It's kind of weird to see people get this worked up over this I mean, getting offended because of a comment towards an old drummer with no relation at all besides a strong feel admiration? That's taking it just a tad to far. He isn't a God...
You "serious" jazz cats need to let things slide once in a while.
This thread's personal
style point flaws aside, I have always admired and been proud to have been associated with the jazz crowd because they
do take it so seriously. In fact I've always felt kinda sorry for people who can't find it in themselves to feel music this intensely.
I can absolutely understand the rabid feelings for one of the icons of this community, and yeah Elvin Jones really is a god in this profession. And the reactions are just as strong with the Bonham crowd, the Buddy Rich crowd and the Beethoven fanatics in classical music.
We all come from different places when we gravitate to these forum deals. There are people here from all walks of life who see music in varying degrees of importance, although the type on the posts seem identical. Still it's probably the goal of these things for everyone to understand where the other is coming from. But I've always felt this was probably the least successful aspect of forum culture.
For a long time I thought the high brows would talk over the
It's only music guys on forums like DW. Interestingly that really wasn't the case, and instead we see a great many
play on the side or straight commercial guys genuinely confused about justifiable musical obsession. Then a hardcore with less than ideal people skills /not anyone in particular/ makes a crack that could have been delivered with more tact, and suddenly that guy is a snob who needs to take life less seriously. Then both sides start insulting each other, it crashes and burns 100 posts later, only to be followed by a similar thread a few days later.
For me the tape loop got old a long time ago.
When I was a really, really young guy, I used to have people sit me down and tell me about World War II French Resistance fighters, who would hijack Nazi trains that were trying to steal great works of art for storage in Germany, as a way of subjugating French culture. Stories are that those guys would literally take bullets trying to save Van Goughs, Picassos etc because they believed that some things possessed such an artistic importance as to define a very way of life, not just for themselves but for millions, and for generations to come. As I get a little more mature I found it further remarkable that people thought enough to sit me down long enough to hear those stories. Now I know that for my entire life, I was surrounded by musical hardcores who see music and life as the same thing.
Now you don't have to agree with this POV. But it is important to understand that there are a lot of people out there who see this whole thing as life and death. And yeah, they're going to express themselves accordingly. And you guys on the other side /be you good players, nice guys etc/ aren't going to change that no matter how hard you try.