Monday Michiru Corner

[Dmitry]

I just listened to an hour of streaming audio from this woman's website and I don't see what the big deal is about...

Nothing special, imo.

[Shawn]

Do any of the download stores carry her stuff? I've been very curious to hear what she sounds like, but I haven't been able to locate anything yet. And I've been too busy packing to search very hard.

Edited May 24, 2006 by Shawn

[Noj]

Shawn, Sangrey posted a link to full length clips from one of her albums below. I'm listening now, pretty cool. Her instrumentals are good quality.

HEY KIDS!!!!

Free (full-length) streaming audio clips of Routes (as well as per-song mp3 purchase options, full lyrics/production/recording/personnel data, and a nice, basic bio) available here:

http://iacmusic.com/artist.aspx?ID=23232

The stylistic labels this site gives each song crack me up, but then again, if that's how the core of the existing audience relates to these things, then that's how you target them. They call "Touch The Sky" "nu-fusion". I call it "a dazzling blend of Weather Report harmonies, house beats filtered through Africa (or vice-versa), and Carl Wilson-produced-era Beach Boys layered vocals carried into infinity". Same thing, I suppose, and "nu-fusion" is a helluva lot easier to remember.

A lot of musical ground/styles covered here, and the only songs that I myself can't get too excited over are "Be Who You Are", "Remember" & "Dig Deep" (they don't suck by any means, but they're less to my liking than the rest). "The Right Time" I've already discussed above, but "Don't" is another impressive work in the arc that it takes from beginning to end. Another excellent Sipiagin horn arrangement here as well - one that goes from Gil Evans to Woody Shaw/M-Base without as much as a blink. But then again, I think they're all "above and beyond" contemporary pop music artifacts. Songwriting, arranging, production, everything. There is no better pop music being made today, imo. And when pop is this good, yes - it matters!

Check it out - an indie artist (outside of Japan, where apparently she's still a BIG star and is still contracted to some arm of Universal) with a global following offering free streams of the complete album (American version), online per-song mp3 purchases, and full album credits online. Surely this is the future of the record business!

Now, Ron Goldstein (allegedly) had the chance to get her stuff out in America and took a pass. Routes probably could have been released in America on Verve (much to the cries of "jazz purists", but ain't nuthin I can do 'bout that). Tell me again why this guy's not an idiot?

[Shawn]

Thanks guys...man, I must be tired to have missed that link.

[jlhoots]

I just listened to an hour of streaming audio from this woman's website and I don't see what the big deal is about...

Nothing special, imo.

It's turd in the punchbowl time.

That's usually Chuck's job.

[JSngry]

The "big deal" is relative, I suppose, to what you're looking for and/or get excited about. And on that, of course, mileages can, will, and should vary wildly.

For me, it's the creation of a "unimusic", one in which any and all heretofore "genres" can (and do) exist simulataneously, not as grafted on or otherwise self-conscious "fusions", but as a natural, organic, whole. This is the way the world is moving, and this is the way that popular music is eventually going to have to end up if it's ever again going to be a truly relevant form instead of a simple catering to people's prejudices and limitations.

Is she the only one doing something like this? I don't know. I do hear some "jazz" groups trying to do much the same thing, and I do hear the occasional "pop" artitst who's musically literate enough to approximate some of waht she does. But I've yet to hear anybody do it so naturally or so totally.

What relevance does this have to me as a "jazz" musician? Plenty, really. In the first place, jazz as we've known it isn't dead, but it's on it's way. Has been for quite a while, really. The sociological environment that produced the really real shit is all but over. We can play the various styles of the last 100 years or so with all the sincerity and conviction we can muster and it will still be "good music". But will it be as relevant to the "now" as the originals were? No. Can't be, and won't be.

That may or may not matter to some of us, and that's cool, but to those of us for whom it does, we're faced with the quandary of having acquired all this knowledge and all these skills and not really having an end with which to put them other than holing up in a niche-world and feeling "special" because we've got what we've got. Hey, go for that if you want, but that's not my idea of a good time.

