How Realistic Are These Jazz Scenes in Films?? Jazz Musician Reacts

everybody my name is charles and today we are going to be raiding scenes from films depicting jazz i don't know what these scenes are gonna be jake has already taken care of all that and he's got a whole list of things set up for me to look through these are my on the spot thoughts at how i think it's portrayed and if it's accurate to real life the first film that we're gonna take a look at is whiplash now i remember when this one came out it was very polarizing and a lot of people in the music community especially the jazz community didn't really like it to be honest i've never actually watched the whole movie let's take a look five six [Music] once the groove comes in i mean sounds kind of fine [Music] got buddy rich here [Music] a little trouble there let's pick it up at 17. that was a really weird place to do that there was no reason to stop that didn't sound like a problem at all five six and whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa five six and oh no the the count off five six and there's like an extra three quarters of a beat five six it's not where the one would have actually been because the two whiplash isn't seven right so it would have been five six seven one counting a tune off in seven isn't usually not something that you do especially something like this you'd probably still count it oh you probably still count it like in four even though everybody knows like once you start playing it it isn't seven it's kind of just jarring and weird to go five six and you probably wouldn't see that not quite my tempo here we go [Music] i've never seen a conductor do this and all the sound just stops like he's got a volume knob you're rushing here we go that wouldn't have happened what was that [Music] none of this would happen you don't get into these stutter competitions with the band director for just something as simple as a count off [Music] why do you suppose i just hurled a chair at your head yeah it makes good film i think people who who liked this film were definitely of the mindset that like you know what though it's a great movie and i get that but in terms of accuracy i've never in my life been in a situation with a bandleader that is violently confrontational about tempo maybe people have experiences in bands that are whacked like this but not in my experience so in terms of accuracy i would probably give it like a 3 out of 10. being hilarious 10 out of 10. moving on i told you that story about how charlie parker became charlie parker right joe jones threw a symbol at his head exactly the way i understand that the story is that charlie parker did not sound particularly good at this jam and joe jones tossed a symbol towards him at his feet being like all right man like that's enough you you you gotta go get it together so imagine if jones had just said well that's okay charlie uh that was all right good job there are no two words in the english language more harmful than good job i don't know that i've ever encountered somebody who is quite as intense as this character and the point is interesting which is without being pushed how does somebody find their true potential i definitely don't agree that good job are the two most dangerous words in the english language i mean i can think of quite a few that are probably a little more dangerous but i understand the point that the character's trying to make here there's some validity to it just maybe not quite this in insane and intense i understand what he's saying in terms of encountering this type of personality in the real world not only would would i be very shocked if i ever found somebody quite like this i would make sure to always steer clear of them and that person would probably almost never work because everyone would hate being around them not particularly accurate and as i understand it the majority of this movie for most musicians seems to fall into that category next up we have a couple of scenes from seoul [Music] one two three four stay on the beach [Applause] first of all there is no way that in this particular context that the drummer would sound as together as the drummer sounds in the background of this clip that's pretty hilarious but what is this uh middle school probably pretty accurate the c sharp horns that is hilarious i don't think that's physically possible you tried to suck skittles up through a trump it's not like an open tube all the way to the mouthpiece but uh that would have been sick if you could see you caleb cut it go for it you know i hate to say it but the dude on the phone in the middle of the tune that's pretty accurate even in like conservatory [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] they're laughing at her because she was just like getting super into it in middle school that's pretty accurate but then i see this guy and he's playing these chords with force on it and then with a minor whoa he's playing a d flat there which is not the chord that we're hearing it's it's more of a g minor uh nine sound g minor eleven that's a pretty voicing but then i see this guy and he's playing his chords with four okay so this is the part i don't understand he plays this and then with a minor and he says with the minor this is a major seventh chord minor about that that's the last place i wanted to be but then i see this guy and he's playing his chords with force on it and then with a minor beautiful voicings g minor 11. i i think it's just an f minor seven e flat major seven this chord is interesting uh you could call it like a b flat like an add nine b flat just with the third on the bottom the other way to look at this chord if you're looking at it quite literally you could say it is a minor seven sharp five so we have d minor seven sharp five beautiful sound just spread out a little bit so c minor seven that says the b b major seven with the nine [Music] thirteen beautiful sound but not minor accuracy the whole scene i i would give it an 8 out of 10. i mean i'm sure most middle school jazz bands sound pretty similar especially the beginning of working on something solid 8 i would say what what do we play [Music] yeah oh one thing about this scene that is super accurate is the ability to kind of go oh wait what is what is this why does it go you know the band around you can just kind of be playing and if you listen and if you really kind of focus on okay what's the bass player doing what's the melody doing what else is going on here contextually you can kind of figure out a tune on the fly accuracy i mean this is 10 out of 10. this is exactly what happens in jam sessions a lot you don't know necessarily what the tune is or somebody calls a tune and you don't know it and they're like all right cool we're playing it anyway so figure it out if you can it's just something that you have to learn how to do over time you just learn how to like hear things listen very closely and then respond react and figure out what's happening with enough background and enough study you start to understand context clues within music and you can do exactly this so yeah in terms of accuracy i would say 10 out of 10. uh sorry i zoned out a little back there get a suit teach a good suit back here tonight first shows at nine sound checks at seven that's a cool scene probably wouldn't work like that in the real world because as cool as the scene is when he starts kind of getting into his own world the reality is he stops paying attention to the group around him and that's not good as beautiful as it was if i'm a bandleader and somebody does that i'm gonna be like what are you doing nobody cares how good it sounds like that's that's fine that's awesome but there's a time and a place and this would not be the time or the place in the middle of a tune unless you had kind of