THE CREATIVE LISTENER
Avant-garde jazz has been surrounded by controversy the last eight years or so, most of it ridiculous. The central question tossing back and forth on this sea of controversy (what?) is usually “Is it music?” Very basic. Predictably one side says yes and the other side says no.
Avant-garde jazz has been surrounded by controversy the last eight years or so, most of it ridiculous. The central question tossing back and forth on this sea of controversy (what?) is usually “Is it music?” Very basic. Predictably one side says yes and the other side says no. (One longs for someone to reflect the ambiguity of the times by taking a firm stand with a resounding “maybe!”). The yes-people I’m not concerned with — they’re generally cool. The idea here is to develop another argument against the no-people. Actually, I don’t give a large s for the validity of aesthetic theories applied to living music and have not intention of developing one. Just a few casual observations and a conclusion I haven’t heard anyone say yet.