The jazz musicians: two attitudes
Over these one hundred and twenty-five years of jazz history, we can detect, in simplified terms, two divergent trends in musicians’ attitudes toward the audience, and consequently, in the kind of music they produce. As with everything, there are nuances and intermediate positions, but, in any case, there are two clearly defined poles. On one hand, there is the musician who wants to establish a warm and direct connection with listeners; on the opposite pole, the musician who adopts a distant attitude, seemingly indifferent to the audience’s presence, appearing as an absorbed, reflective figure. The first offers an understandable, close, vibrant music. The second offers cold, intricate music, challenging to understand and enjoy.
The tendency each musician adopts is influenced by several factors: first and foremost, their personality, their character; secondly, the environment in which they were trained, grew up, and developed; and thirdly, perhaps decisively, the sector of potential listeners the musician directs their work towards — that is, the audience they aim their music at. We believe that in this third factor lie the motivations that lead a musician towards one or the other poles mentioned earlier. Of course, in a musician’s career, this third factor can vary and evolve over time.
During the first fifty years, jazz music was played in entertainment venues, cabarets, dance halls, music halls, etc. The music had to be warm, direct, festive, danceable, etc., and the musician’s attitude was empathetic, fun, even comedic. The recipient of the musician’s work was the public, which also acted as judge, either elevating or not a musician’s career.
In the mid-thirties, through the press, magazines, books, etc., a new influential element emerged in the jazz world: specialized critics, mostly white critics with classical training and their own criteria and prejudices. At the same time, many musicians trained in conservatories like the Juilliard School in New York. These two elements — musical criticism, with its power and influence, and the professional environment formed within the academy, with musical refinements — became the new audience and judges of what was happening in the jazz world. From here on, many musicians’ attitudes, especially the younger ones from this new environment, began to change. The musician would perform and play thinking about what the critics would say (innovation capacity, surpassing previous work, etc.), and also about being on par with their peers; all of this was wrapped in a “serious,” “dignified,” and “transcendent” attitude. These are the two attitudes that today’s jazz fan encounters.