There's a lot of musics that are inthe same awkward position. Jazz is just one of them. There's all these tools to put to use, but what use really matters? Well, Monday's music has a place for damnnear all of them, and the thing I like about it is that it doesn't sound in the leat bit "retro" or "fusion-y". That's because she's got as much of an ear for contemporary music as she does for the older styles. In her stuff, a Joe Henderson-inspired tenor solo on a house track that also has African-derived percussion and phrasing in the vocals just ain't that big of a deal. That's the way she hears that shit.

That's also the way that I think a lot of us are feeling things internally/subconsciously. It's just that we're very much in the midst of a paradigm shift of consciousness right now, and a lot of us aren't quite yet able to hear what it is we're feeling going on around us. And if we can't hear it we can't play it. Or, if we can only partially hear it, we can only partially play it. That's where the various "fusions" come in, I think, the sincere ones anyway.

But Monday feels it and hears it, so she can write it and play it. I've had the reaction more than once of listening to one of her things and not being really blown away by it until I listen closer and suddenly WHOA! Just what the hell IS this? An examination of the "ingredients" reveals that there is no one "style" at play here that dominates over the other. There's a mixture, and if you could take any one of them away, you'd be left with something altogether different in both intent and execution.

This notion of a "unimusic" excites me, because as far as I'm concerned, it's the only logical "next step" not just for music, but for humanity as a whole. Progress, evolution, whatever you want to call it is inevitably a process of thingsgrowing indivdually for as long as is healthy and then eventually losing their specific identity into the formation of a new whole. From there, of course, the process of separation begins anew, but the process is dependent on an eventual assimilation at some point. We're at that point now, I think. Have to be. And "unimusic" is going to be the result. Has to be. Monday's music is just the first (or among the first) to sound the call. There will be a helluva lot more to follow. But right here, right now, somebody's doing it. It's a taste of things to come, again, not just musically, but socio-culturally.

That's what the "big deal" is to me.

[Peter Johnson]

Si, por favor!

Yup, that's the link that I was gonna send out.

Maybe another day long rodcast is in order?

[ValerieB]

The "big deal" is relative, I suppose, to what you're looking for and/or get excited about. And on that, of course, mileages can, will, and should vary wildly.

For me, it's the creation of a "unimusic", one in which any and all heretofore "genres" can (and do) exist simulataneously, not as grafted on or otherwise self-conscious "fusions", but as a natural, organic, whole. This is the way the world is moving, and this is the way that popular music is eventually going to have to end up if it's ever again going to be a truly relevant form instead of a simple catering to people's prejudices and limitations.

Is she the only one doing something like this? I don't know. I do hear some "jazz" groups trying to do much the same thing, and I do hear the occasional "pop" artitst who's musically literate enough to approximate some of waht she does. But I've yet to hear anybody do it so naturally or so totally.

What relevance does this have to me as a "jazz" musician? Plenty, really. In the first place, jazz as we've known it isn't dead, but it's on it's way. Has been for quite a while, really. The sociological environment that produced the really real shit is all but over. We can play the various styles of the last 100 years or so with all the sincerity and conviction we can muster and it will still be "good music". But will it be as relevant to the "now" as the originals were? No. Can't be, and won't be.

That may or may not matter to some of us, and that's cool, but to those of us for whom it does, we're faced with the quandary of having acquired all this knowledge and all these skills and not really having an end with which to put them other than holing up in a niche-world and feeling "special" because we've got what we've got. Hey, go for that if you want, but that's not my idea of a good time.

There's a lot of musics that are inthe same awkward position. Jazz is just one of them. There's all these tools to put to use, but what use really matters? Well, Monday's music has a place for damnnear all of them, and the thing I like about it is that it doesn't sound in the leat bit "retro" or "fusion-y". That's because she's got as much of an ear for contemporary music as she does for the older styles. In her stuff, a Joe Henderson-inspired tenor solo on a house track that also has African-derived percussion and phrasing in the vocals just ain't that big of a deal. That's the way she hears that shit.

