A Jazzy New Road to Stardom
A Jazzy Popular Reality.
There is something jazzy happening in this information age. These days as the phenomenal beautiful jazz genre slowly grows older and sadly begins to fade away a bit, we have noticed that many artists are not entering the music business in the same old ways. There seems to be a newly discovered route that is slowly taking over the music industry by placing more vocally talented people into its field, these are premade successors. The reality competition shows including American Idol (the first to come about), The Voice, The X-Factor, America’s got Talent, Duets, etc. have seemed to fearlessly replace elder shows like Show time at the Apollo and Star Search. Due to 21st century technology, viewers are able to vote for their favorites and in doing that the shows are narrowed down to the winner who is expected to make the most album sales due to all who watched the show and voted up to the winner. What’s happening very slowly is that over the last decade, shows such as American Idol have increasingly been adding and adding more stars to the music industry little by little every year as people win the competition and their runners up join them and often find success too. Think about it, how many performance award shows and similar events feature American Idol winners and runner ups? – Very many if not all of them these days. It’s been happening slowly but year after year it increases. There has been a big impact made. It’s a new beginning. The music industry is a place of talent.
In the 1990’s and perhaps decades earlier, performer hopefuls auditioned for the shows, Star Search and Show time at the Apollo hoping to gain exposure and practice their talents to audiences for hopeful future stardom. Stars include, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Alanis Morissette, Rosie O’Donnell, Martin Lawrence, Dave Chapelle, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce’s Destiny’s Child who when they performed at Star Search were called Girls Tyme. Many began their journey to fame in ways such as by auditioning for and later working for In living Color such as Jennifer Lopez. Some pursued stardom by responding to newspaper ads for The Mickey Mouse Club of 1995 (that made stars, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears) and responding to a newspaper call to create a girl group that made The Spice Girls. There were methods including simply performing anywhere and everywhere available to gain experience and exposure like Selena Quintanilla-Perez. Michael Jackson with the Jackson Five too performed wherever they could and also won the opportunity to perform on the Apollo stage.
There is a brand new way to enter the music industry. These days there seems to be a slightly different popular way of working to enter the music industry. It is by these new talent reality shows of course such as The Voice, American Idol and The X-Factor that made singers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia Barrino, etc. famous. Not all of the winners or contestants were promised or achieved true chart-topping success or extreme stardom but very many of them did go that far while others found inferior success but definite career prominence; some received compensation and used it to start businesses, some continued on with their musical journeys by doing all that they could to remain as famous as their shows and as famous as their fellow contestants and winners and to receive their dream record goals. Some received automobiles and such gifts. It is a definite that no doubt these reality show’s stars’ roles in these competitions opened many doors for them.
In the 2000’s and perhaps the end of the 1990’s entering the music industry had very much to do with looks and sexual attraction appeal, more so these than vocal talent. Mediocre singer artists including, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Nicki Minage, Ashanti, Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake, etc., were entered into the music industry for mainly their looks. In these days talent took a back seat while good looks and (curvy) sexual features reared their pretty ugly heads. This was unlike early 90’s singers including, Boys II Men, singers of decades prior, including, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Cher, and Madonna and the extremely talented, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey 1990’s songbirds. The industry is funny. Of course the whole package (the looks and the talent) should always be important but is one more important than the other? Looks versus vocal talent?
The vocally talented new age stars have more talent than many of those who judge them on the shows, such as in the case of Jennifer Lopez. There are exceptions though considering Christina Aguilera, Demi Lovato, and Kelly Clarkson: three great voices that sing as well as those that they judge. The judges provide their opinions and critiques of the contestants’ performances while many of these judges lack equal vocal ability. Many of them are just not as talented. They are only qualified to be judges due to their background experience in that they have years of success in the field. Many of them aren’t nearly as vocally gifted such as Simon Cowell who has been reported to not be able to sing at all. He cannot sing a note in tune yet he passes brutally honest, powerful and cruel comments about singer’s voices and performances on these shows (American Idol and The X-Factor).
