Much of rock originated in jazz...

I was listening to rock radio the other day. Sadly, it wasn’t very satisfying, in between endless plays of songs we’ve all heard ad nauseam - does anybody want to hear Supertramp’s Logical Song or Layla once more? They played some modern rock and while this is a generalisation, it was boring and narrow and imitative.
Last night I was watching Rick Beato interview the brilliant Derek Trucks. Now their new records don’t get played on rock radio but very much are what I think of as rock and he talked about his influences and he mostly talked about jazz people like Coltrane and Miles. Which is what the Allmans and his uncle also were influenced by.
It occurred to me that it is that ‘jazz’ feel that is missing from much but not all current bands. That ability to extemporise on a melody is axiomatic to we old school rockers. I never understood why anyone would go to see a band reproduce music not-for-note from the record. Maybe I’m missing something but I’d like to experience something new and perhaps never repeated.
That jazz ‘swing’ is crucial. Even the heaviest of bands had swing. Sabbath did, certainly. There’s a lightness and subtlety of rhythm, even in the context. There’s detail too. Listen to Deep Purple, the drumming is totally spacious and ‘in the pocket’. No mere beat keeper, the drums are central to the sound.
I suppose so much of rock originated in jazz, it was inevitable the likes of Bill Ward, Ian Paice and Mitch Mitchell for example, were jazz drummers. And I once saw Pat Metheny say that the drummer was everything, regardless of what anyone else played. And long improvised pieces were so much part of jazz, it was natural rock should follow suit. That is, until punk came along with the thought that short was best and these long songs were self-indulgent. I simply didn’t understand that thinking. In Memory Of Elizabeth Reid wasn’t long for its own sake. It was working something out, going somewhere and saying something. I wasn't dumping that for a two minute Ramones song, though I could see its place and effectiveness, which is why I was delighted to hear Marquee Moon by Television. It’s more like Quicksilver Messenger Service, I recall saying at the time to much derision from New Wave acolytes. But I hold to that view, even now. It has that existential ‘jazz’ feel too. I think it’s such an important thing.
I was playing Budgie this morning with all the riffs, different changes and passages they specialised in. So imaginative and incorporating so many differences, they seem to paint with the complete palette, not just two or three colours and that’s what I was missing listening to new rock bands. Also the ability and instinct not to fill all the space. The things you don’t play are important. Leaving space for melodies to breathe is crucial even in the most frantic song.
I think the mistake some make is to compress everything to within an inch of its life, so it gives you a headache. Why do they do that? Someone like the Allman Brothers sounds like a band playing, not a band in the studio trying to craft something. 
I’m reluctant to be critical because it sounds old-mannish or music prick dad-ish but it was so clear to me what was missing from much modern rock. Maybe it was always hard to build something spacious and organic and it took musicians with calibre, cultural breadth and vision that doesn’t exist in the same way when everyone is stuck in their bedroom with their own recording studio and with all the gear but no idea.

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