Bop Criticism by J.R.

JR

He is the high priest of bop film criticism. He improvises. He tries different chords. He plays odd chords. He takes various motives from melody and improvise upon them. He has a controlled aggression that comes form a deeply humane concern over what's happening around him. He is revolutionary, but his roots are in traditional big bands of André Bazin. His complicated harmonic approaches shouldn't be mistaken with complexity for the sake of complexity. He plays what he feels, so one wonders what great feelings he has experienced. He is Jonathan Rosenbaum, the high priest of bop film criticism.

Dig these sessions he made in Belgium as a solo artist (he usually plays solo, but not always. Sometimes he is accompanied by superb rhythm sections - listen to Movie Mutations LP for instance), where he plays some of his classics like a warm-up take on A Night in Tunisia and other assorted bop materials.