Something new. Please.

I keep encountering the same 300 tunes on jazz gigs. Most of them were written a long time ago. A very long time ago. Sadly, jazz in our fair city rarely involves new material or new ways of playing.

The song forms, feels and harmonic language changed drastically during the 60s. As a pianist, I know how hard it is to solo and comp without seventh chords and II-V's.  It's so hard that it pretty much means re-inventing the vocabulary.  So??

I have a steady trio gig. We're playing right-now music and post-Beatles songs as vehicles for jazz.  The songs are inspiring us to blur melody and soloing, or to layer them -- with bitonality, interruption of melody, hiphop-style repeated notes, “out” comping, varying phrase lengths.  We're playing songs by Vampire Weekend, Feist, Alanis Morisette, Los Tigres Del Notre, Radiohead, Bob Marley, The Beatles, -- along with the customary standards and bebop tunes.

The music has more depth when I immerse in the original vocal performance before "jumping off the pier".  I hear some pretty cool notes and rhythms these "mere pop singers" are choosing...  I love trying all of these new songs and ideas on a gig.  I'm excited about jazz, about practicing, about performing.

The rarity of groups in jazz - because of the demise of steady gigs and touring - has made it difficult for new songs to enter the repertoire. If a jazz musician starts playing anything uncommon, there's often no scene where he can get a group used to it.   The song is likely to become "that new tune", brought out when playing with open-minded colleagues.  It's unlikely that those musicians or others will take it up and play it on other gigs.

Neither economics nor stylistic difficulties fully explain the jazz conservatism.  Are jazz musicians and their audiences trying to re-invent 1958?  I love Bill Evans' playing.  I've also heard too many bloodless versions of his music which just added up to "bad Bill Evans".

I'm excited by new music from other places.  From Poland - Tomasz Stanko, Marcin Wasilewski trio.  From New York - Robert Glasper, Sunny Jain, Chris Potter, Jean-Michel Pilc/Ari Hoenig project, Brad Mehldau.  I'd like to be surprised by music in Los Angeles more often.  I've heard some fine music from members of the Los Angeles Jazz Collective.  But I only know what I know, and there are countless venues.  Who should I be hearing? or playing with?

Looking for originality and variety in my own playing has changed my thinking about music.  Impatience might have started this, but it's become a big deal in my life. And I'm just getting started.