Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:22:36 -0500 From: Robert Pleshar <rpleshar@midway.uchicago.edu>
Is any musician / composer ever creatively relevant (or whatever we want to call it) for their whole career? (Excepting those who quit or die young)
Should we expect Brotzmann, Parker, et al to do anything different really? Why? It's true that when they started they were breaking new ground and that "free-jazz" is as solidified of a genre as hard-bop or trad or whatever, but so what? Dizzy Gillespie did his thing his whole life, why should it be different for Evan Parker or Mick Jagger? Can't we just say Brotzmann is a great free-jazz stylist and his style is popular?
This is one big difference. Jagger and the Stones have been on autopilot for decades now and they'll always have a huge fanbase who doesn't care whether they crank out the same, forgettable records each time. Someone like Cecil Taylor (minus the huge fanbase of course) doesn't work the same way. He's always challenged his audience and he always will. If that in itself is being repitious, so be it- that still means that whatever he releases nowadays will still be more interesting than whatever next Stones record sounds like. Of course, that won't stop me from seeing this Stones during their tour this fall, cranking out the same old hits. I respect innovation but I also dig history! Best, Jason -- Perfect Sound Forever online music magazine perfect-sound@furious.com http://www.perfectsoundforever.com