Class of 2001

When I think about my ways, it seems as though I’ve always striven to be a traditionalist. I naturally took a liking to Jazz, maybe because of the personalities. I think I was also in awe of how an elite group of people listen to such a dissonant sounding music and how these musicians had drug addictions, lots of different women, and other things that make this music appealing to a young adolescent. Of course my love for music has always been one of the main driving forces of me pursuing the art. But there was also this other side in which I thought I needed to live in order to feel like I had lived enough. Jazz was like a secret society to me and I wanted in. This happened. But it wasn’t the golden days of glory that I thought it was going to be. Instead it is mostly a replica of itself filled with nostalgia, and jaded old legends adjusting to an influential institution. This organization is filled with young and youngish professional students who demand the titles and praise of the old days without the urge to have anything to say/express in their music except that they ‘demand respect’ from the elders and the institution. For a person like me, this has been hard to dwell in. I was never a big fan of the institution and felt that they took away from my musical and artistic intuition rather than adding to it. I used to never second guess myself when I would play, and has taken years to undo the trauma that I underwent. The institution is really thriving nowadays, and has gotten to the point where it has influence on the press and record labels as to whom will be the next big thing. I didn’t play ball like I was supposed to.

In this day and age with more different art and music in the world than ever before, it’s hard not to replicate. Also with the easy access to masses of information, it can be difficult to keep your soul core. So naturally, replications can be used in a satirical or sarcastic manner as a tool for true individual expression against the vast information (not knowledge) out there that competes for our attention. But when they (replications) are executed too well with no soul from the executioner and only the sole purpose to demand respect without the intent to share or express, this at times can be very dark and energy draining to bystanders unless they all thrive off of this type of battery acid. They may have gotten so used to the sound that they don’t even hear a problem.

When I listen to musicians nowadays, many of them sound very informative but that’s about it. The only problem is that so many of them sound this way, that they are numb to their lack of growth and cheer each other on. There is an over abundance of these people today, and they are not just in the Jazz world. But maybe they serve a purpose. I guess what scares me is the lack of awareness from club bookers/owners and the press. I expect labels to make dumb decisions. But all of these institutes are now being sucked into this darkness of TMI from these musicians and their friends/promoters who are to no surprise, failed musicians that want to control a scene. What’s funnier is the older generations whom also have this glitch in their playing, are angrier with the younger generations and called them out for the same type of flaw. There is a real cross-fire now between these entities. It would be humorous if it wasn’t happening on such a vast level. I’m now seeing a new thing occur. While these two entities are fighting over who is who. A new phenomenon has entered the ring. And when the trumpet sounds the change, beware. This is one who exclusively relies on the battles fought by others and the assurance of the institution to back them. They do everything by the institution’s rules in return for a reward of receiving a high title of their choosing in the art world. And if any of the elders try to contest the decision that the institution makes, they will quickly be put in check as they were the ones who contributed to this decision.

Did the elders not participate in the institution through teaching master classes and giving clinics? Did they not give their student of choice a high ranking? Were their egos not stroked as they KNEW that the students they taught and gave high rankings to, didn’t know shit for changes? Did the elders not take the money? Well then they don’t have anything to say. In truth, it is the elders that can take a significant amount of blame for this. They bought into a scam. This is how it happened in my opinion. Due to the first informative players that emerged around the 80’s, Jazz became music for the Yuppies. But after the breakthrough of Hip Hop and the use of record samples from the Jazz Icons of old by Djs, people heard the difference and another type of Jazz Musician that was more BE-BOP aware as opposed to the more modal informative entity, emerged. Around this time, the modal entity was doing a lot of soul searching. They started to revert back to the earliest forms of Jazz (i.e. Swing and New Orleans music). They realized that others realized the gigantic holes in their playing. It was quite frustrating for younger generations after them as they looked up to the modal playing that these 80’s players laid down. Then there was the “Young Lion”, generation in the early 90’s. The institution seemed to really have an agenda on this one. Maybe it was to rekindle the fire of interest in Jazz. The music sounded very serious and needed to be a little more light- hearted. The “Young Lion” generation understood this well and introduced a very “By the Book” sound to the public, with a contemporary flavor to it. But not too contemporary to the point where it wasn’t considered traditional Jazz. Some of these guys also had a lot of holes in their playing as well. Both generations seemed to struggle with compositions that had changes and formed a peculiar way of working around that.

Nowadays, they do not have this problem. As a matter of fact, they participated in strengthening the institution by correcting its outlook on Jazz vs. Classical. And as they did this, they strengthened their skill and knowledge in the older styles of Jazz. The one thing both generations had under their belt is that they were exceptionally, technically proficient on their instruments. So much to the point where they could fool the average critic listening to them B.S. over the changes, including the horrible changes they had written. The critic would be taken by these player’s leaps, jumps, tone, and other trickery on their instruments which does call for an extensive knowledge of their instruments, but doesn’t call for an extensive knowledge of any particular art form, maybe the earlier forms of Classical music. So, these musicians were amateurs. I think the arrogance of the older legends and their clear reign over the masses for so long left the critics, promoters, as well as other institutes with very little influence on the public for a time. But then came the times where legends were not showing up for concerts, doing drugs on stage, cussing out their audiences etc. So when the institution saw that younger, clean cut ‘looking’ generation, they went to work, and in a very desperate way. It must have been necessary because the institution was successful. The institution seems to be keen to when a generation is starting to get comfortable and arrogant. And they’ll quickly bring in a new obedient batch of musicians. And the older more comfortable generation always complains about how much this younger batch of musicians don’t even know enough vocabulary to be given record deals and other spoils. I don’t need to state the irony. And although the older generations thought they were fooling the institution while going back in history and refining their understanding of the music and keeping their career at the same time, they were not. As a matter of fact, they helped to create more resistance for innovative music, as the institution is most pleased when there are no innovative concepts to challenge its present system. So these generations got stuck into being book keepers of the music. They became Professional Educators.

