It's an interesting question, especially since I generally don't like chaotic noise. I don't get much out of truly random music at all. My favorite free jazz players are people like Cuong Vu, Ornette Coleman, Matthew Shipp, or Paul Bley who all have a very strong sense of structure in their improvisations. They use motifs all the time, but always vary them in ways seldom considered by traditional tonal concepts of music. I suppose some people can't hear the structure in these artists, but it's crystal clear to me. If I can't hear a structure in a piece of music, I tune out very quickly. So I think it might come down to what types of structures people hear readily and what structures don't appear to them. It's also a matter of exposure. I didn't like Ornette Coleman's double quartet album at all the first time I heard it; I think it was about five years of hearing it every once and a while before I could finally hear a very clear structure, but once I heard the structure, it practically became audio chocolate for me, not a challenge to listen to at all.xtp wrote:I've often wondered what makes some of us able to derive entertainment from what other listeners would consider 'chaotic noise'.
modern jazz theory stuff
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1585 posts since 13 Nov, 2005 from St. Paul
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1585 posts since 13 Nov, 2005 from St. Paul
If anyone has a LOT of time on their hands and wants to dig deeper into one of the central conflicts in modern jazz music, I'd strongly advise reading some of the conversation Ethan Iverson had with Wynton Marsalis:
http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath ... guide.html
For those who don't know, Ethan Iverson is a pianist in the outside acoustic jazz group the Bad Plus. If you don't know who Wynton is, you're probably in the wrong area code. It's a very interesting conversation with some compelling music samples, especially since Wynton's a lot less strident than he was when he was younger.
http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath ... guide.html
For those who don't know, Ethan Iverson is a pianist in the outside acoustic jazz group the Bad Plus. If you don't know who Wynton is, you're probably in the wrong area code. It's a very interesting conversation with some compelling music samples, especially since Wynton's a lot less strident than he was when he was younger.