Under the covers with Jazz '65:Death or Resurrection?

Posted almost 4 years ago

Artist:
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Eddie Jefferson
Album:
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Vocal Ease

The cultural landscape in the US was shifting in '65. When folks saw the kinda money the Beatles could generate Rock and Roll just blew its way into the mainstream, leaving Jazz in its wake.Prior to the Beatles you might turn on a primetime TV show and see Thelonious Monk or Miles, but not so much after '65.Awhile back on MOG we tried to compile â–º"an essential jazz list.":http://mog.com/Cody_B/blog_post/58179 â—„ You will not find too many post '65 records on that list.Some say around '65 is when jazz died (not me)and the number of closing jazz clubs, decreasing record sales, and withering of local scenes definitely showed something was up. Always out front, Miles Davis was headed in a new direction in '65, a path pundits would call post-bop. One of the songs the 40 year old Davis cut on 1965's Miles Smiles was Freedom Jazz Dance. This composition by 30 year old Eddie Harris, would become a jazz standard.At the time, it was a bold statement about breaking away from the past, and maybe that's why there are so many versions of the tune. That the versions work in so many different styles may be a hint (besides the Rock and Roll invasion)to the splintering of jazz and its commercial decline that continues to this day ( with a few spikes here and there). Is Jazz dead? No Way. Is freedom what the masses want to hear on wax? For the most part,No!Check out Bop Vocal master Eddie Jefferson's fusion-y take on Freedom ('74)here (Mr.Jefferson wrote the new lyrics). Please see the early versions by Miles and the author in comments, along with John Patton's B-3 take.Eddie Jefferson

Comments (11)

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Cody B says ~ARjntuT6nP3.mp3~ Freedom Jazz Dance - Miles Davis Freedom Jazz Dance - Eddie Harris ~uledfeEQa5O.mp3~ Freedom Jazz Dance- John Patton ~yHE8Vm8nOTS.mp3~

Permalink posted 03/23/2008
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Madeline Burke says Just finished reading Crash's blog.....and I get it. and I fell the same way... I figured the theme for the day was a good jumping in place..but I, too, usually wander off on a tangent. Glad to hear it's not some hard and fast rule, just a general topic to bait your hook with and see what bites..Thanks for the info, lovin' your jazz postings here,...

Permalink posted 03/23/2008
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Cody B says It is all about doin' what ya like...Mog on!

Permalink posted 03/23/2008
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Mike the Knife says Diggin' ALL the takes, C.B. The Miles version has always been the touchstone for me. (Strange, but the organ on Jefferson's version really reminds me of Keith Emerson from his pre-ELP days leading The Nice.)

Permalink posted 03/23/2008
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Cody B says Mike..I just looked it up..Mickey Turner. Dunno him..I guess fusion and prog aren't too far apart.

Permalink posted 03/23/2008
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Mike the Knife says Slipped us a Mickey, huh? Just listened to Emerson on the exceedingly jazzy "For Example" from The Nice's third album "Nice" - and before it starts shifting time signatures and instrumentation, the similarities to Turner's sound on "Freedom Jazz Dance" are clear and present.

Permalink posted 03/23/2008
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dermahrk says I don't think the "death" of jazz (it becoming less popular) has much to do with rock and roll or the Beatles. When it veered into the non-melodic, strange time signatures, everybody-blowing-at-once, it took a turn off of the main road and became music that no longer appealed to the general public. I love Louis Armstrong but my tastes are limited. Generally I have to agree with the Joe Esterhaus essay he wrote for Spy Magazine (which I have never been able to get a reprint of) titled "Jazz sucks". I'm sure that jazz afficionados get more out of it than other music but I just can't get into it. I've tried, but it's not gonna happen.

Permalink posted 03/24/2008
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poebegone says Cody, i love this post. i am only on Jefferson's version as of posting this comment but why does it remind me of a Charles Mingus song? did he have a version? (an academic question, i am being too lazy to look it up.) the prog-fusion connection has been in my head all month, ever since learning that members of French prog-rock group Magma are also with French jazz fusion group Amnesiac Quartet. i hope to sit on that topic one of these days.

Permalink posted 03/24/2008
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Cody B says Mark, in a lot of ways I think you are right, on the music side, but on the business side I think rock had a huge influence on the closing of a number of clubs that featured jazz..perhaps after that the musicians, with less people to play in front of, turned inward and came up with less friendly sounds.. Thanks Ilay. Can't wait to see that post. I love dot connecting.

Permalink posted 03/24/2008
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Hermes says Huh, that jazz 101 is worth gold for me, but I will need a lot of time to get through this list. On the other side I have all the time in the world respectively my life time :). I just realized, that I have no idea of jazz, as my jazz is primarily Acid Jazz, of which one can argue about if it is jazz at all. And it's definitively a lot easier to get into then for example the first track here from Eddie Jefferson. Does anyone have a link to a good online record dealer, who has a lot of (classic) jazz recordings AND long streams to listen into the tracks? The online record stores, that I'm usually using for listening into an album, are blank on classical Jazz - what a shame, but I found some Miles David recordings declared as Nu Jazz, hah. Great post Cody, I enjoyed the little journey into jazz history a lot.

Permalink posted 03/24/2008
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coozdrm says I agree with dermahrk completely -- I think a particular genre can remain in the spotlight only if people can continually relate to it. One particular group comes to mind as an example, and though they aren't a jazz group, they work well in this context. CLOUDDEAD. I remember reading more than a few reviews hailing CLOUDDEAD as the next big thing in hip-hop, but I can't name a single soul I know who legitimately liked this group. Blip-hop was present in their sound, but nothing quite made sense as you listened. The resulting effect, of course, is that I was turned off from electronically based hip-hop for quite a while. A contrast is Prefuse 73 -- who I believe nailed the balance between the two styles thus making the music relatable and likeable. But, I also understand that the business side of the genre didn't quite support the music as well as it could have.

Permalink posted 04/02/2008