Originally posted by Diki:
Here's a question for Russ, and maybe some other jazz purists out there...
What does a tune need, to qualify as a legitimate jumping off point for a jazz exploration? Are there certain complex chords or changes, is there a certain melodic line, or is it simply one of those 'unwritten' rules..?
Something that strikes me is, back in the fifties and sixties, as jazz exploded out of the 'dance music' confines it used to have, the players and writers of their day used tunes that were quite contemporary - pop music, with changes no more or less complex than many of today's tunes. But as jazz has increasingly become a niche 'academic' music, it seems contemporary players (or at least the older ones from back in the heyday) are increasingly unwilling to make those contemporary references that, to be honest, got the original jazzers more of a listen back in the day than if they had chosen less popular heads...
Jazz is a process, it's a treatment, it's a 'style'. But its' source could quite easily be more contemporary tunes, and possibly, garner a bit more interest from the younger generation when they can recognize the head as being something from THEIR generation.
You mentioned a while back about the need to 'educate' your audience as well as just playing to them. But to educate them, first you have to engage them. Don't ignore their generation's music. To be quite honest, I see no difference between taking a fifties pop song and jazzing it up and a 21st century tune and doing the same thing. But I bet a youngster would feel differently! They would be ecstatic... 
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with what he said...
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