[Harp-L] Fwd: [Newsletter] smokey-joe Explains Jazz




SMOKEY JOE EXPLAINS JAZZ


Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?

smo-joe : I can't, but I will! 90% of all jazz is half
improvisation. The other half is the part people play
while others are playing something they never played
with anyone who played that part. So if you play the
wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it
might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you
play it too right, it's wrong.

Interviewer: I don't understand.

smo-joe: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't
understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so
simple about it.

Interviewer: Do you understand it?

smo-joe: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood
it, I wouldn't know anything about it.

Interviewer: What is syncopation?

smo-joe: That's when the note that you should hear now
happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz,
you don't hear notes when they happen because that
would be some other type of music. Other types of music
can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something
different from those other kinds.

Interviewer: Now I REALLY don't understand!

smo-joe: I haven't taught you enough for you to not
understand jazz that well.
 
* * * *
[I was quite disapointed that smo-joe didn't explain what the other 10% of jazz is.
He only explained that 90% of it was half improvization (45%) and the rest (presumably the another 45%) only right if its wrong enough.
But the inteviewer was amiss in not asking what the other 10% of Jazz was
-- perhaps that is the part at the beginning where the song is played straight so the listener will know what tune they are playing after they stop playing it!?] :0)










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