decided beforehand that there was going to be a section like that or something playing-wise of just sort of having to pick it up and hear it 10 out of 10. this being the thing that gets in the gig zero out of i think a lot of band leaders would be like okay well we're not hiring him again because that was weird but it's a cool scene nonetheless next up we have lala land [Music] jk stevens again yeah i don't think you hear what i'm saying you're fired nice composition the sort of main theme from la la land was a very nicely done piece this whole thing of like playing a song and getting fired for it maybe that happens i think the vibe at any place that was like that would be very palpable prior to this moment getting it to the point where you could play something and get fired that seems unlikely to me i think that's the type of situation where if i ever found myself in that situation i probably would have felt out that vibe a long time ago and i never would play at somewhere where i thought that was even remotely a possibility maybe this was the 40th time that they've told him to quiet down and and he just keeps not bothering to do so in which case he should be fired because you have to understand the context in which you're playing i should probably tell you something now to get it out of the way i hate jazz are you okay what do you mean you hate jess just means that when i listen to it i don't like it yeah but it's such a blanket statement you don't like jess i don't think i've really ever encountered many people who would outright be like oh i hate jazz and i think part of that has a lot to do with how consumable music is today on such a wide spectrum like with spotify and the way that people are finding new genres and finding developments of genres that have stemmed out of things like jazz the blending of jazz and hip-hop together i mean all these things that have really sort of come to the forefront and are quite popular now he's right i mean it's a it's a blanket statement it doesn't mean anything generally if somebody's saying that they've never actually heard good jazz or the subgenre of jazz that's right for them what about kenny g i mean what about elevator music you know jazz music that i know where i grew up there was this station called kjaz 103 and people would just put on that station when they had a cocktail party and everyone will kind of just talk over it so i think that that's part of the problem is that you can't hear it you know you have to see it you have to see what's at stake that's true side note the music that's going on in the background here is i think pretty damn good like it sounds great we could hear a little piano solo going on there some good stuff happening there absolutely the only thing that's not accurate here is when she talks about kenny g and like elevator jazz and he goes what about it i don't know a single jazz musician that would say what about it without first explicitly stating that that's not jazz and the points that she's bringing up which is like people talking over like that's all true you know and and i think i think the rule with jazz that's really important to remember is like everything else maybe 90 plus percent of it is gonna be stuff that you're not gonna like or stuff that maybe is to some level objectively not that great you kind of just have to to take that with a grain of salt and say okay well i just have to find the stuff that's right for me and i think that's true about any genre that people listen to regularly i mean most of it is not going to click with you but there will be those things that can completely change your life and the point about seeing it and being there in person what's at stake that's an interesting way to put that i don't know if i've ever thought about it in that context but whatever but seeing it in person i mean that that definitely changes people's opinion on it for sure because there is just a different energy when you're in the room that doesn't always translate to the record that well the trumpet player he's got his own idea and so it's conflict and it's compromised and it's just it's new every time it's brand new every night do you guys catch that the conflict compromise and new had like a hit with the band and it kind of emphasized the word a little bit listen to that one more time and so it's conflict and it's compromise and it's just it's new every time i don't know if that was on purpose or not but but that's an interesting little uh thing that kind of emphasizes those words i like that that's neat trying to introduce somebody to the music is not always the easiest thing especially if they have a preconceived notion that they don't like it yeah i'd give this like an 8 out of 10 for accuracy that's really good i have never been to a jazz club before is this spider-man i didn't know there was even scenes in spider-man that depicted jazz at all the bad boy takes her to a jazz club oh my god okay i can't wait to watch this [Music] find us some shade makes out nice [Music] [Music] thanks [Music] now take on this oh no i can't watch but i can't look away were people snapping on one and three now take off no no [Music] so he's snapping on two and four but wait wait look at the wait look around look around the audience we have there's two and four uh oh we got a one and three not a very confident audience 10 out of 10 accuracy snaps are gonna be all over the place this is fantastic that is absolutely what a jazz club looks like yeah um that's just a few scenes depicting jazz in movies by the way if you want to show up to a club and not do that and actually know what you're doing we have a whole academy that's actually meant to help you do just that real right now everything on the academy is 30 off using code music theory 30. you can get the intro to piano course which is and seventy plus videos it'll guide you from the very beginning on how to start figuring out this instrument there's no experience necessary it'll take you from zero to something and then that will start you on your journey and you can go anywhere you want including um into our intro to improvisation course which will help you kind of get the feel for removing the mysticism and the feeling of like i don't know how to do that from improvisation and once you get beyond that we have a course all about how to understand and actually apply modes all of that is available on the cornell music academy right now there's a link in the description use code music theory 30 to get 30 off anything you want over there we are constantly adding content to it and once you're a member you'll get access to the secret channels on my discord server inside of those channels every time we release new content you're going to get even crazier discounts get over there become a member music theory 30 30 off the cornell music academy link in the description that's the best way you can support the channel thank you so much for everybody that has gone over there and purchased so far i really appreciate it and i hope that you guys get started on your musical journey that is gonna do it for me today what other scenes exist from popular movies depicting jazz let me know in the comments below thank you as always for watching i appreciate it and we will see you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: Charles Cornell

Views: 426,420

Keywords: Charles, Charles Cornell, Charles Cornell Studios, Studios, Cornell, Piano, Piano Covers, Piano guy, Soul, Whiplash, Lala Land, Spiderman, spider man, spiderman 3, tobey maguire spiderman, spiderman music, whiplash reaction, reaction, react, jazz musician reacts, jazz musician soul, jazz soul, soul music, soul soundtrack, soul piano, lala land piano, lala land jazz, lala land reaction

Id: 5BiCx2LUubk

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 13 2021