In my introductory post, I mentioned that I think of jazz as the most demanding and original form of music ever created. That's a pretty big claim so I think I'd better explain my reasoning behind that stament. Basically it comes down to one thing - improvisation. Although I have heard jazz described without mentioning it, there aren't many definitions of this music that don't include mention of this vital element.
Jazz is music of the moment. It is ephemeral and elusive. It disappears as soon as it is created and, not only is it impossible to reproduce a jazz performance exactly, to do so would be of no value. The value of jazz lives entirely in that moment of creation; jazz music is bound inexorably to the moment of it's conception and how it sounds will depend as much on where and when it is being played as it does on the notes and rhythms that the players will use.
Recordings of jazz are brilliant - especially when they allow us to hear the great players from the past or musicians from the other side of the world. However, nothing beats hearing this music in person. Because the players are improvising, they are affected and influenced by the environment around them. This means that the audience becomes part of the performance and everyone in the room contributes in some way to the music made on a jazz gig.
It's true that performers of other kinds of music will also be affected by their environment. However, the fact that they will have decided in advance what pieces they will be performing and how they will play them places constraints on their ability to react and respond to their environment in a musical way.
When a jazz musician takes a solo, he is free to take that solo in any direction he chooses. He can choose to make it complex or simple, angry or sad, dissonant or consonant, traditional or modern or pretty much anything he likes. At it's highest level, a jazz solo is like a snapshot of all that the soloist is feeling and experiencing at that place in time - in many ways, it is a refelection of all he is in that moment. It is this changeable, ephemeral and immediate nature of jazz improvisation that sets jazz apart for me as the most original from of music making I know.
As well as being original, I also said jazz was the most demanding musical form I know and, in a future post, I'll talk a little about what the prerequisites are to perform jazz and why I think the jazz musician needs to possess a wider range of skills and be more adaptable and versatile than any other kind of player. Watch this space!
