tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post359122701275846336..comments2023-10-21T07:14:37.880-07:00Comments on Jazz: The Music of Unemployment: Why no blues wars?Andrew Durkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-26022693087779454392010-06-24T17:21:47.868-07:002010-06-24T17:21:47.868-07:00That's an interesting comparison. At the risk ...That's an interesting comparison. At the risk of making HUGE generalizations, I'd have to say that in jazz we tend to lionize the musicians who redefined the genre (Miles, Coltrane) or at least were very idiosyncratic (Monk). I can't think of any similar comparisons in the blues, but I don't know as much about the blues as I do about jazz. I know of blues musicians who are lionized for how well they perform, but I can't think of anyone who is lionized for "changing the face of the blues as we know it."<br /><br />Maybe the reason we have these jazz wars is that, brain-bendingly, reinventing the genre has become an idiom of the genre? Most of the jazz wars I can remember (or had the time to pay attention to) were about:<br />A) was so-and-so REALLY a groundbreaker and <br />B) whether so-and-so broke the *right* ground or the *wrong* ground<br /><br />What do you think?Nate Trierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00820437255238427886noreply@blogger.com