Watched this with my daughter the other day... first time in many years... and it struck me that there is no way this could be made today. Perhaps my view is clouded by memories, but this show is perfect in so many ways... The message. Can anyone imagine a cartoon special being made today that would quote the bible? Can anyone imagine something made today that would actually downplay materialism or refer (in a bad way) to "Eastern Syndicates?" If this were done now, it would have product placement all over the place. The music. Perfect. Today, it would be set to rap or hip-hop to make it appeal to the youngsters. Jazz is dead. My six year old had no problem following the dialogue (even though she probably didn''t get the "Eastern Syndicates" reference). The language used is evidence of hope in our children and is defintiely not the cynical market-driven dialogue in so many productions today. We've made great progress in many things over the last 35 years, but seems like we've regressed in others. Thoughts?
i love the fact my son loves this movie. i thought that because it wasn't as flashy as other movies, he wouldn't...but he asks me to watch charlie brown christmas with him all the time. the other night we were reading the bible before we went to bed...and we said our prayers...and he looked up and said, "and that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown" and started dying laughing...i nearly started crying that he "got it." that he understood what linus' little reading was about...we had talked about it, but wasn't sure he was comprehending it. good topic, rimrocker...merry christmas!
How come all that I remember from those shows are: - balding kids - kids ignored by their parents - only one minority - blanket clinging thumbsuckers - poor hygeine - psychological torture on those with low self-esteem - life partners - great pumpkin worshipping Just Kidding Everyone do a random Peanuts dance move!
Don't forget about teachers with speech impediments, poor sportsmanship (lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown), and practicing psychiatry without a license... I never put much thought into the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. The only beef I have with it is that the characters talk so slowly...I guess life wasn't as fast paced back then...
And some schools still teach Latin. I'm a Jazzophile, but I don't exactly see it in the popular culture anywhere close to the degree it was in the early to mid 1960's when A CB Christmas was made... Brubeck, Miles, etc. In the last 20 years we have completely democratized music... and by that I mean we've taken it out of the hands of the elites who actually play an instrument and can read music and have been gifted with talent. Music now belongs more in the "crafts" section than the "arts" section.
We don't often agree, but you hit that one with a LGB down the funnel pipe. Jazz except to the elites is a dead art. Maybe that's why I like to play it so much. Maybe I'm glad my parents forced me to take piano lessons as well as play football. But in any case, music is all about image rather than muscianship these days. My son and daughter both love watching a Charlie Brown Christmas and because I play piano for them, they like jazz as well. As for your thread starting post, you hit that one out of the park as well. Good thread.
Let's jus see how old people are. Anyone remember when, at the beginning of the show, when they are ice skating and before they'd cut to the first commercial, Charlie Brown would slide into a coke sign instead of a tree? Best Christmas special ever (next to The Grinch!) bamma plays jazz piano... sweet!
i remember it being on CBS when i was a kid...and they'd do some funky intro where the CBS letters would twist on the screen with some intense drum music, or something, to lead into any special. we own this movie on DVD and i wish the CBS graphic was up there before it started...familiarity is funny that way.
The reason jazz was more popular in the 50's and 60's was because it was American popular music for the most part. Rock music, though it had been born, was still a fledgling industry. It wasn't really until the 70's that it began to legitimize. The big selling records of the time were still show tunes, jazz standards, etc. I think you can certainly say that jazz is no longer a popular musical artform. But, in all honest, there has NEVER been a popular musical artform en par with pop music of today. At the time, the only way to really hear music was live or on records. There wasn't mass marketed radio, music television, CD's, MP3's, etc. It is a completely different medium than it was in the 60's. Because jazz is an uncompromising artform, it did not adapt well to mass marketing. Rock stars got into music for the stardom. Jazz musicians got into jazz for the music. As a result, jazz musicians were simply unwilling to sacrifice their creativity (i.e. the 3-minute song) as rock and r&b musicians were. It also didn't help that most jazz is instrumental. Most importantly, you need to make a distinction when it comes to jazz. Traditional be-bop was NEVER "popular." Vocal standards and re-constituted show tunes done by crooners like Sinatra, Mel Torme, etc. were what drove the pop music biz from the 40's through the 60's. The bop artists, though well-respected today (Miles, Monk, Diz, Bird, Trane, et al), were never "popular" like the crooners were. Even then, it was an acquired taste. So, the jazz you guys are talking about still enjoys about the same level of popularity as it did then. The main difference is that pop music is so overwhelming in the music industry and has so few ties with the jazz music world (unlike Sinatra or Torme), jazz has a tendency to get buried. But, it is by no means a dead artform.
I think another reason that it isn't as popular today in the mainstream, or even as talked about amongst a multitude of writers etc. is that then it was still something new and evolving. I say this with an admitted bias toward fusion jazz. My true love is classical jazz, and I think Duke Ellington possibly the best composer of the century. When I liked a lot of the be-bop stuff, especially Miles Davis, but since then I haven't been able to stomach it. I don't think it kept growing at the same rate.
I think you might want to listen to some of the new guys: Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride, Marcus Roberts, Mark Whitfield, Terrance Blanchard, Eric Alexander, and, for that matter, any of the stuff from Wynton or Branford Marsalis. The last Wayne Shorter CD is an absolute classic. It has been compared to Sketches of Spain. There is a lot to like out there now.
I will check out those guys. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely up for it. I have listened to Christian McBride. I do regularly listen to Wynton Marsalis, and even was able to perform(as part of a dance group) on a couple of occasions with he and his orchestra. Of course I attribute my love of Marsalis in part to him being so heavily influenced by Classic Jazz, and especially Duke Ellington. I don't think there are no good Jazz artists out there anymore, just that Jazz as a hole hasn't grown as much. I may be wrong because I haven't listened to all the artists that you mentioned, and I may be blinded for bias toward Classic Jazz even in the stuff I've listened to from Wynton Marsalis. I'm looking forward to checking out the Wayne Shorter CD. Thanks.
If you are in Houston, just listen to KTSU Monday-Wednesday between like 11am and 2pm. Kyle Scott Jackson plays tons of cool straight ahead and vocal jazz on there and often features stuff from new artists as well. I've gotten quite a few records over the past couple of years after hearing his them on his show.
I'm newly moved to LA. I don't suppose KTSU has any kind of a webcast? I just remembered, I will be in Houston just after Christmas. I'll try and check it out then. Thanks!
