Saturday, February 07, 2009

Point of Entry

I really like Jonathan's 300 jazz albums series. Tonight, I've decided that what I mean by jazz is somehow marked (but not bounded) by Cannonball Adderly's Somethin' Else and Andrew Hill's Point of Departure. That's a rough gesture, of course. But it means that a song like "I'm Just a Lucky So and So", which I love and sing for my children before they go to sleep, isn't quite "jazz". What I'm saying is probably that when someone says "jazz", as in "I don't like jazz," or, "I love jazz," I assume they mean something that was recorded in the late 1950s or (especially) early 60s.

1 comment:

Presskorn said...

Come to think of it, I also think that "Somethin' Else" (or rather it's particular take of 'Autumn Leaves') has served me as paradigmatic in evaluating the sense (if not the reference) of 'jazz'.... Your post was the first to bring Andrew Hill's "Point of Departure" to my attention; for which I am grateful having just heard it through now...