JSngry

Didn't we both matriculate there?

Guess I was in the right place at the right time, although then, it seemed anything but. The 64-70 progression from Beatles to Hendirx to Zappa (with R&B playing steadily in the background) made the discovery of jazz at age 14 seem like the next logical step, as did the then presence of the popular "jazz-rock" horm bands. Throw in a school band program led by a club-date player w/a love for the music and a department store that was overflowing w/a seemingly endless supply of dirt-cheap jazz cutouts, and you got what in retrospect seems like destiny, even if it was in on of the most god-forsaken, backass portions on the Newknbighted States of Murrica. So, Danielle, you're 14 now.You've got approximately 10 years to set your course in life before it gets kinda "set" to the point where making meaningful changes starts getting more difficult with each tick of the clock. Don't fuck up, ok?

Exactly.

I was actually thinking that this might be a good time to start the Organissimo Dating Service...

[Many also think I'm crazy for having law degrees and working as a musician... ] Ironically enough, last month I worked two different gigs with two different bassists, both of whom were practicing lawyers. They acted like they didn't need the money...

I think it would've been hipper if Reagan hadn't been so well understood.

Dude, did you know that you're a doctor?

I understood Reagan perfectly well. Did that make him hip?

Didn't mean it to be cryptic. Sorry. But just think about it - notation, theory, composition, those are all "tools" geared towards steering the creative impulse into a certain "means of expression". Doesn't mean it's "bad" or anything. but why do you need theory except as a reference point as to how things are "supposed" to sound? Why do you need notation except as a means to ensure that a certain idea gets reproduced past the moment of inspiration? Why do you need composition except as a means to create an structure of order and then preserve it? (And why preserve it? Plenty of answers to that one, some benign, some not). Again, those are all useful tools. But tools they nevertheless are. And tools are used to build. And where there's building, eventually there's zoning. And when there's zoning, the nature/impulse of the building process can't help but change, especially as the years pass and things get old and crowded. You're not building for the sake/joy of building anymore, you're looking to build something that will pass spec. And damn do those tools come in handy for that! So handy that you can buy hammers and shit at freakin' grocery stores and 7-11s now. It's taken centuries for us to get to this point, but here we are. It's inevitable, and it's nothing to get freaked about, I don't think. As one cycle ends, another begins, and the overlap will probably be a lengthy one, and may never completely disappear. But it's probably time to consider the notion that the old buildings are going to crumble and fall, and that maybe people aren't going to want or need buildings anymore. Or if they do, not the same type buidings with the same functions as the old ones. Sense of place is by no means a fixed quantity, doncha' know, and what are buildings except firm declarations of fixed space? That's probably cryptic too, and again, sorry 'bout that. But think about it anyways, ok?

Perhaps...but I guess the important thing about an interactive, 'real' environment such as the jam session is that one learns the context etc. for learned techniques, whereas in (cyber-)isolation/the isolation of the music college, there's the increased danger of painting by numbers. I'd not count on cyber-isolation staying "isolated" into perpetuity, even though I (and possibly you) may not live long enough to see it become all it can be. Between virtual reality & teleconferencing technologies and the evolutions/progresses/whatevers/etcs. they're bound to make, who knows what can happen? And as for music college, well, GIGO, and all that. Harsh, perhaps, but ultimately true.

Does that go good with a traditional Italian cuisine? But of course!

Saxophonists.

How about a 1956 Ed Norton instead?

otoh. something like learnlicks.com could be viewed as just an extension of the "community of musicians", a place where players get together and trade/explore ideas in an unfettered environment. Kind of like a cyber-Minton's. Why not? That's the way most of the world is now - connected and global. What it "is" will be entirely dependent on who's "there" and what they do with it. In that regard, no change at all.

