OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

He is famous, you're just not into jazz. My entire week has been jazzers lolling about that piece

Well it's a good thing this was published in a niche publication like Jazz Times and not a national general interest magazine like the New Yorker with a 1M+ circulation. Dodged a bullet there!

That could have been really embarrassing!

Whiney this is your golden opportunity to write a very serious thinkpiece about the real harm done by a joke whose punchline is "one of the greatest living jazz players actually hates jazz." imagine all the clicks

the negative responses to the piece definitely have a lot to do w/ the profile of the pub and the subject. when's the last time Sonny Rollins was the subject of a high profile piece in a general interest publication? the same basic "joke" could've been done with, like, Bob Dylan, and it would've been totally unfunny then too, but it wouldn't have been vaguely unseemly for quite the same reason.

some dude otm.

still have yet to come across one of these token jazz musicians who are lolling at this. But I guess, to paraphrase Ian Faith, NYC is not a big jazz town.

xpost, yeah, if it was like Young Dro or Big Daddy Kane or Shalamar or the Bar-Kays, it would be the same problem

someone post an example of terrible music writing please.

nothing by me please.

The New Yorker also covers classical music

when's the last time Sonny Rollins was the subject of a high profile piece in a general interest publication?

About four years ago, in the New Yorker - doesn't fit high profile, but then again, the New Yorker probably gives more ink to Rollins than any other general interest publication

the error of this piece is that its humor seems mean because most people just don't give a fuck about jazz: fake Rollins is kinda right, most people don't care, no matter how immense his contribution to jazz is. so it's a mean joke: the idea that Sonny Rollins might feel like his craft, which is unassailable, has been a waste; that nobody gives a shit. kind of a mean joke. that notion that this rises somehow to some higher level of offense than "kinda mean" is a little baffling

4 years is a pretty long time, so that kinda helps my point imo.

xpost, yeah, if it was like Young Dro or Big Daddy Kane or Shalamar or the Bar-Kays, it would be the same problem

― dilligaf escape plan (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, August 6, 2014 11:18 AM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that reminds me, Nick Sylvester's old blog with lol hilarious fake interviews with rappers was terrible in a pretty similar way

you're a music critic, right? pitched any Sonny Rollins pieces lately?

huh?

rolling stone puts sex crimes in a flashback listicle but the real problem is jazz satire in the new yorker

Sonny Rollins hasn't released new studio material since 2006, fyi. His last three albums are all called "Road Shows." Not sure sure what any publication is supposed to be doing to satisfy the "you don't get to joke about Sonny Rollins unless you're covering his shit on the regular" hurdle, but if you can name a general interest publication anywhere who gives him more coverage than the New Yorker, I'll be pretty surprised.

he has a whole journal dedicated to his sax sound fyi

rollin's tone

well yeah that kinda makes the humor of the piece even more specious. graying legend pokes his head out of semi-retirement to denounce his life's work, oh the laughters out loud!

i'm not saying the piece is totally indefensible, but i don't really understand the basis upon which you're defending it other than the usual bullshit internet "freedom of speech means you can't say this was lame."

he has a whole journal dedicated to his sax sound fyi

would you describe this as a "general interest" magazine

i'm not saying the piece is totally indefensible, but i don't really understand the basis upon which you're defending it other than the usual bullshit internet "freedom of speech means you can't say this was lame."

is that really something I would say, some dude? c'mon man. I'm not "defending the piece," I don't give a shit about it, I just think people getting heated about it are being ridiculous and honestly fronting

graying legend pokes his head out of semi-retirement to denounce his life's work, oh the laughters out loud!

no accounting for taste

i gather that the reactions around the internet to this thing have run to some extremes. i don't really say anybody getting that heated, here, beyond thinking it's fair game for this thread.

the error of this piece is that its humor seems mean because most people just don't give a fuck about jazz: fake Rollins is kinda right, most people don't care, no matter how immense his contribution to jazz is. so it's a mean joke: the idea that Sonny Rollins might feel like his craft, which is unassailable, has been a waste; that nobody gives a shit. kind of a mean joke. that notion that this rises somehow to some higher level of offense than "kinda mean" is a little baffling

