joeface

Well, thinking about it some more, this little cosmos is topped off with NYC, the most visually recognizable urban area in the world, thereby transporting the real world (a specific time and place we might idealize or at least apprehend its signfigance) right smack onto this constructed world. By that we are drawn in very efficiently. That's an intelligent idea. Also, the breakdown of the visual construction guides us through the format of the tune. Melody build, expansion and colorful elaborations, back to melodic foundation, dissipation. I think this little film describes to a degree what Pat Metheny talks about in that article quoted in that other thread, i.e.: That's why, perhaps, we eventually get to this big picture of the NYC cluster as the 'top build'. j

Wow, I really like these kinds of things, even if the attempt was not completely successful to my liking. What I mean is that for this to really work for me, I would have preferred an additional layer of abstraction between music concept and visual concept (which, paradoxically would have drawn the viewer even deeper into the little cosmos at work). As it stands, too much of a direct correlation between a song about making steps set to the visible formation of steps. But nevertheless, this gives an approxomation of what a listener's imagination might construct from the music just based on the 'color' of the music and the song title. Very nice.

When I listen to Brian Blade Fellowship (both CD's), I feel like I am hearing jazz through a folk grid. But I mean that in a good way. I suppose the pedal steel, Daniel Lanois production, and Joni Mitchell guest vocals have something to do with it as well. I'm curious what other jazz artists bring the two together in this way. j

"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. And you can never... capture it... again" :> j