Bonsai Pieces:
Hard to believe how “romantic” jazz and rock musicians can be!

Arguably, one of the most intriguing aspects of 20th-century musical life is that, despite so much striving for innovation, and so many avant-guard movements, segments (one might even say "leftovers") of late Romantic aesthetics and attitudes survived all along – and are still with us in these early years of the 21st-century. Such survivals are often to be seen where one might least expect them. Among musicians, for instance, very few still live in a more romantic dimension than those active in jazz and rock. Their motto "sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll" is a perfect equivalent to the “genius and extravagance” stereotype for 19th-century artists (which, although not inclusive of rock 'n' roll, did have a lot to do with sex and drugs...). In this respect, musicians such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Mick Jagger were much more “Romantic” than artists who literally live in the wake of the Romantic tradition ever were, artists of the like of Vladimir Horowitz, Jehudi Menuhin, or Martha Argerich, etc.