Jazz or Blues

[Atreides]

I'm listening to Jimi Hendrix and it's much better than the stuff they played at the jazz pub I was at in Montreal.

 

Discuss.

[metadigital]

You need to get out more.

[CoM_Solaufein]

I can't stand jazz, I find blues a preferable choice over it.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Jazz can be so boring its like watching wet paper dry. Blues on the other hand has what we call a "blues twelve" meaning the very typical chord progression used that was carried over into another vile from of music, honkey tonk.

 

 

So between hearing a blues twelve for the 6789023208987th time and still feeling physicly ill from the experience, I have to say jazz. That can atleast be easily ingored.

[thepixiesrock]

Blues you have one-four-five, Jazz you have two-five-one. They are both used just as much as the other. Actually, most modern music uses both progressions a lot. With Jazz though, you typically have the two-five-one lead to another two-five-one, so it changes it up a bit. I don't think most people like Jazz because it is more about the musicians than the audience. You have more improvisation. Not to say that blues doesn't have that. As to what one I like better, I like them both equal.

[Meshugger]

I see jazz as prentetious, self-masturbating, elitistic ego-music. While there are some bands that actually can play the music, there are too many "look at my incredible chord-progression, poly-rythmic free-jazz-solo"-people out there.

 

Blues, while simple and predictible, have something very important that most jazz songs don't have: a SOUL.

 

Everything above is just IMO.

[Atreides]

Blues you have one-four-five, Jazz you have two-five-one.  They are both used just as much as the other.  Actually, most modern music uses both progressions a lot.  With Jazz though, you typically have the two-five-one lead to another two-five-one, so it changes it up a bit.  I don't think most people like Jazz because it is more about the musicians than the audience.  You have more improvisation.  Not to say that blues doesn't have that.  As to what one I like better, I like them both equal.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Chosen1 must choose!

[Gabrielle]

They both suck.

[Pidesco]

They are both awesome, yet different.

[Zachech]

A lot of jazz is terrible, with that awful electric piano sound that sounds like a disney movie . . . and a lot of the time jazz is so weird and hard to listen to that it's....hard to listen to.

 

blues can get really old, really fast.

 

i'd say they're both equally bad, but at the same time they can both be equally good if done right. blues has balls, it has soul, and it can be easy listening. jazz can have a nice groove, a nice warm guitar sound, and just something alternative to other kinds of music.

 

so i say they're equal

[Kaftan Barlast]

I think both musical styles suffer from a severe case of 'having existed so long that all ideas were squeezed out of the genre 40 years ago'

 

 

The saying that a thousand mokeys with a thousand typewriters will sooner or later have written every book that can be written is reality in music. And the narrower a genre is, the faster it will run out of fresh ideas and die out or be conservated, stuffed and put on display like jazz.

[Baley]

I hate you all.

[Deraldin]

I'm listening to some jazz music right now. :cool:

 

I prefer Jazz to Blues.

[Baley]

I'm listening to John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.

 

Jazz is "soulless music", right?

 

Philistines the lot of you, dirty brainwashed philistines.

[Atreides]

I had a friend eloquently say that Jazz was ok. If you took all the instruments out.

[Baley]

Did you anally assault him afterwards?

 

If not you fail at life.

[Atreides]

I considered bitchslapping her but I kind of agreed with her at the time. At least based on what was being played at the time.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I'm listening to John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.

 

Jazz is "soulless music", right?

 

Philistines the lot of you, dirty brainwashed philistines.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

That record was released in 1964. If you would go out and try to find a contemporary Jazz record that was as good then youd fail.

[Baley]

You're also forgetting that's a ****ing legendary album, it's like saying that you shouldn't listen to contemporary jazz because the greatness of Bitches Brew or whatever might never be surpassed.

 

Hell it's hard to find a rock album as good as Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime, but that won't stop me from searching.

 

How about Branford Marsalis - Contemporary Jazz?

[Lyric Suite]

I'm not an expert on Jazz, but i'd say guys like Art Tatum defenatly leave the likes of Hendrix in the dust, let's not even talk about avant-garde jazz and some of the more contemporary stuff.

 

I think what people here seem to ignore is that Jazz is not just a different genre, it's his own little world, with it's own version of pop music, avant-garde or what have you.

 

It's the same with classical.

Edited March 3, 2006 by Lyric Suite

[Hurlshort]

Are we saying that Jimi Hendrix was a Blues musician? That doesn't jive with me. Hendrix was much more than just a one genre artist. When I think of Blues, I see it as a type of rock and roll. I see jazz as more of a big band experience, but there are a ton of artists who have bridged the genre. All in al, it's a really wierd question. I can compare two artists, but comparing two genres that have many similiarities is too tough.

[Enoch]

As "the guy with the Eric Dolphy avatar," I feel like I should say something here. I have to say that I'm surprised by all the haters.

 

I'm a bit taken aback by the accusations that jazz has no soul or passion. Now, some of this might be grounded in the 'smoooove jazzzzzz' BS you find on FM104 and the like. That is soulless, meaningless crap. Jazz is more intellectual than most other musical genres, but there is a balance between intellect and passion in all good jazz.

 

It can be a bit difficult, though. It must be actively engaged-- i.e., put headphones on, listen, and concentrate on what you're hearing. And Kaftan is right that it is tough to find great contemporary jazz (it's out there, mostly in live clubs in the bigger cities, but you've got to work to find it). Also, much of the entertainment value is lost if you enter it without an understanding of its backstory. You're not going to get much of what a younger player like Branford or Josh Redman is playing if you haven't heard Coltrane, Rollins, Parker, et al. It'd be like watching a highly-referential comedy like Family Guy without having seen any other TV shows over the past 30 years.

 

As for Blues, I enjoy that too. Its a different kind of enjoyment, though. Blues is comforting where Jazz is challenging.

[Darth Drabek]

The big difference that I see between jazz and blues is that blues is more predictable. That said, there must be something compelling about a genre that recycles the same chord progression so much, yet still exists and is popular. The best examples of the genre are generally the people who really do have the blues. How bummed can Eric Clapton be about anything anymore? That's why I don't listen to any Clapton CDs, post-"Unplugged." Which was fantastic, by the way, and the best example of acoustic blues I've heard in the last ten years.

 

My jazz experience is not extensive. I have a few Miles Davis albums and Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," and that's about it. My personal preference is early Miles over later Miles. I can feel the visceral impact "Bitches Brew" had and I can understand *why* it was groundbreaking and important, but if I want to listen to jazz, it's usually because I want to relax. And that's very difficult while listening to music that's so challenging. I find that when I listen to classical or jazz music, I have to give it my full attention, or I miss things. Which bugs me.

[mr insomniac]

Gotta go with blues, the likes of clapton and john lee hooker and so many others. Although I do like some jazz as well.

[Lyric Suite]

I have to give it my full attention, or I miss things. Which bugs me.

 

That's not a fault of the music though. It's just meant to gather to a different taste...