JAZZ...LIVE FOR 'EM AND YOU
News Paper – The Hindu
Published on - May 1, 2001
Author – Harichandan A.A.
When Mr. Holand (remember Richard Dreyfus Oscar winning performance in "Mr. Holand's Opus"), learns his wife is pregnant, he doesn't know how to react. He even asks the standard question, "are you sure?"
To placate an obviously angry wife, he tells her how he fell in love with John Coltrane. When Holand was a kid, he once took home an LP of Coltrane and played it. "I hated it... so I played it again, and again, and again, until I just couldn't stop listening to Coltrane."
Nope, we are not saying you should have babies again and again. But Holand's placation of his wife probably sums up what a beginner would feel about jazz. If you hate it at first, just listen again and again and again and soon, you won't be able to stop listening to Jazz.
The origin of the word "jazz," says the introductory page of a website called jazzjhistory, "is most often traced back to a vulgar term used for sexual acts. However, the meaning of jazz soon became a musical form, whether under composition guidelines or improvisation, jazz reflected spontaneous melody phrasing."
Those who play Jazz have often expressed the feelings that Jazz should remain undefined; Jazz should be felt. "If you gotta ask, you'll never know" - Louis Arm strong. The standard legend is that Jazz was conceived in New Orleans and moved up the Mississippi River to Memphis, St. Louis and finally Chicago.
Cut to present day Bangalore, and it sure seems to be jazzin' here folks! As regular patrons
would know and new visitors would be surprised to find out, Java Cities are popular for the Jazz albums they play.
On Sunday, things were logically extended, to a live jazz band, the Gerard Machado Network at the Church Street Java City. The only problem, there just wasn't enough space to accommodate the response. In any case, sponsors explocity.com plan to host more such shows. Amen to that!
By Harichandan A.A. Photos: Sampath Kumar G.P.
