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- Path: sparky!uunet!noc.near.net!ceylon!news.tufts.edu!news.hnrc.tufts.edu!jerry
- From: jerry@hnrc.tufts.edu (Jerry Dallal)
- Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
- Subject: Re: CFD: Enough Interest Out There To...
- Message-ID: <1992Dec23.150120.570@hnrc.tufts.edu>
- Date: 23 Dec 92 20:01:19 GMT
- References: <1992Dec23.005307.22436@netcom.com> <will.725124480@ogre>
- Organization: USDA HNRC at Tufts University
- Lines: 25
-
- In article <will.725124480@ogre>, will@ogre.cica.indiana.edu (William Sadler) writes:
-
- > I think it is a mistake, however, to view the history of jazz in an organic
- > sense, or in a sense of large stylistic periods separated by specific dates.
- > Woody Hermann was still active after WWII as was Ellington, Basie, and others.
- > Does that mean that they were playing a stylistically dead music?
- >
-
- No, nor does it mean they were playing the same style throughout their
- careers. I lose interest in Ellington after the mid 30's. The Duke
- Ellington Orchestra was nothing like the Jungle Band. Similarly, the Count
- Basie Orchestra was nothing like the early Bennie Moten bands (if I am
- permitted a bit of hyperbole). Not only is jazz organic, but so is the
- playing style of individual performers.
-
- There are trends and periods that can be separated by fuzzy temporal
- boundaries. The big bands are a good example. Before 1930 there weren't
- any, but you can start to hear the sound in Moten and Ellington among others
- in the early 30's, until by 1940 the sweet sound had all but vanished.
- Much of this is due to the preferences of the audiences.
- Taste changes, and large bands and orchestras didn't have much choice but
- to accommodate it if they were to stay together. And now, due to changing
- taste and the economics of it all, big bands are a thing of the past.
-
- (To my ears "big bands:classic jazz::heavy metal:rock'n'roll".)
-