06 April 2005
Jazz as Circus Performance
Some have criticized modern Broadway musicals for being less artistic performances than circus acts meant to please the crowd. Whether or not you agree that Broadway productions can edify people and still make money, you have to admit that the most successful shows have been those with high entertainment quotients—visual and audio effects at the expense of acting and singing.
The same values have corrupted the jazz scene. I recently saw an appearance by Pieces of a Dream in which these “crowd pleasers” treated us to a primitive Cage-like bass-guitar solo (not bad), a sax riff featuring an everlasting lung blast from a crouched position (exhausting), a screaming singer brought in from the audience (excruciating) and an electronic keyboard ad lib played from the front of the stage backwards over the instrument’s table (pointless). Jazz has come a long way from the emotive skill of Armstrong and Fitzgerald, the intellectual playfulness of Brubeck and Torme, the orchestral interplay of Ellington and Basie. It has fallen off the edge, however, if its performances can only be remembered for their ability to amaze.
Some have criticized modern Broadway musicals for being less artistic performances than circus acts meant to please the crowd. Whether or not you agree that Broadway productions can edify people and still make money, you have to admit that the most successful shows have been those with high entertainment quotients—visual and audio effects at the expense of acting and singing.
The same values have corrupted the jazz scene. I recently saw an appearance by Pieces of a Dream in which these “crowd pleasers” treated us to a primitive Cage-like bass-guitar solo (not bad), a sax riff featuring an everlasting lung blast from a crouched position (exhausting), a screaming singer brought in from the audience (excruciating) and an electronic keyboard ad lib played from the front of the stage backwards over the instrument’s table (pointless). Jazz has come a long way from the emotive skill of Armstrong and Fitzgerald, the intellectual playfulness of Brubeck and Torme, the orchestral interplay of Ellington and Basie. It has fallen off the edge, however, if its performances can only be remembered for their ability to amaze.
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