That's also the way that I think a lot of us are feeling things internally/subconsciously. It's just that we're very much in the midst of a paradigm shift of consciousness right now, and a lot of us aren't quite yet able to hear what it is we're feeling going on around us. And if we can't hear it we can't play it. Or, if we can only partially hear it, we can only partially play it. That's where the various "fusions" come in, I think, the sincere ones anyway.

But Monday feels it and hears it, so she can write it and play it. I've had the reaction more than once of listening to one of her things and not being really blown away by it until I listen closer and suddenly WHOA! Just what the hell IS this? An examination of the "ingredients" reveals that there is no one "style" at play here that dominates over the other. There's a mixture, and if you could take any one of them away, you'd be left with something altogether different in both intent and execution.

This notion of a "unimusic" excites me, because as far as I'm concerned, it's the only logical "next step" not just for music, but for humanity as a whole. Progress, evolution, whatever you want to call it is inevitably a process of thingsgrowing indivdually for as long as is healthy and then eventually losing their specific identity into the formation of a new whole. From there, of course, the process of separation begins anew, but the process is dependent on an eventual assimilation at some point. We're at that point now, I think. Have to be. And "unimusic" is going to be the result. Has to be. Monday's music is just the first (or among the first) to sound the call. There will be a helluva lot more to follow. But right here, right now, somebody's doing it. It's a taste of things to come, again, not just musically, but socio-culturally.

That's what the "big deal" is to me.

whoa, JSngry, that is a very interesting and profound post!! i am applauding you very strongly! thank you for sharing.

[JSngry]

Hold off a few days, Rod. More "content" is coming your way shortly.

[Joe G]

Enjoy a taste of Monday live:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ee2W45rJdrM&sea...onday%20michiru

[Chuck Nessa]

Waiting for Tuesday.

[Joe G]

Waiting for Tuesday.

But Tuesday's just as bad.

[Chuck Nessa]

Waiting for Tuesday.

But Tuesday's just as bad.

Stormy Tuesday?

[Chuck Nessa]

I'm waitin' for someone to 'splain Thursday.

[Spontooneous]

I'm waitin' for someone to 'splain Thursday.

I would, but it's oh so sad.

[Dave James]

Hey, it's Friday. Why don't ya'll go out and play?

Up over and out.

[Dave James]

To not know that the eagle flies on Friday and that one plays on Saturday...well, it just doesn't get much worse than that. I feel shame.

Up over and out.

[JSngry]

Enjoy a taste of Monday live:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ee2W45rJdrM&sea...onday%20michiru

That's Mondo Grosso, who I gather was the premier Japanese "Acid-Jazz" of the 90s. Good stuff, and a group/scene I wouldn't mind checking out at leisure in the future.

But Monday's moved way, way beyond that...

And yeah, today's Saturday, and I do go out and play. For a Memorial Day "extravagnza" featuring a Bob Hope impersonator hosting a "Cavalcade Of Stars" which is also a bunch of "celebrety impersonators".

Don't think I'll be going to church on Sunday, but after all that, you best believe I'll be getting down on my knees to pray...

[Joe G]

Enjoy a taste of Monday live:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ee2W45rJdrM&sea...onday%20michiru

That's Mondo Grosso, who I gather was the premier Japanese "Acid-Jazz" of the 90s. Good stuff, and a group/scene I wouldn't mind checking out at leisure in the future.

But Monday's moved way, way beyond that...

Obviously - I just thought you might like to see her "in motion".

And yeah, today's Saturday, and I do go out and play. For a Memorial Day "extravagnza" featuring a Bob Hope impersonator hosting a "Cavalcade Of Stars" which is also a bunch of "celebrety impersonators".

Don't think I'll be going to church on Sunday, but after all that, you best believe I'll be getting down on my knees to pray...

Tough duty, man.

[JSngry]

I just thought you might like to see her "in motion".

Definitely. That was nice.