Nevertheless, there is a new 21st century way to enter the music industry, it is through these television shows, so if you can sing really well and want to be famous quickly and overnight, your best bet is to try and get in and try to win one of these reality music show competitions. Do what you can to make people vote for you. Be sure to be likable. However just please keep in mind that MOST hopefuls who audition do not make it very far as to be in the top ten or anything. Most do not make it through the first audition, let alone Hollywood week or step two or three of the process. Those that do make it far forward are extremely lucky regardless of their raw talent, hard work or backgrounds. It all only depends on the number of votes they get. And even they have a very slim chance of making it all the way and winning due to the number odds. There just is not enough room for everyone to succeed in this business. It isn’t exactly like training to be a nurse where you know the demand is high and all you have to do is survive through the schooling and then get the job and make your money. The music industry is arguably the most difficult field to get into. It is the most demanding as well for those who are in it. Anyone can be that special winner after a year of life changing hard work and votes made by America for them on their show but not everyone can experience this. The only thing that we can ALL do is dream. Dream and go! Go audition if you dare
because this new reality
is a jazzy reality; It’s a jazzy popular reality.
Jazz Forever. A Historical Beautiful Tune.
It’s just amazing how an extraordinary artist can write a piece at just one moment in time and yet the piece can go on and prosper and be remembered and played forever for years to follow; especially a successful one, especially a masterpiece. One can write it today and it will out live them and go on to touch someone of another era, generations later.
Lush Life is a jazz masterpiece written by musician Billy Strayhorn in the early twentieth century. He wrote it at the infantile age of only 16. It has been recorded by artists including Nat King Cole, his daughter Natalie Cole, Donna Summer and Queen Latifah. It went on to be one of his most well known pieces. An artist can die, but work such as Lush Life will live forever.
Special Saturday Event
Jazz music will be double special this weekend. On Saturday August 20th 2011 jazz muscian, Ms. Marjorie Eliot will be having a special jazz concert separate from her typical Sunday concerts. The flier details of the event are as follows:
PARLOR ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS ITS
NINTEENTH ANNUAL
“JAZZ AT THE MANSION”
SATURDAY AUGUST 20TH 2011 2PM
MUSICIANS: SEDRIC CHOUKROUN, GERALD HAYES, SAXOPHONES NABATE ISLES, KOISHI YOSHIHARA, TRUMPETS BOB CUNNINGHAM, BASS CLAY HERNDON, DRUMS LAMMOTT COTTMAN, CLARINET VIVIAN DUCAT, FLUTE KAI MATSUDA, SAXOPHONE DFAYE ANDERSON ROGER PARRIS POETS RUDEL DREARS PIANO, VOCALS MUSICAL DIRECTOR MARJORIE ELIOT PIANO PRODUCER, EVENT DIRECTOR
MORRIS-JUMEL MANSION 65 JUMEL TERRACE (BETWEEN SAINT NICHOLAS AND EDECOMBE AVENUES AND 160TH AND 162ND STREETS)
It is so very kind of these musicians to share their graceful talents and enchant a Saturday afternoon. Without a doubt it will be an unforgettable beautiful sounding place and time.
A typical Sunday
When you listen carefully, it’s so easy to just get lost in Marjorie Eliot’s graceful music.
The Learning of Jazz
There is a universal language out there that millions of people speak. Yet it’s a limited million. Many of us learn it when we are young. In order to be able to speak it, you need to learn it when you’re a child. It is the language of musicians. This is the language that jazz heads speak.
When I hear talent on the Marjorie Eliot level I often wonder about the particles of the piece as the notes carry my mind away to a happy place. I often also wonder just where and when this talent began to take its form. How did they learn to be so good? Where did they learn it? I channel my envy into discovery. I have been learning music for over a decade myself. You can learn and learn about those keys, pitches, chords, dynamics, hand positions, tempos etc. Whatever your instructors knows, she will teach you, however the root and truth behind talent (if not genetics) is practice and passion. You cannot be a jazz pro without being in love with it and practicing until your hands become numb all the time. Consistent practice makes perfect.
Another important thing is time. A professional of any field has ample experience with it. Jazz/ Music is no different. You have to start from child hood and really study it and practice often in order to be good.
I am ten year professional clarinetist and jazz exert but I am a toddler at the piano. In my piano class we started learning a jazz song entitled ‘Got Those Blues.’ It is very different than the classical common tunes in the beginner’s book, Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course. Of course it is my favorite. Its tone and style are as different from the regulars as Barbecue sauce is from butter, as different as New Orleans Jambalaya food is from New York Chinese Food. It has such a saucy enthusiastic beat.