I suppose it's also worth pondering how the various means of "performance preservation", from notation to recording have altered/evolved the need/motivation for "replication". To be blunt about it, if we have recordings of Charlie Parker, what is the "need" for playing bebop in 2006? Sure, there's any number of cases to be made, but I think they essentially all come down to "preservation" instead of "real time informational transfer" a lot more than they would if there had been no recordings. Which is almost comically ironic, becuase what you're then trying to "preserve" is something that most of us now (or soon will) only know in "preserved" form! We have the original in as best a form as can be had. And let's go back to, say, Bach & notation. If history is to be believed, improvisation was highly valued in Bach's time. But what's survived? The notation, the idea and means of replication. You can buy that shit damn near anywhere, right? Bach in a book, Bach on a record, Bock on an iPod. hey, if you want it, you got it. And if you want to learn how to play it, what do you do? You buy the notation, which is in itself a replication, and learn to replicate it further. Or you learn to program it. Either way... What is learnlicks.com? A repository of replications made available for further replication. Other than it not being Bach or Bird or somebody like that, I say it's the cycle continuing. Look elsewhere for "real music", no matter where else the "elsewhere" might end up being.

Work with them as the say, and see what happens. I've had an order or two similarly delayed, and they always showed up eventually, and within the time-frame of consideration they requested. I've got no reason to believe that if your stuff doesn't hit by then that they'll not honor their word.

Of seeing music as being something that's made by using a set of codified "tools", including theory, notation, and written compositions meant to be re-played. All of these things are geared at least as much towards standardized replication of one kind/thing or another as they are to spontaneous creation of the spirit. Which is not to say that they haven't been without use. Obviously they have. But eventually, the tools too often have become an end to themselves. And things like those mentioned in the opening post are the inevitable result. After all, what are they if not just another set of "tools" meant to facilitate replication? "End" of a cycle might not be the best way to put it. "Inevitable next step" in that cycle might be better. Goes to do more with mindset than anything else. But I will say this - when "real musicians" stop making "real music", it might be time to see what the "non-musicians" can come/are coming up with. Because the spirit of "real music" doesn't give a damn who it channels through. It doesn't look at resumes and pedigrees. It just goes where it wants to go. And it won't ever die.

They oughta call the team the Crazylittlewomen.

