Here are a few rough sketch examples for an illustration on Kansas City jazz. This too is for the aforementioned mystery project about KC.
I'll admit it. I've always loved Jazz. Not the shirt shopping muzak or 80s saxophone make-out tunes people associate the word with. I'm talking old school jazz like the works of Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus and of course KC's own Charlie Parker. When I first was exposed to that kind of music my brain thought "Yes...of course". I feel the same way about the Blues, but it also has a modern day image crisis. Seriously. Go type blues into Pandora and prepare yourself to hear a thousand soulless viagra commercial theme songs for every "Hell yes, thats it" song that strikes a chord. But almost always that one song is worth it.
Anyways I shouldn't sound so judgy. What do I know? Well actually I do know one thing: I played an instrument just long enough (ironically, in a heavy metal band) to know that getting together with some buddies, finding a groove and locking in a crappy song is better than passively listening to a great song any day. So all you people making elevator jazz and things-are-just-fine blues, keep on keepin' on cause its awesome that you're doing it, and I'm sure its just what someone needs! There, I've said my piece. Now back to making art that a kid could draw.