Listen to “Got those Blues”:
A Night at the 5C Cultural Center
There is a place you may want to see. It’s called (The) 5C (Jazz) Cultural Center. I carried myself down to this café on Friday May 14th 2010 to explore some new jazz talent and take it into my heart. I had accidentally gotten off the train at 14th street Union Square, so I walked the dozen blocks down to 5th St, avenue C where 5C lies. Mid Manhattan is a crowded area with the so many street walkers and vehicles in a rush. Yet as you walk down the avenues from second to C, the town becomes more quiet and shy. It becomes less New York, more Suburban, more Urban, less Rural. I passed by so many sites of an unfamiliar NYC that I’ve never seen before. I saw apartment buildings, factory buildings, brown stone twins, a deaf community center and I experienced a level of calmness that I never knew existed in the city.
5C Cultural Center looks far different online than it does in real life. It’s much smaller and less orange and bright than it is on the website. Things always tend to be different in real life than they are in the media. It is an adorable tiny café however. The servers were extremely courteous and friendly. The overhead music was of course jazz. I had to listen to it for an hour because the performers called in one hour late on the day of their performance.
The 5C menu is very unique. It is strictly vegan and vegetarian based. When I got there, they played a black & white jazz film to accompany the music. It was media ambiguous. It was most likely also to compensate for the hour late performer. I was really disappointed to have to wait that long for the performances because I had rushed down the avenues and streets to be on time.
The first performer of the night began elongating her vocal chords at the late minute of 8:15pm. Her voice was a mediocre one, at the Jennifer Lopez level. It was a well trained voice that she took to a vocal coach often. The lack of talent in it was well covered by the hours obviously spent training it. She was middle aged with a sanity worth questioning based on her hyena laughter before and during her time on stage. Her first song was entitled Sunny Spring Day.
She was talentless and crazy. Her performing was very original, yet strange and boring. For a moment I thought I was in a primitive society, where stories are told orally. A society where the instruments we know of today, were not yet invented. This is the kind of atmosphere her performance created. Her instruments included several kinds of sticks, sea shells, a metal square and a bowl. This lady performed with a sense of confidence reserved for someone with actual talent and sense.
She sang poems about art. She spoke between the painful performances and ultimately behaved as if we understood her intentions. She flashed smiles and winks at each of us as though we were pleased. What I found most odd about her bizarre performing were the number of spontaneous screams she belted out of nowhere. The screaming was actually as appealing as everything else she did on the stage. I felt a sensation of joy pass through me when she showed us that she was finished.
Photo by B.A. Van Sise for ontheinside.info
The true instrumentalists came out shortly afterward, one male celloist and one female violinist. They did a sound check and socialized before beginning. My ears became eager with curiosity. Their clothing did not match. She wore dressy casual all black and heals. He dressed himself in khaki and plaid school clothing. When they began to play it was obvious that they rehearsed together a lot. So I wondered why they did not choose to discuss their stage attire before hand.
He introduced himself, his companion and every song by name. The songs were extravagantly unique. The first song blew me away with all of its characteristics especially the dynamics. They performed as if they felt the songs. They used very intense facial expressions and their bodies flowed with moving intuition and compassion. One could have found him funny. He squat while he played the cello. His positioning and intensity looked similar to how one behaves on the toilet or while learning to ride a bike.
They were pretty humble for their talents. Their hours of practice really shined on that stage. It sounded very much like movie music. Their nerves caused just a few mistakes, the violinist entered the song after numerous rests with uncertainty. He had to provide her with certainty by cueing with gestures. He did his and added a smile for assurance. The commitment was remarkable.
On the whole, the night at 5C was an experience that I partially enjoyed and will probably forget.
