I feel that on this site there are 3 big genres of music that are neglected on this site, classical, jazz, and country. Sadly those are the 3 genres that I deal with the most on a daily basis. I am going to ignore discussing country, because I think it is mostly worthless (there are a few good bands and songs in country, but they are in such a minority its not worth mentioning). Today i'm going to focus on Jazz.
Like most major genres or music, Jazz has at least 30 sub-genres, maybe more, I really don't know them all. Some of my more favorite sub-genres are Acid Jazz, Bebop, and Jazz Fusion
Acid Jazz
The sub-genre originated during the late 1980s when England funky music style started to incorporate elements like jazz, hip-hop, and latin, and soul. It also tends to have some sort of electronic composition weaved into the music. This type of Jazz like many other types of Jazz was more concerned with the actual music, not the lyrics. Often this music has a high-energy dance feeling in it, because it was formed in the dance clubs, but occasionally the songs can be slow and reflective, but that is rare. The transfer of Acid Jazz over to the US, caused differing definitions of what Acid Jazz actually is. Meaning that Acid Jazz often crosses over into the trip-hop and jazz-rap categories that are used to define bands such as Massive Attack to A Tribe Called Quest. The most notable acid jazz bands are probably Brand New Heavies, Mr. Electric Triangle, and Mr. Scruff.
Bebop
Maybe some of you recognize that word from one of the final Grease songs, but honestly it has nothing to do with Grease, except that fast tempo that song has, because Bebop tends to favor those fast tempos. Or possibly you recognize it from that girl's (I don't remember her name) last song before she got voted out in American idol. This style of jazz is characterized by improvisation, complexity, and fast tempos. Many people don't like the sound of Bebop becuase it's not that smooth type of jazz they're used to listening too. It sounds more like the trumpeter is trying to get to the end of his part as fast as possible, which often makes it sounds more fragmented. Often when you listen to bebop blue notes tend to pop out of you, and somehow the musicians are able to make them sound right. Again, A Tribe Called Quest borrows from this style, but the musicians who often used this style are Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Chet Baker, and Stan Getz.
Jazz Fusion
Personally, this type of music is my favorite type of Jazz (oddly enough it's my Dads as well), and sadly one of the most unappreciated because most people don't like the long track length and lack of lyrics. Riddled with complex tempos, key signatures and long improvisations, when listening to Jazz fusion you can hear jazz, rock, reggae, hip-hop, electronic music, and often other types of music that I don't know enough about to define properly. It's eclectic in every sense of the word. Honestly it's really hard to describe, because each song is beautiful and complex in it's own way. Musicians associated with Jazz fusion are Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Spyro Gyra, Bela Flack and the Fleckstones, Miles Davis, Liquid Tension Experiment, Mr. Scruff
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03-03-2007 11:55 AM