has permeated every part of pop music. The focus of pop music has shifted a great deal toward club and house music. Britney Spears’s new single “Hold It Against Me” is a great example of a departure from her older (believe it or not more musical) stuff. The techno beat has gone mainstream, people, and I personally hope it ends soon. Where techno came from, I don’t know, but it’s even entered the rap sphere. Whereas at its inception, rap was more about the poetic lyrics and simple beat to accompany it, the techno/club beat (almost every rap song that gets churned out, pretty much, minus Eminem) and the electronic influence has taken over the art form. Black Eyed Peas used to produce more lyrically driven songs, whereas as (“The Time”) now they are an electro-techno-club hit machine. On the other hand, songs like “Coming Home” by P Diddy incorporate more traditional musical elements such as orchestral strings and piano...very much an aberration from the normal tehcno-consumed beats. Other than such rare examples, today’s most popular music is rife with technology and styles that were considered fringe 10-15 years ago. In the middle of page 121, Szwed talks about Bix Biederbecke as holding notes out in a certain way to call attention to the note as an artifact, which I interpret as his own way of communicating and expressing himself. This calls to mind the riffs that John Coltraine made in “My Favorite Things.” It’s like he’s going off on a tangent within the same context of a conversation. I thought Dave Matthews Band had one more tie to the reading in that on page 124 Szwed mentions how as the bands got bigger, specifically those of Red Nichols, they lost their edge and their focus. DMB, having so many musical/instrumental components, they are actually one of the “biggest” groups out there, and yet they are still incredibly popular and their music has not been hurt with the addition of a horn section...just some food for thought. Their album the Gru Grux King produced a grammy-nominated song...