That of “Scatting”
One day long ago before I had ever learned the word jazz, in my childhood I listened to a song. At the time I did not know it was jazz. The lyrics were had more should than sense but they rhymed and matched up as incredibly as the composition as the piece. I really wish I can remember what song it was. But here is what I do remember. The climax of the song had a very strange language. I could not tell if it was French, Spanish, Russian, Wolof, Italian, German, English, alien or even from this planet or universe. I listened to it for months trying to figure out what they were saying… I never could so I gave up and on my own made up words that would make sense in that area of the song. This was the 1990s and I was in elementary school. There was no internet in the 1990s and if there was I had no computer. The librarian told me that only big kids were allowed access certain literature because us little ones would not be able to understand difficult books. I wished I could tell her that she was wrong but I knew that she would have found that to be disrespectful, so I did not. So I had no access to a book that could tell me an author’s perspective about the truths and elements of music. It was kept from me…
Years and years later I discovered jazz while it found me. Little did I know how many elements jazz contains. There is a special element I’d like to describe to you here. It’s improvisational. When on the stage, it’s in the moment. It’s unique. It’s intriguing. It’s called SCATTING! Yes that’s what those jazz heads were doing on that record so many years ago that I could not figure out. Scatting is a unique technique used in jazz. Jazz is the only genre that uses the language in this manner for many of its songs. Not all jazz songs have scatting but many do. Scatting is characterized as improvisational non sense syllables, random vocal composing on the spot, baby gibberish and sing-rambling if you will. Examples of the kind of syllables that are thrown about in scatting are: ‘Bob, be do wop, la dad a day uh, doo way do bay doo uht, etc.’ It’s wackiness is exquisitely unique in that it gives the performer a leeway, less to memorize, and allows him or her to just go with the flow in the moment. Yet of course the singing of it has to match with the sound of the piece. Scatting is Professor Pittson’s favorite aspect of jazz.
Scatting can actually be written down in sheet music to allow a group to harmonize. In that case though, the actual words of the senseless syllables would be written out by the writers for the performers to work out the pronunciations and rehearse them. During my first year of college, in my jazz vocal ensemble class with Professor Pittson, we sang the written harmony version of April in Paris, a beautiful jazz song written by Duke Ellington and Kerry Marsh. Scat language is used in the ending. We rehearsed the same syllables together because it was written that way. Traditional scatting is only indicated on sheet music for the solo artist to work it out themselves in rehearsal and on stage. The words are not written out for the artist to practice before hand. Scatting is strictly improvisational.
Check out Kerry Marsh’s website, www.KerryMarsh.com
Listen to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of April in Paris. She scats at the end.
The 2010 Jakarta Jazz Festival
The 2010 Jakarta Java Jazz Festival, March 5th to the 7th. Every year Jakarta Java Jazz has a concert. This year it was jazz oriented and jazz entitled however much of the music was not jazz, but R&B and pop etc. Which are two of my favorite music genres along side jazz. I did not mind the genres at all, but maybe they should consider changing the name of the concert series to something else. There were so many performances, so many performers and so very much support from the audacious audience that watched the show. I had a difficult time choosing which one I wanted to write about in that many were good and many were mediocre. Some were famous. Some were not so famous. Of the R&B pop artists, John Legend sang his hit, Ordinary People. Toni Braxton sang her 1990’s hit Breathe Again. Baby Face performed more 1990’s hits. He pretended that Tevin Campbell’s Can We Talk and Boys II Men’s I’ll Make Love to You were HIS songs when he passionately belted them to the audience. He also performed, When Can I see You Again and Nobody Knows it but Me.
In addition to the more famous successful ones I have mentioned, performers included Maliq & d’Essentials, Ivan Lins Rio de Maio, Chiele Minucci, Mindi Abair, Melaney Ricardo, SoulBop, Andien “Pulang,” Jason Mraz, Tom Scott, Glen Fredly and many more.
The enthusiasm of the audience was all encompassing and massive. The audience brought as much vocal enthusiasm as the performers, absorbing every note blown to them. It was obvious that the audience was not shy at all and entirely there to have a great time. There is nothing more rewarding for a performer, (non-famous or famous) than to have such an aroused audience. Indeed very interested they were. Even when the performers were obviously lacking in areas, they still received an ovation of an applause, which won’t help them to improve and notice what to work on in rehearsal, but it will strengthen their egos and self esteem. Therefore happy cheery audiences create more positivity and less damage.
