If you want a good laugh listen to this

[rachmaninoff_forever]

So apparently Jon Batiste dropped an album November of last year and I just got around to listening to it

https://youtu.be/-5YRhvH6Uys?si=09XCbcEYff7csCnN

And it gets worse 💀
https://youtu.be/JuA5mfy2BUo?si=xZvTL6L-cYqX14QJ

What makes this even funnier is that he’s not trolling lmao

[essence]

I'm not laughing. I think his performance of blackbird is quite good.

[dizzyfingers]

I'm not laughing. I think his performance of blackbird is quite good.

I didn't listen to that one, but what I listened to had a uniform tone and dynamic - strong, brash, forte, harsh, brittle.  His technique is okay, but not as good as the undergraduates in conservatories.  Basically a pop pianist with a snazzy look and a good product/production concept.

What did you like about blackbirds?

[perfect_pitch]

If you want a good laugh listen to this

Where was the laughter... that was awful. That was cringe-inducing. What he did to the Fur Elise and the 5th Symphony was just... an abomination.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Where was the laughter... that was awful. That was cringe-inducing. What he did to the Fur Elise and the 5th Symphony was just... an abomination.

For me there’s a point where it gets so bad it becomes comical.  If it was any better then I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.

It just goes to show that just cause you went to Juilliard doesn’t mean sh*t and TASTE is more important than talent and hard work

[perfect_pitch]

It just goes to show that just cause you went to Juilliard doesn’t mean sh*t and TASTE is more important than talent and hard work

I think that's been the case for a while... some people seem to think Jackson Pollock is a genius...



I think he's an absolute talentless twat...

[yqxpiano]

I think that's been the case for a while... some people seem to think Jackson Pollock is a genius...



I think he's an absolute talentless twat...

He’s talentless but still genius. Abstract art is genius, because you can make anything and if you’re lucky you can also get lots of money and fame.

[perfect_pitch]

He’s talentless but still genius. Abstract art is genius, because you can make anything and if you’re lucky you can also get lots of money and fame.

If you claim that his art is genius... people squirting paint onto a canvas, then I think the definition of 'genius' needs to be re-examined...

C'mon - there are 6-year olds who could create something very similar.

[yqxpiano]

If you claim that his art is genius... people squirting paint onto a canvas, then I think the definition of 'genius' needs to be re-examined...

C'mon - there are 6-year olds who could create something very similar.

It’s not that it’s talent or skill required to make the art, but he was genius. Not the art. He was genius to make it in the first place, because then he could become famous.

Even though a lot of modern art sucks, the people who made them were geniuses. You can’t tell me someone who taped a banana to a wall and made thousands of dollars isn’t genius. The idea might be stupid, but you can make tons of money by squirting paint on a canvas. So I consider the fact he did just that genius.

I do agree that there is no talent involved.

[essence]

I didn't listen to that one, but what I listened to had a uniform tone and dynamic - strong, brash, forte, harsh, brittle.  His technique is okay, but not as good as the undergraduates in conservatories.  Basically a pop pianist with a snazzy look and a good product/production concept.

What did you like about blackbirds?

He isn't trying to make it into a conservatoire. Within his audience and context, it is fine. How many people playing the piano in pop/rock music are good pianists, in terms of conservatoires? Not very many, but that doesn't mean we can be all snooty.

Elton John attended the Royal Academy, but often plays harshly.
Alicia Keys is held as a good pianist, but in my opinion - not so much.
Nina Simone? Maybe, within her genre.

I like the song blackbirds, and enjoyed his version of it.

How many conservatoire graduates can improvise jazz? Many, but not all. Sometimes the results are dreadful.

[dizzyfingers]

He isn't trying to make it into a conservatoire. Within his audience and context, it is fine. How many people playing the piano in pop/rock music are good pianists, in terms of conservatoires? Not very many, but that doesn't mean we can be all snooty.

Elton John attended the Royal Academy, but often plays harshly.
Alicia Keys is held as a good pianist, but in my opinion - not so much.
Nina Simone? Maybe, within her genre.

I like the song blackbirds, and enjoyed his version of it.

How many conservatoire graduates can improvise jazz? Many, but not all. Sometimes the results are dreadful.

You make a good point - compare him to his peers.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

He isn't trying to make it into a conservatoire. Within his audience and context, it is fine. How many people playing the piano in pop/rock music are good pianists, in terms of conservatoires? Not very many, but that doesn't mean we can be all snooty.

