On Sun, Aug 19, 2001 at 03:03:40PM -0700, Mark Stanley wrote:
I agree. There seems to be this stigma in jazz journalism
where the guitarists all have to look the same, play
archtops, wear fancy cloths, etc. I feel that Stern and
Holdsworth too, have fallen in between the cracks of rock
and jazz and are not given enough acclaim in the press by
either genre. A lot of people dont even consider Holdsworth
jazz. He plays over changes and comes up with amazing lines
that are certainly jazz influenced so I think it's jazz. Him
in Stern just dont fit into this Jazz guitar stereotype is
all.
It's not just jazz journalism... it's the record industry. I went looking
for some Holdsworth at Barnes and Noble today. He's filed under rock, not
jazz (and classics like IOU are long out of print). I wound up getting a
copy of David Torn's recently reissued "Cloud About Mercury", one of my
favorite albums when i got it on vinyl back in '87. I listened to it
twice in a row at work. It sounds as fresh today as it did 14 years ago.
Truly astounding playing and composition, and a great band to boot! (Bill
Bruford on acoustic and electronic percussion, Tony Levin on Stick, Mark
Isham on trumpet).
Some years back, David Torn referred to the music industry as an apartheid
system, where anything that didn't fall into their neat little categories
fell right through the cracks.
-dave
