Several of my jazzer schoolmates are also serious metal fans. Every now and then I take a few minutes to listen to a recording or watch a video that these folks post, in the interest of being open-minded about musical expression. But I don't get very far, because its intense aggressiveness completely unnerves me. And yes, I am restraining myself from offering a variety of adjectives. I am finding that the older I get, the more adamant I am about ridding this world of excessive testosterone. And the more I explore music, the more I appreciate space.
Chances are metal will never. Ever. Ever make my Top 10 list of favorite genres, but I appreciated Ben Ratliff's article in last Wednesday's New York Times (12.30.09), in which he offered a very thoughtful comparison of jazz and metal music.
Though they have entirely different aesthetics as well as different audiences (generally speaking - my schoolmates are very hip exceptions), metal and jazz musics both embrace melodic, harmonic and rhythmic experimentation that increasingly requires a certain level of virtuosity. It is this willingness to experiment, to draw from their past vocabularies and vigorously redraw, if not create new vocabularies, that invigorates both genres to continue evolving and benefit from growing international followings. I'm going to keep paying attention to metal (from a distance, so I can hear myself think), but I am hoping that jazz, and other musics, might reach out to metal and soften its molecules.
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