Elton John attended the Royal Academy, but often plays harshly.
Alicia Keys is held as a good pianist, but in my opinion - not so much.
Nina Simone? Maybe, within her genre.

I like the song blackbirds, and enjoyed his version of it.

How many conservatoire graduates can improvise jazz? Many, but not all. Sometimes the results are dreadful.

He literally has a jazz degree from Juilliard.

Harsh playing doesn’t = bad playing
Alicia keys isn’t a good pianist OR singer she just has a good artist team behind her
Nina Simone is a great pianist and singer 

This album sounds like what happens when you accidentally press the demo button on a cheap digital keyboard.  It’s bad classically, and it’s bad Jazz playing.  It’s like if I combined a Faber Lvl 5 Beethoven arrangement with a random YouTube tutorial on 5 easy jazz licks to get started.

And it’s especially unacceptable cause he’s talented but he’s such a sellout

[essence]

Alicia keys isn’t a good pianist OR singer she just has a good artist team behind her

Neither is she a good actress. She was dreadful in a film I saw 'secret life of bees'. Very wooden.

But attractive yes.

I agree about Nina Simone. But of course many jazz pianists are exceptional.

Funny story. I was in a club in Dallas some time back, chatting to a stripper, looked a bit like Alicia Keys, she said she was studying jazz. I sad 'isn't it sad about Nina Simone's death last week?'. She replied 'who is Nina Simone?'. I don't think she was studying seriously.

Going back to the original post - he is doing some improvisations 'based on', and the improvisations are OK, albeit rather hackneyed.

Isn't it true that when recording, pop/rock piano was played by session musicians?

Listened again. His fur elise has a repeated 'wrong note' compared with Beethoven. It must be intentional as it is wrong every time.  But there are things I can admire. The wrong note gives a certain piquancy. Yes, I can say I quite like it.

Chill everybody.

[klavieronin]

I think that's been the case for a while... some people seem to think Jackson Pollock is a genius...
I think he's an absolute talentless twat...

For me genius is the ability to think of things that nobody else can. Artists like Pollock break boundaries that nobody else even realised where there. That takes a kind of genius. Like John Cage sticking bits of rubber and wood and nails in between the string of a piano and creating a whole new genre of piano music.
Of course, that makes them neither skilled nor talented, but nevertheless genius. IMHO.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Listened again. His fur elise has a repeated 'wrong note' compared with Beethoven. It must be intentional as it is wrong every time.  But there are things I can admire. The wrong note gives a certain piquancy. Yes, I can say I quite like it.

Chill everybody.

You mean the blues scale?  lol

[essence]

You mean the blues scale?  lol

Yup. One might regard this as a crashing together of two styles, but nothing wrong with that. Enjoy it for what it is.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Yup. One might regard this as a crashing together of two styles, but nothing wrong with that. Enjoy it for what it is.

That’s the point of the album. Nobody has an issue with him combining two styles together, the issue both styles being bad.

unless you view it as musical comedy then it’s not an issue lol

But sh*t if you like it you like it

[essence]

But sh*t if you like it you like it

It's a holistic synergy! But more seriously, I do not think it is appropriate to expect people to laugh at music they aren't comfortable with. It is almost bullying - 'you are not one of us'.

Embrace diversity.

[lostinidlewonder]

It's a holistic synergy! But more seriously, I do not think it is appropriate to expect people to laugh at music they aren't comfortable with. It is almost bullying - 'you are not one of us'.

Embrace diversity.

In this case much more people will appreciate the music than not and the only ones laughing are the marginalised.

[brogers70]

When Jeremy Rifkin put out the Baroque Beatles Album, I didn't hear a lot of rock musicians complaining about the desecration of rock classics or laughing at how foolish "Help" sounds when warped into Baroque style. Maybe the rockers were just a little more tolerant and less uptight about their genre. I personally think John Batiste is great. Even if I prefer the Beethoven as originally written, you never know who might get interested in the originals from listening to the Bluseified versions. I hadn't listened to the Beatles until after I had heard the Baroque versions. Let a hundred flowers bloom.

