I'm not posting this in the Music forums because, seriously, who goes there?

What kind of jazz are you into?

I would suggest going to New Orleans and sitting in the park or walking around French Quarter.

;1026763']Wynton Marsalis is a douche.

Says the raphead.



Explain.

Critic Scott Yanow praises Marsalis's talent, but has questioned his "selective knowledge of jazz history considering post-1965 avant-garde playing to be outside of jazz and 1970s fusion to be barren."[5] Trumpeter Lester Bowie opined of Marsalis's traditionalism, "If you retread what's gone before, even if it sounds like jazz, it could be anathema to the spirit of jazz."[6] In his 1997 book Blue: The Murder of Jazz Eric Nisenson argues that Marsalis's focus on a narrow portion of jazz's past is stifling the music's growth and preventing any further innovation.[7]

Pierre Sprey, president of jazz record company Mapleshade Records, declares that "When Marsalis was nineteen, he was a fine jazz trumpeter ... But he was getting his tail beat off every night in Art Blakey's band. I don't think he could keep up. And finally he retreated to safe waters. He's a good classical trumpeter and thus he sees jazz as being a classical Music. He has no clue what's going on now."[8]

From nearly the beginning of Marsalis' career, he occasionally butted heads with trumpeter Miles Davis, one of the leading names in jazz since the '40s. In his autobiography[9] Davis expressed disapproval of the heavy promotion afforded Marsalis by Columbia Records' George Butler, citing it as a factor in his leaving the record label after four decades. Additionally, Davis described Marsalis as good trumpeter and "a nice young man, only confused" due to what Davis saw as his being over-praised by traditionalist jazz critics.

Marsalis has also been criticized for his role in the Ken Burns documentary Jazz, which promoted a classicist view of jazz similar to the views of Marsalis himself. The documentary focused primarily on Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong among others, while failing to mention jazz artists from the period Marsalis views as barren.

The documentary also angered many with subjective statements, often from Marsalis, about the comparative complexity, popularity, and general worth of the music of a wide variety of artists.

As artistic director and co-producer of the project, Marsalis bore the brunt of the criticism of the nonetheless highly acclaimed series, which to many embodied the exclusive, classicist view of jazz for which Marsalis is known. Critic David Adler has suggested this production role was a clear conflict of interest with his high onscreen profile: "Wynton's coronation in the film is not merely biased. It is not just aesthetically grating. It is unethical, given his integral role in the making of the very film that is praising him to the heavens."[10]