Ok, let's do this thing! TRACK ONE - More from the Opera House. This is a fine tune, one of Tony's latter-day best, I think, beautifully constructed bridge (and damn near anybody can write a good A-Section, it's the motherfuckers who deal with bridges that get my most enthusiastic songwriting props. In other words, it's a hell of a lot harder to take a song on a trip than it is to just stand it on a corner in sharp looking clothes, although there's something to be said for doing the latter if you do it really well and make it really sharp. Sometimes it's just as cool to be the destination as it is to take the trip. But anyway, I digress...) but this rendition is a little bit light. This trumpeter recorded it again, and I prefer that version, even to Tony's own. Wayne's playing in Weather Report mode here, serving more to frame the ensemble than to lead it, but the rest of the ensemble ain't thinking like that, so the whole thing is just a little unfocused. But it's all good, and this side still needs reissuing. TRACK TWO - It have been a while, but I believe this to be from Knucklebean. This one shoulda been reissued a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago. TRACK THREE - a cut from The Age Of Steam that I had loooooooooooooooooooooooooong forgottten about. I know this is out on CD again, and I keep forgetting that it is. Stupid me! Damn fine record, and a document of a moment in L.A. when jazz and pop/rock were intermingling in overtly commercial yet intrinsically naturally musical ways that was a logical extension of what was going on in the studios. How that differed from the "West Coast Jazz" of 20 years earlier is a point I've not yet heard made, convincingly or otherwise, so I gotta think that it's true. Let people be who they are, let them go where they'll go, and good, if not necessarily "deep", music will get made. Besides, deep people will make deep music, regardless of "style". So why all the fuss? TRACK FOUR - Harold Land on Muse. I dig Harold Land, all the way thru. Harold never stopped growing and evolving. In his own quiet way, he needed to be continually relevant to himself, and god bless him for that, even if it lead to some awkward-ish moments along the way. Oh well. The price you gotta pay, and all that. This ain't earth-shattering, but I can feel the soul. Good enough. TRACK FIVE - Oh my! This is not good! And yet....I enjoyed it. Dan's liable to hurl a blunt object with a shapr projectile on the end of it thru cyberspace , but I swear this sounds like Gene Harris! I know he made some early 70s BN sides where he used "keyboards". I've never heard any of those, but I could hear this being something like that. TRACK SIX - Oh my! AGAIN! What is this, Esquivel arranging for Enoch Light masquerading as a 70s Ted Heath album on Project Command 4 London? Thing is...it's a really interesting -and difficult - arrangement (even the gimmicks are interesting), and it's really well played. That band ain't fukkin' around, and when it comes time to play "regular", they're there. I could almost go Mancini on this, but Mancini never played it this wack. Whover it is, it's fun, it's goofy, it's goofy fun, and it ain't no bullshit. Big props. TRACK SEVEN - The step-father of greatness! Previous comments about Lew already made. Took me a while to fully appreciate him. Still not one of my "desert island" players, but if he washed up on the shore after a sunami, he'd certainly be welcome. Cat can play, that's for sure! And tenor trio, hey.... TRACK EIGHT - Kind of an early-70s Crusaders thing, but I don't think it's them, no horns. It's pretty lite, but it doesn't sound fake, so let's party. I like how the drummer's playing ride most of the way. That wouldn't last for too much longer. Wild guess - is this the Cool Aid Chemists? TRACK NINE - Hmmmm....sounds like a Steve Miller song... TRACK TEN - Johnny Hartman, obviously, but I don't know the album. Sonds pretty good. Oh shit...I just found it on AMG, and this is one of those LPs I've bought in the last two or so years but just haven't got around to listening to yet. Isn't that special... TRACK ELEVEN - Land/Hutch, I think. Maybe from one of Harold's Mainstream sides. Production is loose, almost ragged, but flaws and all, I'll take it. Not too much of it, but I'll take it. Call me easy. Live, I bet this shit was a groove. But the drummer needs...to relax. A little. That would have worked wonders. TRACK TWELVE - No idea, sounds familiar. Good stuff. Cat's speaking the language. Sounds somewhat Moody-influenced, but not Moody, I don't think (therefore I ain't). Everybody sounds comfortable, if a tad agoraphobic. But no biggie. Probably from a different time than today, and that matters. Sounds like good peoples. TRACK THIRTEEN - Tonight! At Noon! Damn, this is some badass shit here. No wonder they kept it in the can for a few years, this would've killed some motherfuckers. Shafi Hadi, y'all! You know, I rail against stuff like fear, complacency, living in a cave, easy acquiesesnce to "style", stuff like that, and geez Jim, do you still even LIKE jazz? Well, hell. Here it is - life, pure life, and it sure sounds like jazz to me. So yeah, I still LIKE jazz. But I like life more. Great when you get both in the same package, ain't it? TRACK FOURTEEN - How are things in your town? TRACK FIFTEEN - Well, ok. I was thinking some Carla Bley bit of wryness I'd not yet heard, got to detectivizing, and found out the real deal. At least they were both on ECM! Knowing who this is, I wonder if the humor I feel is as much as was intended. Who knows? Great way to end a side, that's all I know for sure. Thanks, Ray. I think this disc was my favorite of the two. All in all, a most pleasurable 2-CD excursion!

Did somebody say, "WAKE UP!"? I believe they did...

Or just the inevitable end of a centuries long cycle?

Well, yeah, I was a bit strong in my reaction, but sincere neverhteless. For any number of reasons, I've been becoming increasingly revulsed (yeah, revulsed) by the all-too-common mindset of all-too-many "jazz people" that you prove your hipness by belittling the un-hip. I mean, yeah, ok, some folks are totally un-hip and can make make life a drag for the rest of us, but unless they're doing it intentionally/maliciously, I can't hate them just for being who they are. It takes all types, and those folks got lives and souls just the same as anybody else. So how "hip" is it to belittle them, especially if it's in the spirit of thinking that you somehow get built up by tearing down? If anything, I think it's terribly unhip... Now. "tweaking" I can certainly understand. And outright anger I can also relate too. But those are both actions rooted in love, I think. The notion of picking on somebody "smaller" (perceived or otherwise) than yourself, though, that's just old-fashioned bullying, and I think we all know what's inside the psyche of a bully. It sure ain't love. And a jazz bully? Hey - look around, Mr. & Mrs. Hip, it ain't exactly your world anymore, is it? Not even the hip parts, unless you consider dead or near-dead excursions to a mid-20th Century esthetic to be "hip". Is the world passing you by? Quite possibly. So who the phuck are you to be making fun of other people who the world's passed by? You're one of them now. Maybe that's not what the intent of this piece was, and maybe I just took it too personal, projecting onto it a lot of shit I've been examining in my world lately. Entirely possible. But right or wrong, that's how it hit me anyways.