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If you're reading this Jack Foster III aka Jazzraptor, what is your slant on this?
Having played your album a lot in the last few weeks and hearing the wonderful cross overs between prog and jazz I'm SURE you must have an opinion. Would you share it with us?
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Well, I agree with you Keith. If it touches you in some way when you listen to it, it's good music . . . regardless of genre. I really don't think jazz is better than prog or vice-versa. They're different.
To play devil's advocate to uzeb: Progressive Rock is more "advanced" than jazz in some ways. Prog often incorporates complex time changes and stray bars; there's very little of that in jazz. Also jazz key changes (ii-V-I to ii-V-I) are more predictable than prog key changes, which can go anywhere at any time. Also, prog rock explores a broader range of aural texture. Artists search for new sounds and combinations of sounds. Turn on a jazz radio station, and 95% of the time you'll hear a standard combo playing with somebody soloing. Jazz artists are more concerned with line through a chorus of changes (and interesting subsitutions) than they are with the aural landscape of the song.
There's improvisation in prog of course, but jazz IS improvisation (over structure). Everybody in the band should be improvizing ALL of the time to a degree. As an accompanist, you comp to solo. So you have to be listening closely at all times in order to fit in, and to improve the whole.
Jazz harmony is typically more sophisticated. But sophistication should not be confused with "better". Some of the most touching music that I've heard is very simple harmonically. And of course, prog harmony can be sophisticated as well.
Jazz song forms are usually simpler than prog forms. Jazz almost always is in the form: chorus, chorus, chorus, chorus . . . chorus, where the first and last chorus contain the actual song melody (called the head). (The chorus often contains a bridge.) Middle choruses are solos. This standard form allows pretty much any jazz guy to play with others; they know the form.
Prog has complex forms and combinations of sections. So where jazz is AAAAA form, prog can be AABCADEAaltBaltFZ!
(You asked for it Keith!)
Bottom line is that they're different. I've known guys who are competent jazz players, but embarrass themselves when they try to play rock; they just don't understand the idiom. And there are guys who play great jazz, but are blown away technically by the best rock guitarists out there. I like listening to good musicians, regardless of genre.