Well, pryso, I would have bet my “six eye” copy of that great record that it would be the one in the link even before clicking on it 😉. I think that record makes my point about how genre designation can create a lot of confusion; and, for me, ultimately a pointless exercise. That record is as good an example of what most people would call Third Stream as any...most people. How about some more confusion?
There is something that is left out of most definitions of “Third Stream” that is, for me, what makes me say “Third Stream!”; and is the thing that, if forced, would make me say that the record is a jazz record...more than anything else. I am talking about the ATTITUDE of the music and the playing. To my ears many “Third Stream” compositions, in an attempt to straddle the line between Jazz and Classical, end up sounding somewhat self-consciously deliberate and stiff and without the looseness and relaxed attitude of good jazz. To my ears this record has very much a jazz attitude. Whatever anyone chooses to call it, it is great music.
There is something that is left out of most definitions of “Third Stream” that is, for me, what makes me say “Third Stream!”; and is the thing that, if forced, would make me say that the record is a jazz record...more than anything else. I am talking about the ATTITUDE of the music and the playing. To my ears many “Third Stream” compositions, in an attempt to straddle the line between Jazz and Classical, end up sounding somewhat self-consciously deliberate and stiff and without the looseness and relaxed attitude of good jazz. To my ears this record has very much a jazz attitude. Whatever anyone chooses to call it, it is great music.