The following is from an article that appeared as a spoof in All About Jazz magaz ine, based on the idea that Benjamin Franklin, by means of a time machine, came back and wrote the article from his observations of the current jazz scene. "What young jazz musicians need now, and more than ever before, is jazz apprenti ceship with 'elder statesmen,' outside of the context of the four walls of the c ollegiate corporate empire and its connected political machine. Apprenticeship i s a wise and frugal way to learn this great music. Young jazz musicians must see k out wiser and older musicians who will teach them the trade of being a jazz mu sician as well as the fundamentals of their respective instrument in relation to the tradition, while encouraging individuality in the entire process." Although it was intended as a spoof, it nevertheless brought some very thought-p rovoking insights into the open. Apprenticeship Breakdown There is no question about it, the breakdown of the apprenticeship system that o ccurred in jazz around the 80s has impacted it in such a way that jazz, as an ar t form, has virtually lost its audience. This comes in the wake of jazz clubs ar ound the world going under at an alarming rate due to lack of attendance, while so called "jazz festivals" have resorted to booking acts that more or less resem ble rock and roll or hip hop music rather than jazz in the traditional sense, an d publications like the Wall Street Journal releasing articles proclaiming jazz to be "dead." There are those of course who will argue "the face of jazz has changed…get used to it!" This, however, fails to take into account the idea that if you are going t o replace something, it should be replaced by something that is better. Not as g ood is unacceptable! As the late Igor Stravinsky once stated, "No new music come s from anything but the tradition." His point being that music moves forward by musicians digesting the "tradition" while allowing the music to evolve on its ow n to the next level. The false prophet can always be distinguished from the true prophecy by the fruits produced by their position. The negative "fruits" outlin ed in the previous paragraph can be attributed to the argument quoted above stat ing that "the face of jazz has changed . . . " Longo's Contribution Jazz pianist/composer Mike Longo, who was a student of Oscar Peterson and served for many years as Dizzy Gillespie's pianist and musical director, has stated "a lthough we have some great jazz educators and wonderful jazz departments across the country, there is a certain ingredient that, in my estimation, needs to be a dded to the curriculum." Longo is alluding to the rhythmic concepts espoused by Dizzy Gillespie, and picked up by Longo through his long association with the Ma ster. Longo has been relating these ideas in master classes at different univers ities to the delight of students and educators who seem awe struck by the revolu tionary ideas he has put forth, as well as the manner in which he presents his p rogram. New DVD This led producer Andrew Schoenfeld to hire a film crew to film one of these lec tures at a recent appearance at a Connecticut University which has been now been released as the first in a series of four DVDs which teach the concepts of rhyt hm that Longo learned from Gillespie and may very well prove to be the missing l ink in jazz education that will eradicate the problems mentioned earlier. These provocative and enlightening DVDs entitled "The Rhythmic Nature of Jazz", Vol. I + II are now available to you through Consolidated Artists Productions,
Inc. on their website at www.jazzbeat.com. They can be ordered through our stor e which you are now in. Upon experiencing the demonstrations presented during this lecture you will beco me aware of the concepts that produced the pulsating, driving rhythms that fuele d the music of jazz greats like Diz, Miles, Bird, Coltrane, Cannonball and other s. This will aid you greatly in your ability to preserve this rich tradition and reverse a trend towards an impotent sound that results from a metronomic time c onception producing music that, although it is jazz influenced, has more of a cl assical vibe to it. Longo points out to you the difference between experiential knowledge and intell ectual knowledge, which is precisely what is passed on through the "apprenticesh ip", alluded to earlier. What you will now have is a marvelous tool for communic ating these principles to your students through the techniques outlined in the c ourse. Prior attempts at pedagogy relating to rhythm and timing have been approa ched through "feelings and imagination", a concept that will be proven to have b een innocently false by the material presented in this DVD. Dizzy Gillespie Dizzy Gillespie, when asked what his music was about, replied, "Absolute love fo r every man woman and child on the planet." This was the vibe in his music and n ow you can find out what forces were in place to produce this vibe. You actually will learn the physics of producing the "life force" and applying it to produce a most glorious and powerful music. Hal Galper Pianist extraordinaire Hal Galper, who is on the faculty at the SUNY/Purchase ja zz department, appears in a You Tube master class presentation where he points o ut that the biggest problem facing jazz education today is the inability to teac h the concept of syncopation. He goes on to point out that there is no pedagogy on the subject and mentions that the closest thing to it is a book by Longo enti tled "How to Sight Read Jazz and Other Syncopated Type Rhythms." Now, at last, t his problem will be solved for you with this provocative set of DVDs. Jazz Education Breakthrough! You can now help yourself and your students return to the passion-arousing music that turned on jazz fans of the past. By experiencing the sensual gratification produced by the polyrhythmic and polymetric jazz of the great jazz masters such as Bird and Diz, you can pass this experiential knowledge on to your students, protecting them from slipping into much of the lifeless "head" music that has pr actically eliminated the jazz audience and caused former jazz fans to proclaim t hat the music they hear in clubs and festivals today often sounds "dead". Now you and your students will be exposed to and in contact with the very forces that gave jazz its power in the past, allowing you to bring back the life force associated with the art form that America gave to the world, to the people.
