Mr Theodor Adorno and Jazz

[martinsantos]

Around 1941 the German philosopher Theodor Adorno wrote some works about radio and jazz - obviously he didn't like jazz, and surely big bands sounded to him as just canned junk.

Surely I can't agree with Adorno (but I would agree if you put Beatles or rock in the place of Ellington, Dorsey and so). Ever to me became easy to find several errors as to refer to amateur radio operators like bradcast listenings.

Adoro is, of course, known as one of the most influential philosophers from XXth Century.

But going right to the spot: is there any answer to Adorno works really imersive, complete, wrote by musicians or someone who really understood about jazz?

 

[belfastboy]

Around 1941 the German philosopher Theodor Adorno wrote some works about radio and jazz - obviously he didn't like jazz, and surely big bands sounded to him as just canned junk.

Surely I can't agree with Adorno (but I would agree if you put Beatles or rock in the place of Ellington, Dorsey and so). Ever to me became easy to find several errors as to refer to amateur radio operators like bradcast listenings.

Adoro is, of course, known as one of the most influential philosophers from XXth Century.

But going right to the spot: is there any answer to Adorno works really imersive, complete, wrote by musicians or someone who really understood about jazz?

Ken Burns the American film documentarist has a series out that covers the history of Jazz . It is on Netflix.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." -- Louis Armstrong

Seriously, though, the writings of composer/jazz critic Leonard Feather still make for interesting reading. Feather was fiercely opinionated about just about everything, but once you get used to his attitude, there's a lot in his reviews and essays that make good valid points. For a more recent writer, try Stanley Crouch.

 

[martinsantos]

Feather has some very interesting texts! Surely he was quite dogmatic and some of his insults and prejudices are hard to read (like about Glenn Miller).

As far as I know Feather never wrote about Adorno; they were close friends. (Funny story: Feather took Adorno to listen Johnny Hodges and told he was terrific. Adorno understood this as "horrible" and thought that Hodges was a bad musician).

"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." -- Louis Armstrong

Seriously, though, the writings of composer/jazz critic Leonard Feather still make for interesting reading. Feather was fiercely opinionated about just about everything, but once you get used to his attitude, there's a lot in his reviews and essays that make good valid points. For a more recent writer, try Stanley Crouch.