Why are the Jazz is Dead release so tepid?
Danno3000
2,851 Posts
Why are these releases so middling? Why didn't the label say hey, lonnie liston smith, go cosmic! Make something left-field for the dancers and the astro-travellers! It's 2023! Do the really crazy shit!
So many amazing musicians, so much potential, and yet all so bizarrely forgettable. It's as if they really want to prove the label name isn't ironic and yes, jazz is truly dead. I'm so disappointed by this squandered opportunity. Who listens to this stuff without shaking their head?
Comments
Bob James put some stuff out a few years back, and it was just snoozy jazz trio biz of classics like “Westchester Lady” etc…tepid!
Arthur Verocai’s recent(ish) stuff (other than “Bis”) is tepid. Floating Points tried to summon magic from the majestic Pharoah Sanders not long ago and got tepidity. Gil Scott Heron, Brian Jackson, etc. etc.
Largely agree with you, but: Bite your tongue, young man!
(I loooove that album, and I hear a lot of emotion and other subtlety in Pharoah's playing.)