There was another sub-young lion generation and then came my generation. I think they were trying to call us the “class of 2001”. I was a little younger than that class. I still ended up associated with them so oh well. I must say that I am probably the black sheep of this generation. The only reason why I am writing this is because I can’t really perform anywhere and am running out of respect from my peers as they have become reluctant to record with me due to the lack of write-ups and other forms of attention. This could jeopardize there “in demand”, look . At least in their eyes. I was told the only reason for this has to do with the fact that the public eye and promoters as well as other institutes will not give me the nod, in public. Although they do in private as I have the emails to prove this. I’m starting to feel that this neglect is a blessing more than it is a curse. I see that the new agenda for the institution is to create professional students. I didn’t go along with that program so I along with a few more in my generation have to fend for ourselves.

Many in my generation are paycheck players today. Meaning, we take many Rap, R&B, , Pop, and other gigs that do not allow us to show the full range of our talents. We think that we have to. Some of us have families now. Also I think many of us were discouraged when we saw the B.S. for what it was and didn’t know how to fight it. Also we’ve been in New York for about 12 years now. This is 3times over Jimi Hendrix’s peak reign (about 4 years long). That’s a long time. Many of us are plagued with the fact that our great chops are down, due to the neglect inflicted by the institution and the few opportunities to show our skills. The ‘Young Lion’ generation would whip on us at jam sessions (when they would come out). This is what was done to them and was a healthy tradition to uphold given there were many opportunities around for work and recognition. But the ‘Young Lion’ generation was blind and arrogant when it came to seeing into the future, so they couldn’t see the scene shrinking along with the European Jazz scene starting to form its own thing. When they got the wake up call it was too late. Many of those ‘Young Lions’ are dropped from labels today and playing in smaller venues as well as starting to have chop problems. However, that doesn’t change the fact that my generation was still discouraged. We saw the B.S. for what it was and some of the key players in my generation didn’t participate in the competitions and things of that sort in which we were supposed to. The reasoning behind this was we saw the sub-young lion cats participating in these events and nothing would change in their career. The institution promised a certain push in their (the musician's) careers if they participated in these competitions and won. However this did not always happen. And it became too great a risk to the artists for the institution to deem who was the best at, whatever instrument and that not be true only political, as well as nothing to be gained from such a vain event. So some of us (my generation) just didn’t, participate. The institution may have detected this trend. It has worked with the press and record labels to see to it that this will not happen again. There are players younger than us, and due to the lack of record deals given to my generation for numerous reasons, this younger generation like all younger generations, Has holes in its understanding. But they seem like bigger holes than the previous generations before them had. For the young aspiring Jazz musician, there was always a 5 to 10 year gap of older musicians to look up to and learn from as they were the more seasoned musicians.These older musicians were signed and working regularly. But with some of the key players not being properly documented and well represented, and the educational system starting to become more Jazz appreciative thus strengthening the institution, an imbalance was created that quickly needs to be checked.

The one thing I can safely say is that my generation, although goes through ups and downs with their chops, some of us still have a core center and knowledge of self in our playing and writing that the Informative and Young Lion generation didn’t and in ways still doesn’t have. A lot of this has to do with the neglect which was a gift to my generation. And what’s great about this is that we have the makings of what the legends had to go through in their day. It helped to make them who they were .Neglect, financial issues, rivalry issues, racial issues, chop issues, you name it. Coltrane, Brownie, Parker, etc. all had to play in Blues and R&B, bands of their day to make ends meet.

Now that’s where I went astray. I eventually cut off all my Pop and R&B connects (for the most part) to pursue the music in which I believed. The greats already did those gigs for us not to if we don’t want to. But I understand if some still need to and want to (there are always exceptions). My music doesn’t have one style, because that’s not realistic with my musical experience nor is it for many people living today in my opinion. Only one problem… The institution is so tied up with its creation (professional students) that it doesn’t have time to or flat out doesn’t want to acknowledge what’s starting to occur in music. This means that the institution has become corrupt. Just like when the legends became corrupt. Checks and Balances, time. Things just need to be checked from time to time.

I wish that I could do this with the help of my generation, but we (my generation) mostly go out for self. Many of us feel that the institution can still give us what we need. Maybe I do also since I am writing this and not pulling the stunts that I really would like to pull (and may have to pull eventually). If the institution got all of us the attention we are suppose to have today, I don’t know if we would make the best music or art that we could under their B.S. set-up and circumstances which ends up hurting all of us as the people are waking up to what’s B.S. nowadays and what’s not.

This leads me to a whole other theory. Maybe things are just shifting and my generation gets front row seats to watch if we want to. Or we can just be failed worker bees.

To be continued…