Old Downbeat BFTs

[Rabshakeh]

Ethan Iverson, who has an on/off worth reading substack, has done an article with some excerpts from old Downbeat Blindfold Tests.

You can find it here if you want it:

https://open.substack.com/pub/iverson/p/tt-507-blindfold-tests?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=az9yj

Fun stuff. It is amazing how free people were with their opinions in those days. Jazz was a small world then as now and it must have been strange to come out with such aggressive opinions and then have to share a stage with the subject a few days later.

[Dub Modal]

Thanks for the link. It's always hilarious to read how these musicians back then seemed to universally dislike Cecil Taylor's music. 

[mjazzg]

The Redman and Braxton are pretty brutal but I suspect fairly commonly held views at the time

[JSngry]

  On 4/17/2025 at 8:46 AM, Rabshakeh said:

It is amazing how free people were with their opinions in those days.

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And not just about jazz!

"permission to speak freely" used to be something that only military, corporate, and abused people had to worry about getting. Now, it seems to be considered a veritable requirement.

But FWIW, Braxton pushed back HARD on that Phil Woods dig over the decades, to the point where Woods offered a semi-apology before he died.