> spinbacks, hard cuts, mixes that aren't seamless). So I guess the point is > established DJs need to share skills with others, it worked for jazz.
Definitely. With jazz the communal spirit was most evident in the late 60s and early 70s and that seemed to be a necessary response to a lack of commercial opportunities. Even Lee Morgan, who had a fairly mainstream sound, was getting involved. Some great music came about this way, and in the face of extreme financial pressure. Sun Ra's massive entourage lived on meagre amounts in a dilapidated house in Philadelphia and made some of the most way ahead of it's time music ever. In Detroit there was Marcus Belgrave and all the Tribe lot, who gathered local musicians (in the wake of Motown's departure to LA) and put out self financed LPs, put on music workshops etc. There's the well known example of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, too. This sort of thing is in spirit what UR are doing just now. Strip away the guerrilla imagery and you see it's a pretty apt metaphor for what they *are* doing: their urban regeneration, promotion of unknown local talent etc. Arguably, UR are also pretty commercially successful for their genre, too, so it doesn't require the financial asceticism. It's a method that works in all kinds of ways. And I wish it was an example more people stuck to: get involved with like minded souls (DJs, folk with sound systems, promoters), and don't d**k them over, just to get yourself ahead. Not only is it a s**t thing to do as a person, but it's a stupid thing to do, as well. As you can see, then: IMnsHO, Jazz is the teacher :) Jonny - should put up or shut up, FJ? ;) P.S. As for the Burns documentary, it does seem outrageous. We won't get it for a while, but I have heard enough for me to be watching it with teeth firmly clenched in advance. The dig at Cecil Taylor seems particularly gratuitous. It sounds like he was only there to be knocked down.
