A Little Something About Musical Genres

If you've read this blog so far, you'll note that most of the coverage is about jazz, modern jazz. That won't always be the case. I'll be covering rock, whether metal, progressive, punk or jamband style. I'll be covering world music. I'll be covering the "new" music in concert form or electronically. I might even touch on country and hiphop. And just about anything else, except maybe new age. It all depends on what's coming across my desk and what I am listening to on my own.

Now all these categories are called genres out there. And like never before, the structure of our communications industry and marketing/distribution channels demand strict adherence to genres. Search engines want to pigeonhole this blog as belonging to one genre or another. Right now, "music" is the main category, so you might not find me at the top of listings because perhaps that's too confusing to the robot crawlers looking for keywords. Well, all of music could be my keyword phrase. No, all good or interesting music might be better suited. So. And the same goes for my other blog, www.gapplegate.com/musicalblog.htm. That one ostensibly deals with guitarists and bassists of all kinds, but not exclusively.

Why does it matter? For years, almost the only media that covered music in all its forms were the audiofile magazines like High Fidelity. With these folks the idea was, "here are some things to put on your stereo. They have good sound (or don't) and it's good music (or isn't)." They found an audience of listeners who did not limit themselves exclusively to one genre. I believe there are still people out there who are like that. If you are one of them, you are on the right page.

Maybe most importantly I believe we are in a time of change. There are musics out there developing outside of the major distribution outlets that combine genres in new ways, and perhaps none of the genre categories fit properly with what is going on. These music makers have small but dedicated followings and they are doing important service to the music culture of the world we live in. I'll try to cover them in postings to come and you can also expect me to touch on all kinds of music, and not just the latest releases either.

If you read along and maybe try out some of the music I'll be reviewing, my work will be accomplished. There are musicians and labels that need your support to keep the music alive. I am their champion, I guess. You can be too.