{"id":700,"date":"2011-12-24T17:24:16","date_gmt":"2011-12-24T22:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=700"},"modified":"2011-12-24T17:25:39","modified_gmt":"2011-12-24T22:25:39","slug":"last-ditch-impressive-gifts-for-fans-beyond-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/12\/last-ditch-impressive-gifts-for-fans-beyond-jazz.html","title":{"rendered":"Last ditch impressive gifts for fans beyond “jazz”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I refrain from abject product endorsement — but The Jazz Icons Series 5<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0is\u00c2\u00a0my no-fail \"\"<\/a>recommendation for those favorite (weird?) aunts or uncles obsessed with “culture” — for parents who space out listening to long, wordless music from their decades’ back youth — for snobs who should meet vernacular jazz in its noblest and most durable form — best of all, for you yourself.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Six impeccably produced dvds of genuinely iconic — nay, canonical — performances by some of our most intensely compelling mid-20th Century American artists: John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Freddie Hubbard and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers with Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter.<\/p>\n

The musicians’ names in themselves ring richly of “jazz” to anyone who subscribes to that tradition. The music herein validates their reputations, \u00c2\u00a0proviung to be as powerful and entertaining now as when the videos were shot by French television, 1959 – 1973.
\n<\/object><\/p>\n

[And though there’s been a lot of hubbub<\/a> about the “jazz” word elsewhere on the web, which is worth acknowledging, I disagree with the anti-“jazz” sentiment and its core premise: that the term “jazz” is demeaning and limiting, whereby in my dictionary, “jazz” expresses so much more than a historic period or style as a process and reality check that is infinitely open-ended, pliable, transformative, uplifting, humane, and we ought to give thanks to the originators of this art form for helping us gain a basis, from which we cannot help but ourselves grow. . .So Jazz Icons is ok by me.]<\/p>\n

These videos — festival shows and \u00c2\u00a0one extraordinary studio session — originated in Europe during an era when jazz was very rare on U.S. tv. They exemplify a \u00c2\u00a0music of meaningful improvisation at its most immediate and exciting, created by heroically distinct talent individuals in close, real time collaborations. These performances are not merely iconic, a couple of them are canonical. Highlights:<\/p>\n