歐文總共問我五個問題，下面是他根據錄音作的紀錄，發佈在課程的網頁上，這邊只是轉貼，已事先取得歐文同意。
My blog consists of an interview with Yen-Ting, a Taiwanese jazz musician currently on an exchange programme at Southampton University. I have posed 5 questions and beneath each is Yen-Ting’s paraphrased answer:
1. I would like to elaborate on Tom Irvine’s statement, “if you think it’s jazz, it’s jazz”. In my opinion, the artist and the majority of listeners must agree that it is jazz for music to be labelled jazz otherwise problems occur[1]. This requires a general understanding of what jazz is. Many people would define ‘Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five’ as jazz music but there may be problems categorising the Taiwanese jazz group, ‘Sizhukong’. Do you believe that Sizhukong are a jazz band?
· Sizhukong consist of six players, three are experienced in traditional Taiwanese music and three are full-time jazz players. The music director sought to combine these two cultural elements. I have participated in workshops with the band and can vouch for their established jazz vocabulary. Also, jazz is organic; it changes over time due to communication and understanding. Sizhukong’s music demonstrates this evolutionary nature of jazz and, therefore, the Taiwanese group are jazz.
2. If jazz is a developing organic entity, is it ever possible to find a general consensus on the sound of jazz?
· The traditional understanding of jazz is chord changes, improvisation, etc. The sound of jazz today, however, is very different to how it was in the past because different layers of meaning have built up. For example, the jazz trend was altered when Wes Montgomery’s album ‘Fusion!’ was released. Jazz has since become combined with local materials and traditions [as we hear in Sizhukong’s music] and the definition of jazz has broadened.
3. Is this a good thing?
· This is neither good nor bad as long as it is good music.
4. Bruce Johnson states that commonality in jazz is unclear in the music itself and is more likely to be found in the social meaning of the music. As a Taiwanese jazz musician, do you perform jazz with an awareness of the social meaning of the music, if so what meaning does jazz have to you?
· When I began learning jazz I had no idea about the social meaning of the music. I grew up in a different environment with a different perspective to jazz. As a student, my first steps were to follow and imitate the jazz cannons. Once I became experienced I wanted to create something new. By then I no longer needed to follow; but to rebel instead. Rebellion[2] has become my social connection and goal over the music.
5. The social meaning of jazz applies to different people in different ways[3] and becomes distorted as it travels around the globe. The ‘myth’ of jazz is most associated with African American tribulation. Therefore, do African Americans have more of a right to play jazz than you do?
· I definitely disagree. Jazz is a form of communication it is not something that can be owned. I disagree when people say to me you are not African-American you cannot play jazz. That’s silly and weird.
[1] For example, Shostakovich maintained that ‘Tea for Two’ is jazz but as a listener I disagree because the qualities of the music, such as instrumentation, and lack of clear improvisation, stray too far from my understanding of what constitutes jazz music. Yen-Ting agreed, “musically, technically Shostakovich’s music is not jazz”.
[2] Yen-Ting expresses similar views to the African American meaning of jazz. Her rebellion is in the music but it is not caused by oppression. It is caused by her journey as a jazz musician.
[3] For South Africans jazz was a call for black emancipation. Also, in Australia jazz helped promote women’s rights. Johnson, Bruce (anon.) The jazz diaspora, anon. p41
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後兩點與我的原意有出入，可能是我沒能用英文表達清楚...
擇日希望以熟悉的語言說完整。
後兩點與我的原意有出入，可能是我沒能用英文表達清楚...
擇日希望以熟悉的語言說完整。
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