After much deliberation, I have decided that Tom Scott’s performance is my favorite of the Jakarta Java Jazz Festival. I decided so because he performed with that enormous abundance of grace and soul, the kind that Marjorie Eliot has. The kind that touches the soul with passion but without effort. It was such a pleasure to watch and listen to. His saxophone, the percussion station, the piano and cello were so beautifully polished. The beautiful set up of the stage was on their side as well. Tom Scott performed with more professionalism and experience than the young ones of the festival, and he was nicely dressed for the occasion, unlike many of his too-comfortable colleagues who performed that night.. The instrumentalists who performed with him matched and played as beautifully. His dressy-casual attire was washed with Tide™, ironed and shined as brightly as the instruments did under the dimmed soulful lights, Aside from his minor squeak at the end that no one noticed, he gave a fantastic performance. Now if only lookism was on their side, if only he was a little bit younger and attractive and if they had looked a little bit like Mathew Maconahay or Will Smith or John Legend the cake would have been iced. However his delightful performance did not need any icing because watching it and taking it into your ears and heart was an experience one in the same as having your cake and eating it too.
Watch Tom Scott Jazz Away:
Jazz Then and Now. Pure Truth
Jazz has come a long way since it first began, yet its true beginning is debatable because an actual recording of a person playing the music has more of a sound and trustworthy beginning than a mere recollection of a person only playing jazz without ever being able to record their work. One has proof while the other just has memory, yet they would both have similar inspiration. Jazz could have began anywhere and by anyone with the blues and improvisation in their hearts.
The first known work of jazz began in 1910 with the Dixie Land Jazz Band and began to develop from there. As the century progressed we saw talented artists such as Louis Armstrong and Scott Joplin come on to the scene and record jazz music.
The Harlem Renaissance is perhaps one of the most well known and influential jazz markers in history. It occurred between the 1920s and 1930s. This movement was an artistic statement made by African Americans, that occurred in Harlem New York.
The only main difference between jazz then in the past and now is the historical context playing its role. Today the current context plays its role. Regardless of cultural surroundings, artists consistently make history with their work. Always inspired by those who came before them. Jazz artists are still inspired by anything. The passion and knack for the genre haven’t changed. Not even one little bit. It’s always good to know a genre’s origin and its nice when that knowledge about its infancy inspires you to make your own history within this present. Dreaming passionately persists.
Sources: makinmusic.nyc.com and jazz.about.com
Watch some history inspiration:
A Pop Singer’s Jazz
There is a songstress that we all know of who powerfully sang her way into our hearts at the vulnerable age of only seventeen in the year 1999. Today in 2010 she is an iconic twenty nine year old legend with a new movie (Burlesque) and a new album set to debut this year. She is originally known for hard-core bubble gum pop music. However an unknown truth about this singer’s inspiration is that much of it comes from blues and jazz. Before getting signed to RCA Records, for gigs she sang the songs that served her interests. They were mainly Etta James tunes. She is also inspired by Billie Holiday and other blues era musicians. As the years have passed she has been doing her own personal material, using less outside writers and using her own inside conscience writer and also Linda Perry (her main long time friend and song writer).
No one can ever guess what the genius, Christina Aguilera is up to in her recording studio or should I say, secret magic laboratory. What is she cooking up, and vocally brainstorming? We always just have to wait and see. It has varied over the decade. From pop (her first self titled album) to Latin music (the Spanish sung version of this same first album), Mi Reflejo, to soft rock (her legendary Stripped album) to Hip-Hop and R&B with (her last released full 2006 studio album) Back to Basics. Next in 2008 she released a mechanical sounding futuristic themed greatest hits album with new features entitled, Keeps Getting Better. One can only wait to see and hear her new upcoming album Bionic. Its first single is a breaking through new release called, I’m Not Myself Tonight.
Though it may be difficult to picture blues and jazz coming from a pop artist who was forced to embrace the bubble gum genre when she claimed fame; for Back to Basics, Aguilera’s last 2006 studio album, several genres are packed into two disks. We hear jazz on this album in addition to the R&B, Pop and Hip-Hop. There is but one song that rhythms its way across the staff in the same way that it wiggled its way into the genre with its smoky rhythm. I Got Trouble is a blues and jazz song with a very unique ring to it. Aguilera put the powerhouse strength of her vocal pipes on hold and used her voice in a chipmunk jazzy manner for this one. The song is written by Christina Aguilera and Linda Perry. It lasts for about four minutes. It is composed in basic 4/4 common time and is in the key of Ab major. It is something different on her part and there’s quite a distinction between this song and the others on the album.
Before welcoming icon Aguilera’s new master piece, Bionic don’t forget to remember her past work and those notes that carried her where she is… especially the jazz ones.
Listen to I Got Trouble:
Jazz Nation 