I GUESS I'm a jazz cat. Sort of. Kinda. I love it. I play it. It's a big part of my life. But in NY there's a real stigma about that stuff. There are people known as Jazz-nazis -- they only like jazz, only play jazz, don't acknowledge and look down at other forms of music. I hate that. It's so narrow, snobbish and ignorant. It's gotten to the point where I want to distance myself from it.
And the reality of the situation is, there are basically two types of jazz musicians in NYC. There are the guys who do real jazz gigs and struggle and there are the kids coming out of schools who want to be "cats" and create a little scene for themselves buy make absolutely no money. Some of them are very good, but 99% of them get tired f playing for free and tuck their tail between their legs within a year or two and go back home and become accountants or open a hardware store.
I also think jazz's heyday is behind us. There's little around that hasn't been done before -- better.
Sorry to be a bummer -- sometimes I think I've been around too long.
Having said that, I think if you never study jazz you're missing out on a HUGE vocabulary as a musician.
couldnt care less about its heyday being behind us , ahead of us , or on Mars for that matter
I love jazz, I know where to go to find people who love it as much as I do and want to hear it , talk about it, and live it
honestly Im not as big of a fan of the more modern stuff ....I like it....my thing is the classic sound ...never gets old to me
Ive been around quite a while myself, and they way you describe jazz is how I feel about rock music and its scenes
its so damn tired and boring, and new generations keep coming with there Louisville sluggers and clobbering that dead horse ....just wearing different clothes with a new haircut
not sure how many times I can listen to that same old song without wanting to strangle someone
I dont want to be jaded, and swore to myself when I was young that it would never happen to me ...but years of touring, dealing with record companies, managers, promoters, half ass musicians who learn a power chord and want to take over the world, seeing just horrible horrible bands blow up and praised over and over, learning how the industry is
really run ...just sort of ruined the love for me
It feels good to return to playing for the love, and being around people who listen and play for the love
...and anyone who ventures into music to make money to begin with needs their damn head examined