is this the way to market 'jazz'?

[David Ayers]

Although to be fair to the Brotzmann writer, I suppose they're talking about a kind of Third Streamy artfulness and detachment - that they would see as having corrupted their original aesthetic . But it's asking a lot for the post Brotzmann generation of academically trained musicians to 'maintain the rage'.

Maybe more aimed at the likes of Braxton and Vandermark? Not sure.

[robertoart]

Although to be fair to the Brotzmann writer, I suppose they're talking about a kind of Third Streamy artfulness and detachment - that they would see as having corrupted their original aesthetic . But it's asking a lot for the post Brotzmann generation of academically trained musicians to 'maintain the rage'.

Maybe more aimed at the likes of Braxton and Vandermark? Not sure.

It would be interesting if Braxton was in mind. But I just can't see anyone involved in free/improv music not seeing Braxton as an 'untouchable' of sorts, and a pioneer and fellow traveller for the Brotzmann generation. Although I'm not well versed in the aesthetic politics that would be behind these liner notes, I suspect Braxton has done it harder than any European musician.

[David Ayers]

Although to be fair to the Brotzmann writer, I suppose they're talking about a kind of Third Streamy artfulness and detachment - that they would see as having corrupted their original aesthetic . But it's asking a lot for the post Brotzmann generation of academically trained musicians to 'maintain the rage'.

Maybe more aimed at the likes of Braxton and Vandermark? Not sure.

It would be interesting if Braxton was in mind. But I just can't see anyone involved in free/improv music not seeing Braxton as an 'untouchable' of sorts, and a pioneer and fellow traveller for the Brotzmann generation. Although I'm not well versed in the aesthetic politics that would be behind these liner notes, I suspect Braxton has done it harder than any European musician.

However you read it, it's an interesting intervention.

[johnlitweiler]

You guys seem to have forgotten that jazz was a major commercial music

I hate to say it, but When? The Hit Parades of the Swing Era, the best-selling record lists of the 30s and 40s seem to argue otherwise (I've seen old Billboards and such). Who, outside of black communities, knew of Armstrong, Morton, Bessie Smith during the Jazz Age?

[Big Beat Steve]

You guys seem to have forgotten that jazz was a major commercial music

I hate to say it, but When? The Hit Parades of the Swing Era, the best-selling record lists of the 30s and 40s seem to argue otherwise (I've seen old Billboards and such). Who, outside of black communities, knew of Armstrong, Morton, Bessie Smith during the Jazz Age?

Crow Jim? Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, the Dorseys, etc., were part of the jazz world too.

And hit parades weren't the only criterion. Wasn't it so that public turnout to live appearances went a "bit" beyond that of a niche product too?

Edited August 20, 2012 by Big Beat Steve

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

You guys seem to have forgotten that jazz was a major commercial music

I hate to say it, but When? The Hit Parades of the Swing Era, the best-selling record lists of the 30s and 40s seem to argue otherwise (I've seen old Billboards and such). Who, outside of black communities, knew of Armstrong, Morton, Bessie Smith during the Jazz Age?

Crown Jim? Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, the Dorseys, etc., were part of the jazz world too.

And hit parades weren't the only criterion. Wasn't it so that public turnout to live appearances went a "bit" beyond that of a niche product too?

Would Paul Whiteman have crowned himself 'King of Jazz' if the appellation hadn't meant anything in marketing terms? I rather think not. All those gangsters who ran illicit drinking clubs knew well that they had to get jazz musicians into their establishments. There's a nice story about Petrillo strong-arming one of them into paying proper money on behalf of a jazz band; the gangster caved in because he knew that, without those musicians, he wouldn't have customers.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

i've been a jazz fan all my life (since a teenager, to be more specific) and i have never "understood" most of what i've heard as i'm not a clinician. i enjoy what i enjoy and that's enough for me. and i've certainly enjoyed relatively "simple" jazz as well as "complex" charts. it matters not, i just pay attention and most of the time just groove with it. but then, as most folks know, i'm a pretty simple person!

My view too.

Can't imagine jazz will ever be centre stage again, but if people are still listening to Boccherini or Hildegard of Bingen then I see no reason why some might not continue to enjoy exploring Charlie Parker or Sonny Rollins or Mike Westbrook. Some of us just like worming away and locating entertaining music outside of what is heavily marketed.

There is an element of ego and posturing in all of this as in any area of non-pop music - I listen to jazz instead of pop, I listen to Anthony Braxton not Branford Marsalis, I listen to Schnabel instead of Ashkenazy, I listen to Boulez not Shostakovich - but behind that lies genuine interest and enjoyment in slightly off the radar music.

I also find it hard to imagine that some elements within future generations of listeners won't find a thrill in music that has a considerable amount of improvisation - that wonderful feel that something is being minted at the moment of recording; or be drawn to the off-centre, strangely accented rhythmic approach that has characterised much jazz. It might not be called jazz and be absorbed somewhere else, but I'm sure those elements of music will continue to appeal. They've gone in and out of fashion in Western classical music over the last 1000 years.

Edited August 21, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Ted O'Reilly]

She's really not all that. I'd rather see them market her playing a piano passionately.

TOUCHE, JAZZBO!!!!! couldn't agree with you more but it will never happen.

Even Diana's official bio skips over it, but she spent quite a while in Toronto, just before her move to NYC. At that time (early 1990) she did a concert for me (for radio broadcast) and as I knew Diana liked to sing -- she did her share of lounge work, dropping in an old song or two -- I suggested that she do one or two vocals in the hour.

