Noel Gallagher is known for two things. Good music and controversial opinions. If you put those two aspects on a Venn diagram, they would overlap quite frequently. Many of Gallagher’s controversial opinions are about good music. He frequently cites jazz, a genre often considered one of the best and most revolutionary in music, as the worst in this case.
His disdain for the genre appears to stem from its willingness to embrace experimentation. Given Gallagher’s recent controversy over having one of his band members play the scissors, it is noteworthy. During an interview, he offered an insightful account of what an evening at a jazz club is like and why one should avoid it.
“If you’ve never been to a jazz club, this is what happens at a jazz club,” he told the audience. “A jazz club is like four guys on stage having a better time than the 50 people in the audience. That’s how it is. They call it jazz when they all play a different song at the same time, in different tempos and keys. “It’s utter nonsense.”
In another interview, Noel Gallagher criticized jazz music even more, asking the interviewer to name a good jazz song before claiming that there is none. The opinion has certainly ruffled a few feathers, given the incredible devotion of many people to the genre. It’s also arguably one of Gallagher’s simplest hot takes to refute.
One should often take Gallagher’s opinions with a grain of salt. We live in an age where his opinions have surpassed his music in terms of what piques public interest. And as a result, he has a particular fondness for making bold claims with little evidence. Noel’s desire to be discussed likely fuels Gallagher’s hypotheses, regardless of their accuracy. Bravo, Noel.
But, for the sake of argument, it’s worth delving into how he defines jazz music. Musicians commonly refer to playing out of tempo and out of key as free jazz, a style of play that was political in its inception and revolutionary in its evolution. Musicians like Ornette Coleman stopped limiting themselves to the confines of theory. But they were able to experiment widely with what they played. It resulted in a snowball effect that eventually led to the blues, rock and roll, and, later, Oasis.
Without the genre that Noel is so quick to dismiss. Taking it at face value is equivalent to dismissing one of the lines in his songs. It is because the meaning isn’t spelled out in plain English. Whether he likes it or not, there would be no Oasis without jazz.
