I understand this isn't necessarily national affairs, but I figured, if we could talk about Psy, we could talk about Dave.
Today, jazz icon Dave Brubeck died of heart failure the day before his 92nd birthday.
He was born and raised in the California Central valley and started his jazz career by forming a group with saxaphonist Paul Desmond in San Francisco.
He reached wide spread fame with the release of his album, Time Out, which reached number two on the Billboard Top 40 and became the first Jazz album of all time to reach 1 million copies sold.
Brubeck played concerts and continued to create music for nearly 60 years. For you musicians out there, Brubeck is often given credit for being the first jazz pianist to escape the 4/4 rythm and add an extra beat to his measures.
If you haven't heard his music before, you definitely owe it to yourself. Here is his most popular song, "Take Five."
I guess if we want to end with a question, how feel about the current state of music. There are goods and bads and it would be interesting to see how you all feel about the pop culture we are experiencing now.
3 comments:
RIP Dave. I've listened to your tunes since I was very young, and I hope you're swinging up in heaven with Bird, Monk, Blakey and all them cats. Amen!
That aside, I think it's interesting to note that although music has certainly changed in quality and substance, it has also influenced international pop culture through out the decades. For instance, rock and jazz are arguably two of the first music genres that originated in the states, and it's kind of surprising that they have become such widely globalized industries and art forms in other countries. For example, jazz festivals are almost just as popular (if not more popular) in European and East-Asian Countries as they are in the U.S., and the British have reigned supreme in the realm of rock for quite a while. More than being concerned with what's good and bad in the music industry today, I think it's important for people to look at the cultural barriers that have been broken by music's influence.
I am not musically talented in any sort of way, but I do have a comment about musical culture in general. I feel like this is time when there is so many mixes of culture and types of music. I agree with Abby's comment that music has definitely broken cultural barriers and music is better because of this. However, I am very disappointed with the pop culture of today. Everything sounds so technically generated and lacks the quality that older music had. When I turn on the radio many of the songs sound the same and have similar content. It is so refreshing to hear older songs or new songs with a completely different vibe.
To me jazz is the greatest form of music on earth because of its free form and the creativity of its artists (not to mention that it sounds amazing). The death of Dave Brubeck is a major blow to the jazz world, as he's was one of the last major jazz figures still alive in this decade. I watched him play live in 2006, and honestly, I'm surprised he made it this far into 2012! Anyways, RIP Dave. Your records are your lasting legacy. Referring to the question, I believe that our current state of music is too synthetic, too repetitive. Jazz is definitely getting less and less popular despite the skill and creativity that goes into it, which, to me, is sad. While I'm not degrading the music that the majority of people my age listen to, I just don't find it appealing. I feel like today's music industry is too focused on business and money, rather than quality. Hopefully, someone can turn that around and create something genuine instead of this lousy excuse for music that we hear everyday.
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