eisprl

Ok so my 20th Century Music professor just stated that he does not hear one single lick of jazz in the musical "West Side Story".

what the hell?

Your thoughts?

Eric

__________________
Eric Sproul
Practice is like filling a leaky bucket

Bb: Yamaha Xeno 8335
C: Bach Stadivarious 239L and 25A leadpipe (Owned by Eric Sholtz)
Flugel: Yamaha Bobby Shew 6310Z
Mouthpieces: GR tech
www.stadband.ca

Jimi Michiel

Hmm... that seems a little suspect. To me, West Side Story is so great because it is so many things: Mahler, Shakespeare and, of course, jazz. I think sometimes the jazz element is overstated while subtler influences and aspects are not given their due, but to completely ignore a works most prominent stylistic influence... sounds like it's time to get a new 20th Century Music Prof...
-Jimi

__________________

Jimi Michiel

And if it makes you feel any better, I just popped a recording of Wagner's Sigfried Idyll into my computer and iTunes listed it under Jazz. So apparently West Side Story is NOT jazz, but Wagner is. (Hey, at least iTunes didn't list it under "Klezmer," now THAT would be a pretty sick joke).
-Jimi

__________________

Tootsall

Waiting to see what Wilmer has to say!!

wiseone2

Did he expect to hear jazz in a Broadway show written by a non-jazz composer? Why is he even looking for Jazz there? In the shows"Girl Crazy" and"Crazy for You," the tune"I Got Rhythm"occurs, does that mean those are jazz shows? No!
It's probably better to let your professor toss out silly statements like the WSS one.
Don't play his game
Wilmer
PS
Listen to Dance at the Gym on the cast album.....or check Stan Kenton's version of WSS......no jazz there

__________________
Be sure Brain is engaged before putting Mouthpiece in gear.
S.Suark 1951

dizforprez

How does this guy define Jazz?

Martin Williams

obviously he has an extremely narrow veiw on what is jazz, and needs education on what makes jazz, 'jazz' himself

bas

Hmmm....sounds to me as if this prof was a closeminded knuckleheaded academe...like many I work with daily!

gregc

Tell him (as is often heard here in NY), "GET THE WAX OUT OF YER EARS, JACKASS".

__________________
______________
Greg Condemi

Manny Laureano

He's just trying to be provocative to see if anyone's awake. So, disagree but have your homework done so you can argue the case. That's what college is for. Don't accept anything blindly IF it sounds outrageous to you. Don't be argumentative just to be argumentative, either; it wastes time and gets old real quick.

Nobody ever said WSS was supposed to be a jazz piece, anyway. it has a variety of elements that are part of the sound of America in the 1950s. It has jazz, latin stylings, fugues, references to Wagner opera... it's ridiculous to classify it as anything other than a 20th century American theater piece.

ML