Jazz for aficionados

****Spirituals, Blues, and Jazz are uniquely American, with no African influence I can detect.****

O-10, that comment is almost as surprising as Rok's. I think the operative part of the comment, and what keeps it from being inaccurate is "that I can detect". That one can't detect something does not mean that it isn't there; simply that one cannot detect (hear) it....yet. I think one has to be careful about making comments like that as if they are fact without first having a really thorough grasp of the literature on the subject and what those who have studied the music and its origins very thoroughly have to say on the matter. Of course blues, spirituals and jazz are uniquely American creations, but the African influence is very strong. Again, influence is not the same as creation. And btw, the cross-cultural influences in music are not unique to African culture; the same can be said of any culture that had any significant contact with another. All this becomes obvious if one understands what the components of music are on a deeper level. How can we understand how the use of "blue" notes or polymetric rhythms in African music influenced the blues and jazz if we don't know what a blue note is? Do we? And that is only the tip of the iceberg.

The potential in these discussions is great, but we are going to keep coming up against these obstacles and distractions if instead of keeping a more open mind to how much there is to learn there is commentary presented as fact when it isn't. The following link is highly recommended reading from an "authority" on the subject; and, before we are too quick to deem the article "feel good, politically correct nonsense" (or something like that) I encourage you to remember that practically every jazz player on the planet would agree with it.

Cheers.

http://www.jazzedmagazine.com/2893/articles/focus-session/the-african-origins-of-jazz/

Hello gentlemen - I like very much indeed the direction this thread has been going lately, despite my lack of contributions for a while now. I fully intend to go back over all these links and listen to all these clips when I get a chance. Just about all of them lately are things I am not very familiar with, and I am eager to hear and learn about about them.

Frogman's latest post has some VERY important points, which have been big themes of mine on these forums. Most important is his: "That one can't detect something does not mean that it isn't there; simply that one cannot detect (hear) it....yet." The key word here is YET. Rok and O-10, you both love music so much, and love listening to it. It would be a very simple thing for you both to listen more ACTIVELY, as opposed to passively. These things really aren't that difficult to learn to hear - you just have to put in the effort to train yourself to do so. Doing so will increase your enjoyment of whatever you are listening to a thousand fold. You will begin hearing things you never heard before even in your very favorite music that you have heard a thousand times. You will hear connections between your favorite tunes/albums/artists/genres that you haven't heard before. You will understand the improvised musical "conversations" going on between these great jazz musicians so much more, and the delight you have in listening to them will increase beyond what you can currently imagine. This, to me, is the essence of jazz - these types of dialogues that are completely improvised on the spot, but yet are solidly based on these basic building blocks. All these great musicians know and understand them (as well as their histories and inter-relationships), and use them, much like a writer uses language. The more you speak this language yourself, the more subtleties you will hear in what they are saying that you never even realized existed before.

**** How can we understand how the use of "blue" notes or polymetric rhythms in African music influenced the blues and jazz if we don't know what a blue note is? Do we?******

Of course!! Everyone knows what a blue note is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_note

next question. :)

O-10: we better be careful. I think The Frogman is about to go professorial on us.

Cheers

BTW, do 'blue notes' appear in Classical and other genres?

Cheers

Rok, there's enough stuff that left Africa permanently during the slave trade to fill a library and a museum. While researching Cuba, I came across a master voodoo drummer who lives in Haiti. He has a chart of types of "exclusively voodoo drumming"", and what country that type of drumming came from. As ancient as it is, to pass history down from one person to another without writing, this is still being used in regard to voodoo. While he has all of the rhythms, he pointed out that many types can no longer be found in Africa, but reside in various countries in the Caribbean, and Bahia, where many types of voodoo drumming can still be found that are no longer in Africa. My ears told me that a long time ago. People in Africa are trying to move forward, and survive economically, while those over here who are steeped in Voodoo (which goes by many names) are leaning on that ancient religion which originated in Africa.

I'm not trying to diverge from the main subject, just pointing out something that's related.

Enjoy the music.