The Jazz police

[umum_cypher]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/09/jazz-festival-larry-ochs-saxophone

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I liked this bit

  Quote

The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was "psychologically inadvisable" for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.

MG

I liked this bit

  Quote

The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was "psychologically inadvisable" for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.

MG

Actually, I only liked it once.

MG

[Brad]

I suppose the Guardias must have been jazz fans. Otherwise, how would they know?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Nah - Kenny G fans!

MG

[Lazaro Vega]

If it was bad for him the dude should have left rather than trying to change what the musician is doing. His psychologist should also advise him he should work on controling his behavior not the behavior of others; least of all a mother other like Ochs.

[clifford_thornton]

The guy is clearly into wasting others' time. But in a way, all you can do is laugh about something like this.

[papsrus]

A walking definition of 'high maintenance.'

No like music -- call cops

No like beer -- call cops

No like wife -- call cops

No like movie -- Cops!

Bad meal at restaurant -- 911

Rainy day again! -- get the cops

... no like cops -- ????????

[jeffcrom]

I was listening to Tom McDermott's quartet at Donna's in New Orleans a couple of years ago - Rick Trolsen on trombone, Matt Perrine on bass and tuba, and the King of Treme, Shannon Powell, on drums. They played traditional repertoire, but took it pretty out at times. Donna's is right on rough-and-tumble North Rampart Street. The guys had just taken "Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave to Me" to the outermost limit when a police car, siren blasting, pulled up nearby. They all looked at each other, started laughing, and simultaneously said, "The Jazz Police!"

Edited December 10, 2009 by jeffcrom

[Guest Bill Barton]

My link

[brownie]

I am shocked by Wynton Marsalis's search for this purist fan but I am also shocked by your use of the term 'Jazz Nazis'.

Nazis I know what they were and what they did. This is a different world and a different time.

Why not change the title of this thread?

How about 'The Jazz Fundamentalists'? Or whatever... but leave the nazis out of all this!

[papsrus]

That's terrible. Sympathizing with the wacko who called the cops on Ochs? Yeah, brilliant fucking idea.

Yeesh

[Dave James]

  On 12/21/2009 at 6:31 AM, brownie said:

I am shocked by Wynton Marsalis's search for this purist fan but I am also shocked by your use of the term 'Jazz Nazis'.

Nazis I know what they were and what they did. This is a different world and a different time.

Why not change the title of this thread?

How about 'The Jazz Fundamentalists'? Or whatever... but leave the nazis out of all this!

So would you rename the Seinfeld episode The Soup Fundamentalist?

[brownie]

  On 12/21/2009 at 6:42 AM, Dave James said:

So would you rename the Seinfeld episode The Soup Fundamentalist?

The Seinfeld episode was comedy, and very funny!

This is a different matter.

[Big Beat Steve]

Agree with Brownie.

Calling the cops because you think the music is "not jazz" is silly (even if by purist criteria it may be so, this "fan" ought to have known better, given that a lot of "recent" jazz falls into the "anything goes" category, like it or not). And making a hero out of somebody like this is even sillier (though maybe just a cleverly launched publicity stunt).

But it definitely is not a case of a "jazz nazi". A term like this is way beyond reason.

[bertrand]

I am hoping WM is just kidding around. If not, he is even more of a flaming asshole than even I could imagine.

He's offering Blood On The Fields as if it were a reward. Egads.

Bertrand.

Edited December 21, 2009 by bertrand

[Tom Storer]

Wynton certainly knows how to rile up the opposite camp! Lighten up, folks, he's pulling your strings.

[Big Wheel]

I a) haven't heard much Larry Ochs and b) have no desire to get into the debate of what jazz is for the 10000th time, but I heard Ochs's bandmate Steve Adams recently and that cat can DEFINITELY play bop backwards and forwards. Even though his band was comprised of a laptop plinking out all kinds of weird stuff instead of a drummer and bassist, you could tell that he had mastered the language.

[Claude]

  On 12/21/2009 at 7:22 AM, bertrand said:

I am hoping WM is just kidding around. If not, he is even more of a flaming asshole than even I could imagine.

I rather think that it's the Guardian who is kidding around, and Wynton has nothing to do with this story. The article reads like a jazz insider joke to me.

My theory is that Wynton himself send this Raphael or Ramon himself to the Larry Ochs concert, and because he's the prime suspect of jazz fundamentalism, he's now actively playing the innocent.

Edited December 21, 2009 by Claude

[Big Beat Steve]

  On 12/21/2009 at 9:25 AM, Claude said:

  On 12/21/2009 at 7:22 AM, bertrand said:

I am hoping WM is just kidding around. If not, he is even more of a flaming asshole than even I could imagine.

I rather think that it's the Guardian who is kidding around, and Wynton has nothing to do with this story. The article reads like a jazz insider joke to me.

My theory is that Wynton himself send this Raphael or Ramon himself to the Larry Ochs concert, and because he's the prime suspect of jazz fundamentalism, he's now actively playing the innocent.

Coming to think of it (and to re-read the sotry), you've got a point there.

But wouldn't they expose themselves to a lawsuit if they stuck a story like that on somebody just like that?

Anyway, I think it's not so much WM's action but the term "Jazz Nazi" that is controversial.

If you have to use strong words to describe this kind of jazz funamentalist (?), you might as well call him a

JAZZ TALIBAN.

Or would that strike other sensitivities?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I agree. Sorry Bill, but I'm changing the title.

MG

[BillF]

Anyway, it's something to get part of this morning's Guardian online from Seattle before retail outlets are open to buy it here! Incidentally, their letters page has been publishing weak jokes for days about the jazz police being on the beat, etc, etc.

Edited December 21, 2009 by BillF

[Guest Bill Barton]

Well, sheesh, sorry if I offended anyone with the original title of the thread - my apologies - but I was so floored by the absolute hilarity of the idea that Marsalis would actually seek out this dude that the term seemed apropos, and it's certainly been used before. The original Guardian story about the Spanish fan was an eye-roller and this follow-up was an eye-roller and a head-scratcher.

[AllenLowe]

don't worry, I wasn't offended, and I like the original title better -

remember what Chet Baker told Mussolini's kid -

Edited December 21, 2009 by AllenLowe

[mikeweil]

Both Wynton and that fan are sick to think their taste is the only valid one - and that's about it. 

[Brad]

Hopefully the story is only a joke. Why expose yourself to criticism in this way?