She felt constrained by a head cold, so did the whole concert as a straight-ahead jazz pianist, with old friend and fellow British Columbian Pat Collins on bass and Klaus Suonsaari on drums. They played tunes by Jimmie Rowles, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter... I've played some of these performances as a blindfold test for some hard-nosed jazz fans who don't believe it's her.

Diana Krall is a very good jazz pianist, and while the pics can help sell records, I still admire her instrumental abilities every bit as much as her more-salable vocal work.

[Big Beat Steve]

Diana Krall is a very good jazz pianist, and while the pics can help sell records, I still admire her instrumental abilities every bit as much as her more-salable vocal work.

I take it, then, that you would consider Diana Krall a far better instrumentalist on her instrument than, for example, Candy Dulfer on hers (whom I've also seen posing in a "sort of" sexual/sensual attitude for P.R./marketing purposes)?

(No, I am not asking this because I'd disagree - I am just wondering as I have not heard enough of both of them to really have a well-founded opinion, though what I have heard of Candy Dulfer's tootling has left me sort of cold ).

[Ted O'Reilly]

Big Beat Steve, like you, I'm not much for Candy's music. Ms Dulfer (daughter of a pretty good funky jazz tenor man, Hans Dulfer) plays her instrument well, but...

I think (and on evidence over the years) that Ms Krall is a very good jazz piano player.

It's the singing part of her talent that attracted the attention of a Big Time Manager, who made her lose 20 pounds, lighten her hair colour, use a pro makeup person and smarten up her wardrobe. (See if you can find the cover of her first album "Stepping Out" on the Canadian Justin Time label to see her own decidedly UNglamourous self, pre-Big Time Manager.)

Sharp management = Glamour! and Success! Who would turn Success down? (As Jim Hall reportedly said, "Where do you go to sell out?") I don't believe she HAS sold out. For the very largest part of her career, Diana has kept good quality control of her music. Maybe not as much jazz in it all as I think she could offer, but her music (to this point) has been nothing to be ashamed of.

I still think that she could turn up at a jazz joint after hours and wow everyone as a jazz pianist. I hope she does just that every now and then.

[marcello]

She doesn't have that first manager (who drives me crazy and probably drove Krall crazy too) any longer.

[ValerieB]

She doesn't have that first manager (who drives me crazy and probably drove Krall crazy too) any longer.

she drove everyone crazy on a regular basis!

[Big Beat Steve]

I think (and on evidence over the years) that Ms Krall is a very good jazz piano player.

It's the singing part of her talent that attracted the attention of a Big Time Manager, who made her lose 20 pounds, lighten her hair colour, use a pro makeup person and smarten up her wardrobe. (See if you can find the cover of her first album "Stepping Out" on the Canadian Justin Time label to see her own decidedly UNglamourous self, pre-Big Time Manager.)

Sharp management = Glamour! and Success! Who would turn Success down? (As Jim Hall reportedly said, "Where do you go to sell out?") I don't believe she HAS sold out. For the very largest part of her career, Diana has kept good quality control of her music. Maybe not as much jazz in it all as I think she could offer, but her music (to this point) has been nothing to be ashamed of.

I still think that she could turn up at a jazz joint after hours and wow everyone as a jazz pianist. I hope she does just that every now and then.

Nat King Cole career revisited? (minus the make-up part, probably )

[GA Russell]

I just heard what I believe is the single from Krall's new album. It is called something like "I've got a wide, wide river to cross".

It's country!

Her singing and the musicians with her were quite good. Unfortunately, it is a very boring song with the same riff repeated ad nauseum. But that never stopped country music fans! This could be a breakthrough for her.

[papsrus]

I wrote a long-ish post, then took a deep breath and stepped away from the minefield.

Me too. Kinda.

Something along the lines of, 'get thee to Frenchmen Street if you want a jazz party.'

[alocispepraluger102]

THIS ARTICLE CASTS A WHOLE DIFFERENT LIGHT ON THE MATTER. I TAKE IT AT FACE VALUE---I'M GENERALLY INDIFFERENT TO MAINSTREAMER MS. KRALL, BUT I DO LOVE OLD HEADS ON YOUNG BODIES.

LINK

"For the record, Diana Krall isn't wearing bordello lingerie on the cover of "Glad Rag Doll" (Verve), nor is the scanty attire a cheap trick to hawk her new album. "I was just playing dress-up to illustrate the album's title and 1920s theme," said the 47-year-old jazz-pop singer-pianist and mother of two. "There isn't even any cleavage—just a little more thigh. Look at Alfred Cheney Johnston's Ziegfeld Girls photos from the period. They're much more risqué."

On "Glad Rag Doll," due Oct. 2, the breathy-voiced two-time Grammy winner covers mostly jazz and vaudeville songs written between the two world wars. But the album's bluesy, Prohibition-era theme is a risky deviation for Ms. Krall, whose fans have grown accustomed to her humid renditions of American Songbook standards backed by lush orchestrations.

"I'll be back to strings—this album is just something I wanted to do in addition to that," she said. "I'm not trying to reinvent myself here. The more different creative outlets I have, the more exciting recording is for me. This is the music I was first attracted to—before Louis Armstrong and Nat Cole."

Born in 1964, Ms. Krall grew up in British Columbia and today divides her time between Vancouver and New York with husband, Elvis Costello, and their children. As a preteen, Ms. Krall spent hours listening to her father's vast collection of 78-rpm records. Fascinated by the '20s and '30s, she traveled at age 16 to Williams College in Massachusetts to visit the archives of jazz-age band leader Paul Whiteman."

Edited September 22, 2012 by alocispepraluger102