Pollyanna
Platinum Member
I always thought jazz came about because it added swinging / groovy syncopation - it jazzed things up, using the word "jazz" in its generic sense.
So the music becomes more informal, playful and danceable. Cooler and goovier - more fun. To that effect we get swinging and funky syncopations, blue notes and improv.
Nu jazz seems to incorporate some aspects of that jazz spirit - the harmonies and the rhythms and feel in at least some of the instruments / vocals. I enjoy a lot of it, but much of the music with programmed drums would interest me more if they had a drummer adding subtle variations.
Dairyman, you ask about where samples and programmed drum tracks leaves drummers. As long as there's live music there will be drummers because we're fun to watch.
How many of us will be in demand in the future is another matter. Recordings are yet another matter again.
Young listeners have become so used to hearing programmed drums that the absence of the organic feel of real drummers is not missed by the vast majority. They are accustomed to the beat being explicitly stated rather than claves implied by polyrhythms; so rhythmic tension and release in programmed drum tracks is largely a matter of the beat (or elements of the beat) dropping out for a period or being augmented.
It's hard to know to what degree this aesthetic change is cyclical or trending. Will some future generation find the organic feel of a real drummer a cool novelty?
I've seen precious little public outcry over the decimation of the live music scene in Sydney by machines (techno/dance music and gaming machines) and by obstructive busking licensing laws. So my guess is that a future demand for the flexibility of organic drumming may be some time away, apart from specialist enclaves like blues, jazz and metal bars.
You are expected to fit in a box - blues, jazz, metal, soul/RnB or pop and if you don't then it's very hard for eclectic or original bands to find small bars to play in Sydney nowadays.
jazz up, Informal.
a. to add liveliness, vigor, or excitement to.
b. to add ornamentation, color, or extra features to, in order to increase appeal or interest; embellish.
c. to accelerate.
a. to add liveliness, vigor, or excitement to.
b. to add ornamentation, color, or extra features to, in order to increase appeal or interest; embellish.
c. to accelerate.
So the music becomes more informal, playful and danceable. Cooler and goovier - more fun. To that effect we get swinging and funky syncopations, blue notes and improv.
Nu jazz seems to incorporate some aspects of that jazz spirit - the harmonies and the rhythms and feel in at least some of the instruments / vocals. I enjoy a lot of it, but much of the music with programmed drums would interest me more if they had a drummer adding subtle variations.
Dairyman, you ask about where samples and programmed drum tracks leaves drummers. As long as there's live music there will be drummers because we're fun to watch.
How many of us will be in demand in the future is another matter. Recordings are yet another matter again.
Young listeners have become so used to hearing programmed drums that the absence of the organic feel of real drummers is not missed by the vast majority. They are accustomed to the beat being explicitly stated rather than claves implied by polyrhythms; so rhythmic tension and release in programmed drum tracks is largely a matter of the beat (or elements of the beat) dropping out for a period or being augmented.
It's hard to know to what degree this aesthetic change is cyclical or trending. Will some future generation find the organic feel of a real drummer a cool novelty?
I've seen precious little public outcry over the decimation of the live music scene in Sydney by machines (techno/dance music and gaming machines) and by obstructive busking licensing laws. So my guess is that a future demand for the flexibility of organic drumming may be some time away, apart from specialist enclaves like blues, jazz and metal bars.
You are expected to fit in a box - blues, jazz, metal, soul/RnB or pop and if you don't then it's very hard for eclectic or original bands to find small bars to play in Sydney nowadays.