(Untitled)

[arababy9]

just saw woody allen's new 'matchpoint.' it was definitely not what i was expecting, which i think was a good thing. i had no idea what it would be like when i went into the theater and i ended pleasantly surprised. i was looking forward to a nice comedy though, and that's certainly not what i got, which probably added to the gut wrenching even

Comments

[arababy9]

not exactly. i'm sure most jazz scholars would agree that it's the only musical form that allows each individual to express themselves and that's what makes it unique.

[arababy9]

i stand corrected; jazz is the only AMERICAN musical form that allows each individual to express themselves. blues and bluegrass both have bigger stems in other countries. there are very distinct jazz elements that originated specifically in new orleans near the end of the 19th century. in blues and bluegrass, soloists must pertain to a certain style whereas jazz has a very wide range and almost endless possibilities in improvising. but maybe we're both right and there's no point in arguing. in fact that's another great thing about jazz, it means different things to different people. and if we're resorting to the ever-recurring lucas insults, i also think that the more educated person has a more reliable opinion.

[anonymous]

all of this completely goes along with the same idea that jazz means different things to different people. obviously there are great jazz composers (mingus, gil evans, etc.), though the way jazz came about was through the idea of improvisation and modification. perhaps this has to do with why mingus and evans were so influential? they actually composed pieces rather than all the improvising done in jazz before them. and let's face it; most of the time a piece is composed to simply give the improviser a template and mood to work with. also, the "typical blues song structure" mentioned (i assume you mean 12 bar blues) was only standardized later for use in jazz, though it was based on blues. i know jazz and blues have similar stems, that was a misstatement on my part, but it doesn't defer the fact that jazz has many more possibilities than blues. you yourself have even complained of blues being too limited and repetitive. blues did not begin as an improvisational music form, and jazz did. so in that sense, blues borrowed from jazz

[arababy9]

--peter