But this is exactly why it's good satire. It's not meant to be "ha-ha" funny; it's meant to confront the ugly truth of how much American society really values the great artists in their midst. Real satire is rarely funny, and frequently seems cruel, because the reality it's pointing out is itself cruel and ugly and not fucking funny.

there's a difference between being a part of a vehement backlash to a piece and being on the periphery saying "well, this backlash was pretty inevitable, what did the writer fucking expect" xp

rather than cruelly acknowledge their irrelevance to pop culture, jazz greats should be respected from afar silently until the artist dies, at which point a ten-song spotify playlist will be curated if the site has someone who could put that together. failing that, a solitary youtube of their tooting will do.

or, y'know, just not make an 80-year-old icon have to get online and tell his fans, many of whom are probably also his age, that he didn't just denounce his whole career, a shitty McSweeney's post just made its way to a major magazine's site

that's what i said!

Genuinely baffled that anybody is angry about this or that anybody couldn't tell it was a joke.

But this is exactly why it's good satire. It's not meant to be "ha-ha" funny; it's meant to confront the ugly truth of how much American society really values the great artists in their midst. Real satire is rarely funny, and frequently seems cruel, because the reality it's pointing out is itself cruel and ugly and not fucking funny.

― Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱)

otm

a shitty McSweeney's post just made its way to a major magazine's site

as part of a column that any reader over 18 knows is a humor column

that's cold, man, you think a 17 year old can't see the word 'humor' in the URL of a site's humor section?

our safesearch is set to "make the kid think all humor sites are true." no-one can challenge our asshole parenting style

the "omg i can't believe anyone would be fooled by this!" thing is mainly theoretical since the overwhelming majority of people who even read it did so after the brouhaha and SR's response already happened. but this probably popped up on the RSS reader or whatever of a few jazz fans who were momentarily confused and asked Rollins what was up, let's keep harping on how dumb they must be.

OK they're dumb. I don't know much about how Rollins talks and thinks and I could tell it wasn't him. You'd think his stans would have an advantage.

everybody knows Rollins said he thought it was funny right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3LfPYqSZs

and gave a reading roughly in line with 誤訳侮辱's, that it was kind of a cutting piece, and expressed concern that people might have thought it was real

then after he thinks about that for a while he seems to change his mind, but his take seems readable as "taken as humor, fine; if people take it seriously, a drag"

Oh fuck anyone who thought this might be srs, that's just goofy

no one is saying people didn't know it was a humor column, aero, but the fact that "humor" on the internet in 2014 can mean "made up stuff" or "aggregated actual things that are also funny" is where the confusion lies...

the irony of protecting old people from a humor column started circa the great depression

it's about a year older than sonny rollins

FAVE OUTRAGE:

http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/on-the-new-yorker-satirizing-sonny/

"It’s about as funny as some White people think it is to let their kids run wild in a restaurant or on an airplane terrorizing the other patrons. It’s about as funny as how those kids grow up to be government officials who terrorize Africans or Palestinians."

anchorman-escalated-quickly.gif

#BAM

— Nicholas Payton aka The Savior of Archaic Pop

Here’s one of the most respected American periodicals posting a picture of a somber-faced Sonny with a piece “in his own words,” rhapsodizing about how he hates music and he’s wasted his life. Where’s the humor in that?

Where indeed?

he has a whole journal dedicated to his sax sound fyi

― john wahey (NickB), Wednesday, August 6, 2014 5:03 PM (1 hour ago)

rollin's tone

― john wahey (NickB), Wednesday, August 6, 2014 5:03 PM (1 hour ago)

overlooked

someone post an example of terrible music writing please.

― 3kDk (dog latin), Wednesday, August 6, 2014 11:22 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nothing by me please.

― 3kDk (dog latin), Wednesday, August 6, 2014 11:22 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

rollin's tone

http://forum.minecraftpvp.com/uploads/default/8609/ed420441ea3f654e.jpg

shame about the errant apostrophe

Rollins Banned.

Rollins Suggest Banned.