Chapter 13

Is this Jazz ?

Xero: " Depends what you mean by Jazz really "

Leeds Other Paper: "Do you see yourselves as part of the Jazz 'scene'?"

Xero: "Fuck off. Why would we want to be? The Jazz 'scene' in England is so bloody snobby! Besides, we don't just play Jazz. We play reggae, waltzes, tangos. "

Gene: ". Heavy metal " ( sniggers all round )

Xero: " People say we're a sort of Punk Jazz, or Junk. People like to give it a label, eh? We even play classical, don't we? We do this Mahler tune that's a belter. Might even put it on our next album."

Louis: " We've got a music college in Leeds that teaches you how to play Jazz."

Xero: " .The right way."

Louis: " Real Jazz. Proper Jazz. "

Xero: ".which as we all know stopped in 1955 although there has been the odd fairly talented person since then, but they don't recognise them 'cause they haven't been dead long enough yet.

We don't really want to play Jazz places. It's much more exciting playing to people who haven't really listened much to Jazz rather than those who know ALL about it, sitting there with hands on chins thinking 'ah, that's a bit like Ornette Coleman, and that's a bit like Coltrane'. Loads of people come up to us afterwards and say 'I don't really like Jazz but I like what you do'."

Gene: " That's the thing with playing on the street. You get a big crowd around who've never heard of you, don't like Jazz but they like what you're doing so they stop and listen. "

Xero: " On the street we get to play to about 2000 people on a busy Saturday afternoon in Leeds, so out of them there's got to be at least half a dozen that don't mind it. "

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