Russell Gunn | Ethnomusicology Volume I – [Atlantic / Wea, 1999] – Music Review | Revisited
Russell Gunn, Ethnomusicology
In theory, jazz artists should represent their music within the context of the present tense without totally loosing it’s purpose. Traditional jazz is already fundamentally sound, so why spend time and energy chasing classic artists most notably Coltrane, Evans, Parker, and Monk etc because they’ve established a valuable footprint in this art form from a musical and historical prospective. Therefore, I feel that every aspiring young musician studying music should have the insight and ability to understand and play jazz. No, they don’t have to love it, just learn to play it! With that said, when artist like Gunn comes along don’t immediately dis recordings like “Ethnomusicology-Vol-1” without giving it a chance because he’s doing what innovative musicians love to do … compose and play creative music without leaning totally on what’s already be done.
According to naysayers, visionaries are generally looked at as being a little off center. Nonetheless, the artist in question Russell Gunn is simply fascinating to me [musically speaking that is]. He demonstrates why he’s more then capable to take on extraordinary tasks by capturing the pulse of the street from his own philosophical view merging what’s called jazz, hiphop, funk and soul sounds to broaden his appeal without compromise. ~ The Urban Flux
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