JAZZMEN LOSING ABILITY TO BULLSHIT

My colleague would be a better fit to write this but since he's gone to the local multiplex to watch Marley and Me by himself, I guess I'll have to do it.

Jazz-bore-in-chief Wynton Marsalis gave a speech in D.C. the other day. The transcript and video are here. Call me old-fashioned but I want my jazz musicians to be one of two things - junkies or mentalists. John Coltrane? Junkie. Pharoa Sanders? Mentalist. Miles Davis? Junkie who became a mentalist.

Let's have a look at what Wynton has to say about music:

All around the world, music links generations old and young, and cultures near and far. So, it’s critical for the nation to reevaluate its priorities during this financial crisis to ensure the best aspects of American culture aren’t lost to younger generations because of scarce funding.

Let's compare that with what Ornette Coleman (a mentalist pretending to be compos mentis) had to say about music:

When you put your sound or your idea into an arena mixed with other things - if what you're saying has a valid place - it's going to find its position in that total thing, and it's going to make that thing much better. You don't have to worry about being a number one, number two, or number three. Numbers don't have anything to do with placement. Numbers only have something to do with repetition... I think that every person, whether they play music or don't play music, has a sound - their own sound. It's like energy. Your sound, your voice, means more to everyone that knows you than how you look tomorrow. You might grow a beard or shave your hair.

That's right, you might grow a beard or shave your hair. Wynton needs to pick up the slack and start talking gibberish or I'm going to have a hard time respecting him once he dies of a heroin overdose.

He is on heroin right?