Whiplash

[sKiZo]

You can major in jazz??

 

[MAC TED]

What a jag off.

Who? Me or Mr. Baker?

 

[Tom Brennan]

Who? Me or Mr. Baker?

I beg your pardon; I meant Baker.

 

[Hyfi]

Some people are taking this way too seriously.

It is a MOVIE, nothing more. It is not a Dave Wekl or Dennis Chambers Tutorial Disk. Get over the fact that it is not real life. What movie really is anymore.

I found this to be an intense, exciting movie that included some great music. I did not expect it to be anything but entertainment for a few hours.

 

[Hyfi]

First of all, what is this "geek" stuff? :thumbsdn: Since when are jazz musicians even referred to as geeks?

Secondly, while good technique is necessary to play music, I think the audience will come away from this movie with the wrong idea about the importance of technique. Playing music is not supposed to be about how many push-ups you can do. Often the best technique, is the one that masks it.

Sorry, no offense intended really, I just was unsure how to describe a musician wearing glasses that cannot play a note without the music in front of him. Hard to believe.

As far as technique and skills, I see this older music to be way more complicated compared to much of what we hear today. Obviously drummers like Wekl and Gavin Harrison and others excluded.

 

[coolness]

We watched it last weekend, excellent! Really liked the story and acting was great. Found myself liking the music best of all. One of the best from last year.

 

[estreeter]

Late to the party, but not being a jazz fan - Jeff Beck's sensational guitar licks excepted - I wasnt really into the music. I could see where Teller and Simmons got the rave reviews and I understand that Teller can actually play the drums, but even Neil Peart's drum solos dont do a lot for me and I've been a Rush fan since I was 15. My question is simple - were the hardcore jazz fans here impressed by the musicianship or was it more Hollywood than you would have liked ?

As a film, I found it claustrophobic - that was obviously the intention but anyone who watched Simmons as Vern Schillinger in Oz will know that he's got a whole other drawer full of nasty in his arsenal than he exhibited here. HBO were doing graphic violence well before Game of Thrones and Simmons did a lot more than throw chairs and cymbals around. Definitely not someone I'd be keen to share a cell with.

 

[BillyBatts]

Hmmm.

Well, Estreeter, I'm about a hard core Jazz fan as you can get. And I am not alone. There are many here on AK.

Personally, I suppose I thought that the movie was "OK". I would not watch it again, but I "mostly" enjoyed watching it. The bloody hands were a bit much for me, and Simmons character was a bit too intense for me, even though I am a fan of his acting. I've had music teachers that were tough, but he was outrageous. But, as many have said before me in this thread "It's just a movie, not real life", so the acting was dramatic and not realistic to me.

I personally was not impressed by the "musicianship" in the movie, as you have asked. Others may have been, and that's OK. To each their own.

I hear Ethen Hawke is doing a movie where he plays Chet Baker. Now That I can't wait to see. I love Baker and all West Coast Jazz.

 

[kahlfin1k]

You can major in jazz??

You can major in just about anything you want these days if you can afford it...

I really enjoyed the movie. As a music teacher I feel like it was everything you want to do in your head but don't because it's unprofessional and unproductive. For example when the director played the cowbell in his ear. That's like my fantasy...

The only thing that really bothered me was the whole "double time swing" thing they kept saying. Double time does not mean fast necessarily! It just means twice as fast as the original tempo. Most musicians would say "up" or "uptempo swing". Double time swing as a tempo is totally nonsensical.

That and the whole bloody hands thing. If you want to play fast use a LIGHTER touch! It's really not that difficult to play a ride cymbal that fast. I think they misrepresented the challenge of playing a fast tempo.

Ok I guess that's two gripes.

 

[MAC TED]

2014, IMO, was a weak year for movies. I thought WHIPLASH was the best movie of that year.

 

[Dukiedook]

Check out drummer Peter Erskine's remarks on the movie...

http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/los-angeles/drummer-peter-erskine-on-whiplash-film.html

From the interview...

Question: What impression of jazz studies do you think the general public will come away with from watching the film?

Erskine: I'm disappointed that any viewer of the film will not see the joy of music-making that's almost always a part of large-ensemble rehearsals and performances. Musicians make music because they LOVE music. None of that is really apparent in the film, in my opinion.

Also, the misrepresentation of the Jo Jones throwing the cymbal at Charlie Parker's feet anecdote may well lead people to thinking that Jo Jones did indeed, as JK Simmons' character avers, try to decapitate Charlie Parker at that epochal jam session in Kansas City where a very real Charlie Parker attempted to play some of his double-time / new harmony improvisation and more or less flubbed it. Papa Jo eventually tossed a cymbal towards Charlie Parker's young feet in a "gonging" motion to get him off the bandstand. Jazz masters could be tough, but the movie gets that story all wrong.


There's more if you care to check out the link...


It just seems a shame to me, that supposed jazz lovers are content to go along with such a gross misrepresentation of the music.

As for the music, I gave it a bit of a listen on youtube. A couple of nice charts, the band is tight. But who ARE the musicians playing these charts? Anybody find that out? I haven't been able to. Maybe somebody will come forward with that. (I'm not talking about the composers.) IMO, they all did the music they supposedly love a disservice, by allowing themselves to be used to portray it in such a manner.

Yep. If anyone tried to say that Jo threw the cymbal at Parker's head they are full of sheeit. That being said I never look to Hollyweird for accuracy in life.