The BBC's 6 Music claims to bring together 'the cutting edge music of today [and] the iconic and groundbreaking music of the past 40 years' but the website reveals no jazz, no classical, no foreign folk music. Do 6 Music's employees not listen to the corporation's own Hear And Now or Jazz On 3? Even the most modestly enterprising sounds from 60 years ago on Jazz Record Requests turn 6 Music's cutting edge into a stone-age hacking tool.
Amid the sentimental outrage that followed the threat to close the station earlier this year, one of the main arguments advanced in its favour was that it played different and interesting music, music you didn't hear elsewhere on the BBC, but it's all just more rock, isn't it? The only musical justice seems to be when the DJs in time-honoured fashion talk over music that deserves little respect. But then, why play it?
There's a fatal tendency in the media classes to assume that all relevant music is rock music (it's so vibrant and democratising, after all) and that all variation is found within it. From this narrow frame of reference all manner of advancement is proclaimed. When will England get over rock? Some of it was great but it wasn't that good. And England's parochial, narcissistic obsession with its deeply pedestrian indie rock product of recent years has afflicted many putatively innovative English 'jazz' players.
I disagree. This view would seem to be formed from some sort of hysterical opinion rather than objective listening of a radio station. Has an air of Daily Mail to me. What programs did you listen to? If you listen to radio 6 you will hear Jazz and foreign folk music.
ReplyDeleteIt's this kind of rant that puts people off jazz and will help ensure that it will be consigned to the pages of history.
Actually, it's this kind of rant one hears too little of from a sadly quiescent public. 6 Music's website will tell you that its preoccupation is pop - and that is clearly not, from any informed and balanced perspective, either rare or adventurous. I wonder what you think constitutes jazz?
ReplyDeleteAgain I'll have to disagree. Rants are ten a penny these days, it's the content and lack of research that I find troubling. I would recommend that you listen to a few shows on radio 6 rather than just look at their website. Try this sunday from around 3pm. The music you hear may not all be to your taste, but you will certainly not be the only person listening.
ReplyDeleteIt is by no means a perfect radio station, I tire of the faddish hipster bands they play but on the whole I find strikes a balance. I certainly prefer it to some of the other radio stations that the BBC serves up.
I must admit I would find it difficult to sum up what I think constitutes Jazz. If I may, I think I might dwell on this point and get back to you. It is not something I would rush into when the question asked by someone with the username editor@jazzjournal!
All the best.
Well, it doesn't begin with a capital 'J'. It's not quite that important. The point is, 6 Music doesn't seem to me to be what it or its listeners - I guess for lack of experience - imagine it to be. The BBC, which does have a few staff who know better, should at least use a more precise definition. Perhaps '6 Music presents the cutting edge music of today and the iconic and groundbreaking music of the past 40 years - as long as it rocks and isn't too complicated.' Best, MG
ReplyDelete