Blue Note Stew

This post is sure to get me in trouble.

Earlier this week, I spent some time cruising iTunes looking for more great jazz. If you've ever browsed iTunes, you know that whenever you look up an artist you get a handful of albums that listeners also bought. I believe I started listening to some Hank Mobley, then I skimmed around listening to a handful of other artists from the same early 60s period like Sonny Stitt, Kenny Dorham, Grant Green, Lou Donaldson, etc., etc. And you know what?

I couldn't tell the difference between any of them.

Obviously there are limitations to what you can get from a 30sec. sound sample, and I'm exaggerating for effect. In particular, Grant Green's grooves are pretty fun listening. But in general, the music of this period has nothing for me to hook into. Melody is tossed aside in favor of improvisation. Everyone seems to be striving for the exact same sound.

And I think this is partly why jazz is where it's at today. This is the era when today's jazz was codified, and while it was probably highly exciting at the time today it is stagnant and deflated.



I used to own a 6-CD Blue Note box set of music from the height of their popularity. Art Blakely's Moanin' jumps out from that collection for me, particularly for a really sweet harmony with the horns at :36, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you who else was on those six CDs or the name of a single tune. Jazz today has to overcome the ego of this era in order to create new tunes and a sound that doesn't disappear into the miasma of jazz history.