A place for Jazz in modern music

During my first quarter of collage, I had to give an informative speech for well. . . Speech class. Many topic idea's came and went, until finally the idea of Jazz came to mind. Many people, especially my age(19), are very misinformed about jazz. They view it as outdated and old. I scene it on all of their faces when I first started my speech. By the end many ( I can not speak for all of them) were very entertained and interested. Many who do consider jazz outdated are just ignorant to the music style. But if you don't try something how do you know you will not like it? My point precisely.
So how is jazz still relevant to the modern music scene? I feel that this question is best answered by looking at its history. Jazz is responsible for many of the elements that are still found in modern music. Some of these elements include introducing vocals, basic song structure, and the pentatonic scale. Vocals was a huge edition to music, especially pop music. For without vocals what we now know as modern pop music would likely not exist. I know many people who cannot listen to music that does not contain vocals. I think that this is because vocals give you something to catch on to. Its what you hum at work when you are bored. Something else that jazz added to modern music in general was, song structure. Sure jazz musicians improvised around "head" arrangements. But this eventually turned into A-B-A-B-C-B-B structure. ( if your not a musician the A's are verses the B's are the chorus and C is the bridge) Lastly theres the pentatonic scale. which was created by taking the major scale and omitting the second and the sixth notes. So for example an A major scale becomes an a pentatonic by playing A,C,D,E and G instead of A,B,C,D,E,F and G. When I asked my high school music teacher Mr. Murphy (for an interview I used in the speech I mentioned earlier) about jazz he immediately quoted Ken Burns jazz documentary. ( worth checking out by the way) Ken Burns states that he believes that America's three greatest accomplishments are the Constitution, Baseball, and Jazz. I couldn't agree more. ( except I would change the baseball part to football ) Mr. Murphy also made the point that jazz is more then just music, it represents the history of many cultures. Such as call and response from its African and Southern roots. Jazz musicians play off of one another though improvisation. Which is the best part of jazz to me. ( and I think Wynton Marsalis would agree) this keeps the music new and spontaneous.
One last thing I have to mention is guitar solo's. They may have been the "In" thing during the 80's hair metal period. But a true guitar solo has so much more substance then just flash. A real guitar solo adds something to the song that nothing else can add. It makes the song worth listening to. The guitar solo is a result of a jazz guitarist named Charlie Christian. He was the first to start doing guitar solo' s and viewing the guitar as a soloing instrument. So as a guitarist myself i have to forever to pay respect to everything that Charlie gave to music and guitar.
So to conclude, jazz is a music style that has added so much to modern music. It should never be considered outdated or meaningless. Listening to jazz with open ears is like eating lays potato chips you can't eat just one! Jazz continues to influence many modern musicians to this day including myself.
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Some Thoughts on the New England Patriots 2009 Off Season

NFL teams are and will forever be changing. It is the name of the game in order to be successful in the National Football League. The key is to find the players that best fit in to your coach's or team's "System", not the players that are considered the best by the public media. The New England Patriots are no different. This off season has been very eventful and is still ongoing. It is one of the best off seasons I've seen in my eleven years as a patriots fan. It all started with disappointment and being mocked by the other thirty one NFL teams. (yes even the Detroit Lions had something to say) When the Patriots did not make the playoffs after an eleven and five record. This was the first time since 2002 that the pats missed the playoffs! when Quarter back Matt Cassel was given the franchise tag. Everyone had their own opinion as to how the Patriots should go about the situation. Some thought that it would be wise to keep Cassel as a back up and others (including myself) thought it would be an even better idea to trade while his value was high. Kevin O'Connell would serve as a nice back up for Brady, since the plan is that he is going to take his place when Tom decides to retire. Besides if Matt Cassel does well for another franchise, it would be cool to know that he got his start in New England. Eventually the Kansas City Chiefs traded the thirty fourth overall pick in the 2009 draft for Matt Cassel and Outside Linebacker Mike Vrabel. How ever you viewed the situation the dust has settled and it is what it is. With that said however, I felt that trading Vrabel and Cassel for one second round pick was a bit of a bad trade. I thought that Mike Vrabel had more trade value then he was given. In the end it did turn out to be alright deal, the Patriots selected Free Safety Patrick Chung from the University of Oregon. I have not seen a lot of Patrick's playing but he does sound promising. (to me at least) Wide Receiver Jabar Gaffney was released and then signed by the Denver Bronco's. Losing Jabar really does hurt. I still remember the great catch in the corner of the endzone against the Baltimore Ravens (2007 season). A touchdown that kept the Pats perfect. Then again there was the drop in the game against the Indianapolis Colts (2008 season) . The catch would have won the game and maybe propelled the Patriots into the post season. Oh well, what ever Jabar Gaffeny's legacy is as a Patriot, I will still enjoy watching him play. acquiring wide receiver's Joey Galloway(Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Greg Lewis (Philadelphia eagles) more then makes up for his loss.
Another event that transpired was the trading of Corner Back Ellis Hobbs III. Personally I was disappointed in this trade. Hobbs was one of my favorite defensive players this past year. All tough he was criticized for letting Plex catch the game winning touch down in Super Bowl 42. He was the glue that (somewhat) held an injury prone secondary together this passed season. He played injured during many of the games and the Eagles made a hell of a deal to get him. The Retirement of Rodney Harrison is hard on, not only Patriots fans, but football fans in general. Like him or not Rodney added excitement and a charisma that will be forever missed. I look forward to seeing him on NBC's pregame. lol. Brandon Meriweather should do an alright job playing his postion. He lead the secondary in INTS, many of which lead to win critical games. Signing Corner back's Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden is a breath of fresh air and allows me to sleep peacefully at night. With out these two our secondary would be in nothing but trouble. Springs is a proven shut down corner. Which is just what the Pats are going to need now that they have to play T.O and Lee Evans twice next year. Terrence Wheatley had an impressive rookie season last year and will further add some depth at corner. I am really excited to watch him play.(one can only hope) Jonathan Wilhite is many people's favorite to be the next big Patriot corner. Something like say, Ty Law? I don't know about being the next Ty law, but having a big impact on New England's secondary is a great possibility. New England has one of the most promising running attacks in the NFL . Who who argue when your Half backs are Fred Taylor, Laurence Maroney, Kevin Faulk, Sammy Morris and the rookie sensation Ben Jarvus Green- Ellis. A solid running attack is just what the Pats need with Tomcat(Brady) coming off a M.C.L and A.C.L tear. And lets not even get started about the brady issue or the "Tom Brady rule". In my opinion Brady was never a Micheal Vick type player and there's no reason to start now. He should return to about 95% of what he was before the injury. Brady can leave the running up to Taylor and Maroney.
So in conclusion the New England Patriots have a promising 2009 season. The only thing that concerns me is the Line backing Core. Many of the Line Backers were either traded or released. But i am sure the Bill Belichick has a plan. . . he always does.
Can wait for September to roll around
Thanks for reading