Wow, so much stuff here since I last posted I'm not sure where to start.
Abe & Ken - I see your point in that the OP is disrespectful. But it's hardly surprising, is it?
Not all young people are disrespectful but let's face it, over the generations - from the mods to the hippies to the disco boys to the punks to the rappers, the grungers and metalheads - young people have turned disrespect into an art form. Out with the old and in with the new! The king is dead, long live the king! Nothing wrong with that. It probably goes back to basic impulses where the young stag challenges the old, tired stag for leadership of the herd.
Should we oldies who better understand the significance of the things kids thumb their noses at get upset about it? I don't think that's the way forward, although it might be a good way to get high blood pressure. We have to give understanding before getting it.
So I'd rather acknowledge that, yes, the big metal drummers are much more overtly spectacular than the old jazz guys and then point out some of the cool things going on in jazz. It might not change opinions but it fosters respect. From there, anything can happen ...
Aeolian said:
e.g. for myself, I don't really enjoy highly intellectual music. Where the players have exhausted themselves in some conventional musical vein and the only way forward for them is to be more and more outside. I love the drama of outside playing when it's used to set up tension and release. I don't enjoy constant outside playing. Just doesn't sound musical to me.
Really good observation - "Where the players have exhausted themselves in some conventional musical vein and the only way forward for them is to be more and more outside".
I say this as a mad keen King Crimson and Henry Cow fan. I adore "out" music but there are times when I'd rather listen to blues, soul, pop etc. It's true that sometimes I "revel in the cleverness" of "out" music; but I also enjoy the freshness of it - non-standard sounds, beats, melodies and harmonies. To me, convention is a filter through which we express ourselves and there are times when I want my musical food raw. Convention came about because over time it was found that those musical conventions had universally pleasing qualities. Yet beautiful ugliness can sometimes be more touching than sheer beauty (eg. like comparing a slobbering but endearing mongrel with a graceful but dumb Afghan hound).
I can revel in treading over old, clichéd ground with the best of them but after a while I pine for some crazy "out" stuff. You may need the grounding of conventional tonality in almost every song, but I only need it every week. The dynamic of our listening pleasure is still the same ... "the drama of outside playing when it's used to set up tension and release", just the preferred dosage is different
MikeM said:
I've never heard anyone say, "Oh, I have atrocious taste in music; I can't stand listening to my own favorite stuff!
lol no, but there can be recognition that just because you like it, it ain't the best. We all have elements of solipsism in our makeup, some more than others.