[JSngry]

Just picked up Moods, and Chris Potter puts in an incredible cameo on one tune.

I don't even care for Chris Potter (personal preference only, certainly a great player). But DAMN does he sound good here, loose and very intense at the same time.

Dave Kikoski, a player I like a little more, has also done what I think is among his best work on a Monday side, Episodes In Color. Which has me wondering...

Why is it that this type of music (I've been informed by my road partner Ira Bassett this evening that it CAN'T be pop because it's too good ) seems to open these players up in a way that "regular jazz" doesn't? I'd like to say that maybe it's because "regular jazz" is sorta, uh... not really relevant to these guys but they just haven't figured that out yet. But that seems a bit smug and harsh, even if it might accidentally be true...

And if it should accidentally be even only microscopically true (which is probably the point, because, after all, "regular jazz" is forever going to be relevant to every living soul on the planet from now until the end of time, right?) , what might that mean for all the other youngish folks who keep running around trying to establish "straight ahead" cred in the 21st century?

Maybe all it means is that it's easier to be yourself when you don't have the jazz police looking over your shoulder.

Yeah, that's it. NWA had a point after all...

Edited June 4, 2006 by JSngry

[jazzbo]

Cool, nice that you knabbed another one!

I agree entirely about Episodes in Color, and I bet there are other instances in this work.

I think there's another possibility at work. . . the sort of "electric Miles" phenomenum. In my opinion some of the persons involved in putting together Miles' electric albums, and his live shows, played at a level or at least specifically in a manner that they didn't elsewhere. Not really the same exact sort of fusing as is going on in Monday's machinations, but the new situation they faced of making Miles' vision come to reality under his direction seemed to incubate some babolicious playing that was some of their best work (again in my opinion).

In part a responsibility may lie in the charisma or "Yoda"-ship of the leader. Certainly many of these cats responded to Miles' personality and presence with challenged playing and inspired thinking. Perhaps Monday has the same leadership going on. SHE knows the elements that she draws from and stirs them in the bowl and perhaps these cats are just swept along with the strokes of her mixing paddle. I would not be surprised also to discover that both Miles and Monday had/have personal "presences" that are exciting and motivating.

[jazzbo]

I'm amazed at how different, and yet stylistically joined by her talent and leadership and charm, the cds I have been enjoying of hers are.

Right now it's "Delicious Poison" which has such a great mellowness at its core. Great Rhodes and bass work.

[JSngry]

Yeah, Delicious Poison has proven for me to be very much the "stealth" record of the bunch. Dug it ok at first, but it just keeps getting better with every listen...

I'm also just now beginning to realize how much "different, and yet stylistically joined by her talent" also describes her vocals. She doesn't have just one voice, she's got a variety of voices, and the way that she varies them from song to song (and within each song) is pretty amazing. And I'd be hard pressed to name anybody in opo who creates contrapuntal background vocals any better or more diversified, and only a handfull who've done so as well as she has. And it's usually all her, overdubbed, and ina variety of voices, both lead and background.

After a while, the sheer cumulativeness of her talent hits you (or it did me, anyway) like the proverbial ton of bricks. All these great songs, all these great productions, all these great vocals, and it's all her. The productions aren't (almost) exclusively hers until after 1999 or so, but that was seven years ago, and she did do her fair share of self-production prior to that. It's not like this is just a good singer who gets lots of outside help to make it sound good, or just a great songwriter who depends on somebody else to produce her, or just a gifted producer who needs outside songwriting/singing talent to realize their vision. No, she's all of that her ownself.

And its not like there's just one song or one album that "captures her essence" or something like that. They all capture quite nicely the essence of whatever it is they're doing, but each one is, like you said, Lon, different. 4 Seasons is a self-contained masterpiece, but so is Optimista, and so is Episodes In Color. So are almost all of them, and they are all diffeernt yet they are all from the same place.

Hers is a subtle talent, to be sure. But it is also a massive one.

[Joe G]

She was in Chicago not too long ago. Wish I would have known about that beforehand.