National Jazz Writing Competition

[aj]

oj said:

Can't remember who said it, either Nat Hentoff or Gene Lees (ironically) - to write about jazz is fundamentally strange.

True, but so are many of those who play jazz, and write reviews.

[gator]

As a performer, I'm interested in Miriam's idea of introducing other types of writing into the review arena.It is very interesting to read the thoughts of musicians in their own own words or others -sometimes. It can also be as contrived and pointless as some reviews are, simply because of the context..This is old territory, but I maintain that the review that purports to be 'informative' is an anathema.That would be a report -a commentary - an abstracted and yet subjective response.

For me the problem is, that while an opinion is fine if the reader is 'given' insight into the nature of the writer's subjectivity as a response to someones creative work, moreoften, its dressed up as a definitive statement of fact.

We are talking about responses to music - and so often , the authoritative tone lent to some reviews, fails to conceal the paradox behind the subjective response...

Writing about music should accommodate more possibilities in the use of language, because it should be recognized as an expression in response to music. It would be great to see writing that embodies the ideas of the writer as an expressive response to the music- because in the end we are talking about writing itself as an art - why else would one write about art? Whats the point of limiting responses to prosaic language when we have so many examples of great expression in the literary canon that expand the use of the language , whether it be descriptive or poetic writing?

What if musicians limited their acts of expression to other creative acts within creative parameters that mirrored this paradigm - how boring would that be?

I think this comp. has the potential to encourage ways of thinking and provide a rare opportunity outside the commercial paradigm to bring some honesty and interest into the realm of reviewing .... the journalistic style , even when well executed is severely limited in its scope.

[Kenny]

gator, I think you and I are on the same sort of wavelength. More power to Miriam for such an exciting idea.

But my fear is that by having the contest's entrants restrict their entries to reviews the sort of dynamic writing we would all like to see is not really being encouraged.

In that context the concept of "reviews" seems kind of passive.

[timothystevens]

Who needs a competition? Post something here if you feel so strongly. I'm sure we'd all be interested to read it. As players are not validated by winning the National Jazz Awards, or a Freedman, nor should creative writing be disallowed through its exclusion from a reviewing contest. Here might be the best place for it to flourish, in fact, through the ideally disinterested nature of the forum.

Or not, maybe. Who knows? (Note to Miriam: by no means am I seeking to dispute your competition. Sincere good wishes to everyone involved.)