Boundaries of Jazz

 

Stephen Perkins, the former drummer with Jane's Addiction is now with the jazz group Banyan. It’s refreshing to switch from genre to genre, as you learn that different musics have more in common than differences. It also gives drummers a chance to break away from the strict boundaries of the song structure and explore “rhythmic melody”.

In an interview at the Monterey Jazz festival, Perkins said "jazz really doesn't have any boundaries". Unfortunately I think that eventually art gets defined by boundaries.

It's the boundaries of something that give it a unique identity. If there were no boundaries it would be more possible for it to sound like something other than jazz, but perhaps that’s the point.