Zombies!

"The Zombies are here and their kiss is deathly. They are ruining jazz spots from coast to coast. As soon as they start hanging around certain clubs, the decent citizenry avoid the spots like the plague. They come with their zoot suits, long haircuts, reefers and "zombie" jive to night spots that feature top jazz talent. Soon they become the "atmosphere" that pervades the spots."


Hold on I thought zombies didn't wear zuit suit coats, but ate flesh and were undead creatures.




Whoa hold on here... We are talking about some jive zombies, maybe like this guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3EGOc59X0




See now that's more like it! In spite of Halloween being this Sunday I thought it was an interesting time to take a stab at this idea of "Zombie Like" musicians or audiences in jazz.

In My opinion jazz hipness isn't about the clothes that you wear or the drugs that you do. It is all about the attitude. For example the best artists are swinging because they play with confidence not just because they have a nice suit on. Color doesn't really matter. For example when Mezz Mezzrow was in jail it didn't matter that he was white. He says, "...There aren't many people in the world with as much sensitivity and plain human respect for a guy as the negroes. I'd be stepping along in the line, feeling low and lonesome, and all of a sudden one of the boys in the colored line...Would call out, 'Hey boy, whatcha know,' and smile, and I'd feel good all over...I had plenty to thank those colored boys for. They not only taught me their fine music; they made me feel goog." Mezzrow's account is a great example that even the black musicians did not see the color of the skin to be a deciding factor in who was hip.



But zombies on the other hand...These guys were the opisite of hip. We still have these types of people today. These are the people who go to concerts and talk loudly or don't know any of the people performing and are only going because they want to be "Cultured." Granted I don't know if Kenny G is still the epitomy of jazz culture (Ha!) but a lot of people in the general public listen to what the big commercialistic monster tells them to.



Zombies in my opinion are the people who don't question the artists who are being spoon fed to them when they watch Ken Burns Jazz on PBS. I am not bashing these artists who are involved with the documentary or the ones who are primarily commercial. However we still have a culture of zombies today of people who choose not to think for themselves to find artists that they truly enjoy.



This being said...Future musicians are going to have to fight to get the attention of the public to stop the zombie invasion. We are going to have to battle in order to get our music out there and listened to because zombies only hear what is highly commercialized to them. However there is a new kind of immunization for this plague and that is a listening to the real kind of hip music that can stop the zombies dead (Really dead) in their tracks!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iern-POI8Kc