Alternative Jazz: Once is Too Much!

This morning I had my “first contact” with the alternative jazz genre. Prior to that encounter, I had been unaware of it; and I think I felt the better for that absence. Nevertheless, Best of Alternative Jazz Album is one of the GRAMMY categories; so I figured that, at the very least, I should try to be better informed about what distinguishes it from other approaches to jazz. As a result, I turned to Google to learn that alternative jazz is “a genre that blends jazz with other genres, often using contemporary production techniques and instrumentation.”

That definition reminds me of one of the jokes coined by Beyond the Fringe. For those unaware of that group, it consisted of four Oxford students, who cultivated a repertoire of humorous skits. Their efforts were so successful that they were able to take their act to Broadway. Naturally, one of those skits was about differences between the United States and England. One of them described the President as being like ”the King and the Prime Minister all rolled up into one,” which gave rise to the question, “One what?”

In other words, that blending process of alternative jazz involves collecting a variety of sources and “rolling them up into one.” One what? I’ll be darned if I can answer that question! I suppose the politest response I could give would be: “One muddle.”

Laird Jackson on the cover of her Life album (courtesy of Crossover Media)

So it is that I have found a context in which to write about my first contact with an alternative jazz album, Laird Jackson’s Life. The best that I can say is that there was no shortage of data for me to consider. The entire album is almost 75 minutes in duration, accounting for fifteen tracks (ten of which are Jackson originals); and all I can say is that those 75 minutes felt like forever!

One of my favorite jokes in Amadeus is when Mozart offers to play one of Salieri’s compositions. Salieri was, of course, delighted that Mozart would pay so much attention to his efforts. However, after Mozart had played a few opening phrases, he stops and says, “It’s all the same after that, isn’t it?” So began Salieri’s aversion to Mozart!

Nevertheless, this is the way things are on Life. Perhaps it is even more severe. Once one has encountered a few phrases from the opening track, “it’s all the same after that!” I would not even describe the tracks as “background music,” because it does not even set a context for any serious foreground (or even a frivolous one).

If there is ever a “revised edition” of Monty Python’s Complete Waste of Time, I hope the editors include a page about alternative jazz!