JSngry

Roy Ayers plays a mean cowbell. Who knew?

It was, and I have an ongoing problem with never being able to find it when looking for "Chicago" on the spine. Go figure. But that's one helluva record.

I've had three spate reactions to the "Big 3" - Schoenberg was never really stirring for me until recently, and when it started to be, it was due to - surprise! - readings/interpretations that focused on the music, not the math. Funny how that works... Webern used to actually piss me off, make me angry. I've come off that now, but still need to hear the "right" interpretation. But now, I am open. The one that turned me around was a Chicago Symphony thing that Organissimo's Own Larry Kart (The Dean Of Online Music Critics) hipped me to. That one literally stopped me dead in my tracks and made me reconsider everything about Webern, just...reset button pushed. Berg has always sounded good to me. He just has. So, I don't buy the notion that any one "system" is inherently going to kill music. If Schuller was conscientiously calling anything out, it should not have been Schoenberg's methods, it should have been the mindless literal systemic(?) devotion to that system - any system - at the expense of personality, imagination, you know, basic humanity. It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

If you get rigid/strict about any damn thing it gets ruined. Nothing takes the place of imagination. If you find blame in the technique, but not in your own imagination, again, it's a poor craftsman that blames his tools. And don't worry. I've never let Gunther Schuller bother me too much about anything. I will say, though, that his liner notes to the Buster Smith album are some of the funniest things I've ever read on the back (or front!) of a record.

Maybe the problem wsn't "emptying" the concert halls as much as it was not being able to turn the house over. Just as the accusations were made that the "avant-garde" of jazz killed the club business. Well, maybe the problem was that the clubs were based on a model of alcohol, drugs, hookers, all sorts of illicit behavior. So, you're going to blame music that has no desire to represent in that environment - and by implication, listeners who prefer not to be in that environment - for your business' distress that arises when people stay away? Like, this music should only be allowed for/to people who want what we have to offer? "Concert halls", "Classical Music", those are all the "clubs" of a certain socio-economic business model, for provider & consumer alike. If/When music is made that is not at all rooted in that model and people indeed do not show up for it, well, you know, if I want to go to a rodeo and all that's in town is a movie, yeah, I'll stay home. Having said that, though, what I have heard of of this mid-century "academic" music mostly sucks. And I've also been made aware of the mind-fucking that was going on in composition classes, so that part of it, yeah, no argument there. But jesuschriosto, that's kind of want "academic" environments do, isn't it? Set up their own circles of tyrannical fiefdoms and reward blind servitude? You think it doesn't happen in other disciplines, inclucing/especially including "jazz education", especially at the university level? Of course there are exceptions, but they are just that - exceptions. I don't see what any of that has to do with Schoenberg or his techniques. I do see how it has everything to do with people with high ambition and low imagination being turned loose with no accountability from anyplace but their own echo chamber. There is an audience for "different" "classical" music, and when it is organized & presented right, it survives and, maybe not thrives, but survives. Good enough. Case in point: http://www.voicesofchange.org/index.html

Yes you can! What kind of pain is he in? I sure hate to hear that.

I'm being asked to turn off my ad-blocker to read this article. I will not do that. What is the gist?

The violin concerto...talk about thematic unity!

found on a blog. MOR all the way, but there are little bits of quirk here and there, and on this one, the bits are bigger than little.

There's a Lutheran Church I pass every day going to and from work. It has a sign out front that says "FREE BAPTISMS", in three languages. That makes me laugh in a somewhat uncomfortable way, as does the notion that organizing your computational materials with a system that allows more or less countless mutations is some how more restrictive than organizing your improvisational material around song forms that organically dictate time and place in a most rigid cyclical way. Either way, when the results suck, what's the old saying...It's a poor craftsman that blames his tools.

Well, there you go. Fuck him and anything he feels entitled to say because, you know, art/crazy people NOT LIKE US, you know, foreign names that end in "berg", MAGA everywhere there is a whiff of difference. Fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him. And then, fuck him. Plus - an imaginative mind can make good music out of anything, just as a mediocre mind will make mediocre music. This thing about placing the blame for mediocrity or worse on anything other than the people doing it is not gonna make it, it absolves people of responsibility, well, you know, if I hadn't have been do damned tied up in that twelve tone system, I could probably have written some better music, and no motherfucker, you wouldn't. If you had it in you, you'd have done it no matter what.

How much money? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_November

I still like it, and the label is still offering it for sale. I don't know, objectively, what "good music" is other than are people saying what they want to say the way they want to say it. That certainly seems to be the case here. After that, you have to decide for yourself. Now, is it good lawyering? On Denardo's side, sure doesn't seem to be. Or else the suit was not all that serious to begin with.

This is the only cut not "blocked in country": Nothing in that one for me. However, I did find this, apparently another 45 not put on LP? It's crazy/dry enough to work for me well enough. Sounds like music for a Bob Fosse number.

12-12-2017: Case dismissed with prejudice on procedural grounds. If I read correctly, Denardo filed the suit as Ornette's guardian. Then Ornette died, and Denardo needed to ammend the filing to reflect that he was executor of the estate, For whatever reason, that never happened, and after several failed attempts by the court to get him toi get that in place, the defendants requested dismissal for failure to prosecute. The judge concurred, https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2015cv03868/442348/76/

Lulu works best with the visual (the DVD with Petibon is amazing!). I imagine Wozzeck would be the same way. Frankly, I think any opera would.

Your poor folks' Tom Leher video guy used Schoenberg & Alban Berg because they rhymed. Clever of him, but not too bright. And then I thought I heard Stravinskly's name mentioned as well. The guy is clever, but pretty much an idiot. And he's beating a dead horse. "12 Tone" has been dead for a bit now. Things have moved on, and have been moved on for about 40 years or so. All that's missing from the video to make the portrait of a resentful damaged stooge complete is a nice red MCMGA hat. And I guarandamntee you, if I EVER get a change to see this live, my butt will be in the seat.

That cover is perhaps the most extreme case of dissociative identity disorder in ECM history...the music is nothing like the cover, thank god. The music is actually VERY ECM-ish, in the good way. I'd be more than happy if Lovano makes more records coming from this place, and starts asking ECM to give them covers that match,

I listened to this BFT while falling asleep last night. It sounded like on pretty cohesive album, all by the same band, with a few guest artists here and there. But I tyhought it was interesting that the whole thing held together as one album. Maybe that was the Ambien listening and I'll never hear that again, but the one ttime, it was cool. And I think there was some Zappa at the end, something form Waka Jawaka or that time? It sounded like another look at what was "Aybee Sea" from Burnt Weenie. But by that time, I was almost fully asleep, so maybe there was none of that really happening. Oh, and the tenor player on "Stranger In Paradise" bugged me by boinking that low note every time around. Pretty sure that was a choice, but a poor one. And if it wasn't a choice, go see a repairman. Apart from that, it was a pretty cool way to her the compilation, and it was cool that the compilation presented itself that way.

For those cases, I would refer you here:

Recommended.

GIL MELLE VIDEO! Thanks to Rod for calling this out!

Should've done this the first time, if that had been possible.