Group think, bandwagon mentality. It's the reason EVERYone knows Mozart, Ansel Adams, Ella Fitzgerald, and many other examples of people with talent, but who've been given excessive praise at the exclusion of other greater talents. Have you every heard of Betty Carter, Gerry Ueslmann, George Crumb? Names not completely unknown, but certainly overshadowed, yet they were uncompromising trailblazers who weren't entrenched in the previous generation's style. (And what about the "stepbrother" Brandford?)
Wynton - The Only Person in Jazz Who Matters?
I was just wondering when Wynton Marsalis’ opinion became so central to jazz that an article about another musician has to include a discussion about whether that artist gets along with Wynton and the nature of their relationship?
The New Yorker this week has a – mostly – very nice article on Esperanza Spaulding, the Portland, OR bass player. (She just smokes her fiddle BTW. I saw her playing with Joe Lovano last year and she was just phenomenal. She got every bit as much applause as Joe did.) For some reason the author felt compelled to discuss her – and I think by extension all of jazz – through the lens of whether or not Wynton would approve, or even call it jazz. That seems awfully narrow minded.
Granted, he has the loudest megaphone with JALC, but c’mon, is that really necessary?
The New Yorker this week has a – mostly – very nice article on Esperanza Spaulding, the Portland, OR bass player. (She just smokes her fiddle BTW. I saw her playing with Joe Lovano last year and she was just phenomenal. She got every bit as much applause as Joe did.) For some reason the author felt compelled to discuss her – and I think by extension all of jazz – through the lens of whether or not Wynton would approve, or even call it jazz. That seems awfully narrow minded.
Granted, he has the loudest megaphone with JALC, but c’mon, is that really necessary?