W7xZaTIJjRtN8x0BBnEr1k

[dizzyfingers]

 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

When Jeremy Rifkin put out the Baroque Beatles Album, I didn't hear a lot of rock musicians complaining about the desecration of rock classics or laughing at how foolish "Help" sounds when warped into Baroque style. Maybe the rockers were just a little more tolerant and less uptight about their genre. I personally think John Batiste is great. Even if I prefer the Beethoven as originally written, you never know who might get interested in the originals from listening to the Bluseified versions. I hadn't listened to the Beatles until after I had heard the Baroque versions. Let a hundred flowers bloom.

W7xZaTIJjRtN8x0BBnEr1k

That’s a 100% baroque style tune with modern lyrics I wouldn’t call that genre warping. 

Edit: I mean I guess but still this is a 100% baroque tune through and through.  The reason why nobody complained is cause it’s not bad.  It’s not the same as Frankensteining two different styles together without putting any thought/intention into it

[brogers70]

That’s a 100% baroque style tune with modern lyrics I wouldn’t call that genre warping. 

Edit: I mean I guess but still this is a 100% baroque tune through and through.  The reason why nobody complained is cause it’s not bad.  It’s not the same as Frankensteining two different styles together without putting any thought/intention into it

If you don't like Jon Batiste's "Frankensteining" of Beethoven, that's fine. It's not particularly my thing, either. Different strokes. But going out of your way to tee it up for ridicule just seems mean-spirited.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

If you don't like Jon Batiste's "Frankensteining" of Beethoven, that's fine. It's not particularly my thing, either. Different strokes. But going out of your way to tee it up for ridicule just seems mean-spirited.

Why?  Perfect Pitch made fun of Jason Pollock.  Lostinidlewonder shared a video of that performance art thing in last post wins just so Perfect Pitch can react to it.  There’s been posts of people shitting on pop music.  Every pantheon great composer talked sh*t about their peers.  It’s a part of art and it’s not going anywhere

[brogers70]

...  Every pantheon great composer talked sh*t about their peers.  It’s a part of art and it’s not going anywhere

If Schumann told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

If Schumann told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?

If the water is nice and deep enough yes

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Why?  Perfect Pitch made fun of Jason Pollock.  Lostinidlewonder shared a video of that performance art thing in last post wins just so Perfect Pitch can react to it.  There’s been posts of people shitting on pop music.  Every pantheon great composer talked sh*t about their peers.

Just because others are doing it, doesn't mean you should.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Just because others are doing it, doesn't mean you should.

Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t either.  I thought it was comical if you don’t, let it slide

[lostinidlewonder]

Lostinidlewonder shared a video of that performance art thing in last post wins just so Perfect Pitch can react to it.  There’s been posts of people shitting on pop music.  Every pantheon great composer talked sh*t about their peers.  It’s a part of art and it’s not going anywhere

To be fair what I posted( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanoise)  is meant to be provocative and affronting. Art doesn't need to always inspire "good" emotions, in fact I'd argue something that makes you react in repulse is better than something where you have little reaction.

[transitional]

So apparently Jon Batiste dropped an album November of last year and I just got around to listening to it

https://youtu.be/-5YRhvH6Uys?si=09XCbcEYff7csCnN

And it gets worse 💀
https://youtu.be/JuA5mfy2BUo?si=xZvTL6L-cYqX14QJ

What makes this even funnier is that he’s not trolling lmao

To be fair, I don't think it was as bad as Einaudi or Lionel Yu. It was lackluster but somewhat groovy and at least it didn't EDM classical music and slam random beats and then put a bunch of arpeggios to make up for no technique. Just ignore this music if you don't want to listen to it, I never pay attention unless I want a laugh (which is definitely a great purpose that you pointed out). I think Lionel Yu's Perfect arrangement with vocals is funnier though.

[themeandvariation]

So apparently Jon Batiste dropped an album November of last year and I just got around to listening to it

https://youtu.be/-5YRhvH6Uys?si=09XCbcEYff7csCnN

And it gets worse 💀
https://youtu.be/JuA5mfy2BUo?si=xZvTL6L-cYqX14QJ

What makes this even funnier is that he’s not trolling lmao

It didn't rise to a laugh for me. Dull, dim. Purely marketing? I liked some hybrid arrangements he did on Colbert, so I did have expectations...
Last night I saw "Saturday Night" movie - original score by Batiste. I think he knocked it out of the park.
Edgey, modern yet very grabbable -  and definitely compelling , totally enhancing the emotional language of the visual.  My vote for best original score 2024 film.