Jamaican Music & Music In General........

[USAF]

I agree with those who say that there's a decline in Jamaican music (Reggae & Dancehall), but I see the same with music in general.
If your formative years was in the 70's & 80's, I think we were lucky to experience what was happening in WORLD music, and Jamaica was a BIG player in that revolution. We witnessed the blossoming of what can be called the ELITE group of Reggae artists (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Dennis Brown and others) and Dancehall artists (Yellowman, Shabba Ranks, Ninja Man, Super Cat and others), plus "hybrid" artists like Sanchez that gave us a Reggae/Dancehall fusion.......There was also an explosion of a wide variety of R&B music, which gave us some of the BEST groups and solo artists of all time and the emergence of Hip Hop which was heavily influenced & driven by Jamaican Dancehall. What also helped to make it special was the "variety/genres" that these artists brought us - There was revolutionary/message music, comedic/story-teller music, romantic/lovers music & bad man/gangster music.
When I see some of the artists who are now called great & gifted, I have to ask "Great & Gifted, compared to who???" because there's NO comparison to those I grew up listening to. It's like lyrics & melody have taken a backseat to a catchy beat and/or a hook.

[Historian]

Excellent Observations!

You have made excellent comments, brethren, and I agree with every word you have typed in this post! You are also absolutely correct in your comment “….with music in general” (meaning not only Jamaican music). In fact, the state of pop and hip-hop in particular, but also R&B and rock, is so downright pitiful that I sometimes ask myself the question, “What next?”

The most consistent of the genres today as far as high standard/ good quality is concerned are, in my opinion, jazz and country music.

I agree with those who say that there's a decline in Jamaican music (Reggae & Dancehall), but I see the same with music in general.
If your formative years was in the 70's & 80's, I think we were lucky to experience what was happening in WORLD music, and Jamaica was a BIG player in that revolution. We witnessed the blossoming of what can be called the ELITE group of Reggae artists (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Dennis Brown and others) and Dancehall artists (Yellowman, Shabba Ranks, Ninja Man, Super Cat and others), plus "hybrid" artists like Sanchez that gave us a Reggae/Dancehall fusion.......There was also an explosion of a wide variety of R&B music, which gave us some of the BEST groups and solo artists of all time and the emergence of Hip Hop which was heavily influenced & driven by Jamaican Dancehall. What also helped to make it special was the "variety/genres" that these artists brought us - There was revolutionary/message music, comedic/story-teller music, romantic/lovers music & bad man/gangster music.
When I see some of the artists who are now called great & gifted, I have to ask "Great & Gifted, compared to who???" because there's NO comparison to those I grew up listening to. It's like lyrics & melody have taken a backseat to a catchy beat and/or a hook.

[USAF]

A few months ago I was watching a "jam session" on TV, I think it was on Palladia, with some country artists and the general feeling among them was that country music was slowly loosing its soul/identity and was becoming more pop than country......So what we might see as the evolution of country music, is seen as a negative by some involved in that genre of music.

I think what is helping jazz, is that the stalwarts, like Marsalis, who are still active, are still very influential and the young artists are eager to learn from them, spend the time to properly develop their craft and grow the music.

[Assasin]

Good talk. I will say a few things. One is the country schene is the most vibrant right now. They still have a big audience who stick to their music, buy it and promote concerts.

The 80 and 90s was the golden years. As with Reggae and R&B it thrived on independence. Young and talented musicians and producers worked their tail off to get the product to market. There was the record shop where DJ and other music fanatics would go and support the product by buying new stuff and new sound that would give the musicians a change to continue working. Nowadays that is no longer, it is either you are big with a big label who are telling you how and what to do or you have a hard time financing your project as everybody download it. You notice the death of the music also came with the death of the record store? Virgin, Tower etc.

Music sales in general is really telling and artist make much more touring than CD projects. The radios in North America are mostly owned by the same media companies makes the playlist and there is not much independence and time for trial and error. We are in a bad state and I am not sure how we get out. Crowd funding is one of the new avenues that artist can use for their project but a log more is needed.

Yeah the experience we had I doubt our kids will enjoy that with music.

[Gamma]

Was jazz always acceptable as "proper" music

[Mosiah]

Was jazz always acceptable as "proper" music

Hmmm...Good question!

[Historian]

Relevance of Question???

Was jazz always acceptable as "proper" music

To be honest, I am not sure of the relevance of this question to my statement. I also see another poster enthusiastically saying, “Good question,” but I have absolutely no idea why this question was asked it in the context of this thread’s discussion!

Poster USAF referred to the 1970s and 1980s. Quoting him, he wrote, “If your formative years was in the 70’s and 80’s, I think we were lucky….”

Jazz, during the period he referred to (1970s and 1980s), was EXTREMELY popular! This was the era that saw some of the biggest sales figures for jazz artists like George Benson, Stanley Clarke, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Stanley Turrrentine, Weather Report, and countless other elite jazz artists who I won’t waste time by listing now! And the record labels, for example Creed Taylor’s CTI Records and others were turning in profits.

Again, this question has me lost.

[Gamma]

And so what is the answer? I am sure you UNDERSTOOD the question ..... As such I would imagine that you are capable of answering it. Mind you even if you thought you knew the relevance that would not obligate you to answer it.

[Mosiah]

Relevant or not, this is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Prohibition in the United States (from 1920 to 1933) banned the sale of alcoholic drinks, resulting in illicit *speakeasies* becoming lively venues of the "Jazz Age", an era when popular music included current dance songs, novelty songs, and show tunes. Jazz started to get a reputation as being immoral and many members of the older generations saw it as threatening the old values in culture and promoting the new decadent values of the Roaring 20s. Professor Henry van Dyke of Princeton University wrote "... it is not music at all. It's merely an irritation of the nerves of hearing, a sensual teasing of the strings of physical passion."[93]

Even the media began to denigrate jazz. The New York Times took stories and altered headlines to pick at jazz. For instance, villagers used pots and pans in Siberia to scare off bears, and the newspaper stated that it was jazz that scared the bears away. Another story claims that jazz caused the death of a celebrated conductor. The actual cause of death was a fatal heart attack (natural cause).[93]

[Gamma]

mosiah ... do you *%&^^#$@ing mind?!!!!! i am trying to have a conversation here! thank you!!!!!

[Mosiah]

Honesty, down-to-earth honesty...so refreshing!!!

[Rockman]

Levels again,moderators!

[Willi]

Give us VISION, lest we perish. LoL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSPXQMrB5l8

[Mosiah]

I don't see any conversation so I have another contribution on the matter, even though it may not be relevant:

But jazz was more than just music; at the height of its influence, jazz was a cultural movement, particularly influencing the young in dress, language, and attitude. It was, in this respect, a prototype for both rock and roll and hip hop because it was so viscerally hated by the bourgeoisie Jazz inspired writers and visual artists but was hated by the bourgeoisie largely because of its association with sex and drugs.and the musical establishment of the day. Jazz was associated with interracial sex (many jazz nightclubs were open to patrons of any race) and with illegal drugs, in the early days, marijuana, and during the 1950s, with heroin.

[Islandman]

This is true and I have mentioned it before myself.

Most new art forms which appeal to young people are treated with scant respect by the establishment until they mature and produce a genius or two.