Please Vote! Should the Blindfold Test Be Discontinued?

[clifford_thornton]

I could do one later in the year.

[jeffcrom]

When I joined this forum in 2009, the Blindfold Test was one of the things that I was most excited about. For a long time I participated every month, and managed the BFT for four years. I kind of burned out on the BFT - there were a lot of reasons for this, but I don't think that it's just me. I notice that there are many O board members who used to participate in the BFTs that don't anymore. Maybe it's the kind of thing that needs a steady stream of new blood. I just know that I'm done for now.

But it's such a cool thing that I hope it doesn't die, even if I'm not interested in participating (either as a presenter or listener) anytime soon. I would encourage newer members to give it a try.

[Hot Ptah]

Jeff, that is interesting to me that you are burned out on the BFT and do not want to participate because you presented a particularly excellent BFT just a few months ago.

Would you elaborate (either here or in a Private Message to me, a current administrator) as to what caused you to stop wanting to participate? It could be valuable information going forward.

4 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

I could do one later in the year.

Thank you. I will send you a Private Message tomorrow.

5 hours ago, Homefromtheforest said:

Willing to do a BFT this year...

Thank you. I will send you a Private Message tomorrow.

[Dan Gould]

Well I vote "yes keep it going" if only because I have one coming up, not to mention the fact that I've done more of these than anybody else (I think).

Now I've got to buckle down among all the boxes in the new Plant City abode and finish up April so I can send it off.

[paul secor]

Like everything else, if people are interested in setting a test up and/or participating, the blindfold test will continue. If people aren't interested, it will go the way of the album of the album of the week. Simple as that. (Thinking about it, album of the week might have lasted longer if it had been album of the month.)

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Put me down for a BFT this year, but I did one not long ago, I think, so not too early.

Oh, and I like having limits. I spend many a delightful hour toying with my scruples about which tracks to cut to keep within the limit. It makes you think about the audience a bit more - how does it play all together, kind of thing. It doesn't matter where you set the limit.

MG

[Hot Ptah]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

Like everything else, if people are interested in setting a test up and/or participating, the blindfold test will continue. If people aren't interested, it will go the way of the album of the album of the week. Simple as that. (Thinking about it, album of the week might have lasted longer if it had been album of the month.)

Very true. I know that I am as motivated as ever with the BFT. I can't wait to hear the new sounds that I will be introduced to, each month.

paul secor, I think that you would put together a particularly interesting Blindfold Test. Would you do one for us?

25 minutes ago, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

Put me down for a BFT this year, but I did one not long ago, I think, so not too early.

Oh, and I like having limits. I spend many a delightful hour toying with my scruples about which tracks to cut to keep within the limit. It makes you think about the audience a bit more - how does it play all together, kind of thing. It doesn't matter where you set the limit.

MG

I will send you a Private Message today about a test later in the year. Your BFTs are a special treat as you introduce us to areas of music we would never hear otherwise. And your Blindfold Tests are fun! There is nothing wrong with having some fun with this!

i know what you mean about playing around with the tracks. When I put a BFT together I think of it as an album, with a sequence and a flow. At least I try to achieve that! 

Edited March 4, 2016 by Hot Ptah

[jeffcrom]

15 hours ago, Hot Ptah said:

Jeff, that is interesting to me that you are burned out on the BFT and do not want to participate because you presented a particularly excellent BFT just a few months ago.

Would you elaborate (either here or in a Private Message to me, a current administrator) as to what caused you to stop wanting to participate? It could be valuable information going forward.

Oh, it's not anything that would help figure things out in the long run - it's just me.

I tried to put together a good one for that last BFT, but to be honest, by the time it came around, I was regretting that I had signed up to do it. Part of it is the time investment. Everybody plays differently of course, but even to participate as a listener involved a good bit of time the way I did it - multiple listens, and I would pull stuff off my shelves to compare, trying to figure who musicians were. Actually, the BFT was starting to feel like work for me.

And while I discovered some great music via the BFTs, I also spent a lot of time listening to stuff that wasn't very interesting to me, and about which I had nothing to say. (I hope I'm not offending anyone by saying that - again, it's just me.) I've already got far more records and CDs than I can reasonably listen to, and the idea of diverting time away from music that I know I like to music that I didn't choose and may or may not like has become less appealing.

In the end, I think it's a matter of, "That was fun, but I've done it, and don't need to do it again." At least for a while. Some time away might put me in a frame of mind where the BFT would be fun again.

But if Paul presents a BFT, I'm in.

 

Edited March 4, 2016 by jeffcrom

[Hot Ptah]

2 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

Oh, it's not anything that would help figure things out in the long run - it's just me.

I tried to put together a good one for that last BFT, but to be honest, by the time it came around, I was regretting that I had signed up to do it. Part of it is the time investment. Everybody plays differently of course, but even to participate as a listener involved a good bit of time the way I did it - multiple listens, and I would pull stuff off my shelves to compare, trying to figure who musicians were. Actually, the BFT was starting to feel like work for me.

And while I discovered some great music via the BFTs, I also spent a lot of time listening to stuff that wasn't very interesting to me, and about which I had nothing to day. (I hope I'm not offending anyone by saying that - again, it's just me.) I've already got far more records and CDs than I can reasonably listen to, and the idea of diverting time away from music that I know I like to music that I didn't choose and may or may not like has become less appealing.

In the end, I think it's a matter of, "That was fun, but I've done it, and don't need to do it again." At least for a while. Some time away might put me in a frame of mind where the BFT would be fun again.

But if Paul presents a BFT, I'm in.

 

Thanks for the input. I think that we have all had varied reactions to the music on the BFTs. I know that some of it is immediately compelling to me, some of it is instantly forgettable, and some is intriguing and I want to learn more. I still feel a sense of adventure about the BFTs.

paul secor, that is quite a compliment that Jeffcrom has given you.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Hot Ptah

[paul secor]

1 hour ago, Hot Ptah said:

Thanks for the input. I think that we have all had varied reactions to the music on the BFTs. I know that some of it is immediately compelling to me, some of it is instantly forgettable, and some is intriguing and I want to learn more. I still feel a sense of adventure about the BFTs.

paul secor, that is quite a compliment that Jeffcrom has given you.

I do appreciate the compliment that Jeff (and you) gave me - high praise coming from the likes of both of you. I just don't feel that I have it in me to do it right now. Thanks again to both of you for the compliments.

[Joe]

Keep it going!

I should be able to 'host' one later this year. Like, August.

[Hot Ptah]

32 minutes ago, Joe said:

Keep it going!

I should be able to 'host' one later this year. Like, August.

Thanks Joe! I will send you a private message to get you scheduled!

[Joe]

25 minutes ago, Hot Ptah said:

Thanks Joe! I will send you a private message to get you scheduled!

Right on. And I will confine myself to 10 - 12 tracks this go 'round.

[JSngry]

Whenever I get mine together, it's gonna have Mel Powell on it.

Probably.

[mikeweil]

It's a question of time for me, too - I simply cannot find the time to listen to two hours of music - all things considered, I'd vote for a 45 to sixty minutes playing time limit, like in the old days of LPs. maybe that would help. Or a bi-monthly test?

[felser]

The long tests with a lot of cuts can be daunting to me.  If there are fewer cuts, I don't mind if they run long.  Better a 120 minute BFT with 12 cuts than a 95 minute BFT with 20 cuts.   If I don't like a cut, and don't really have much to say about it, I often don't listen to the whole cut, I may page forward to see if anything changes drastically, and if not, I move on.  I would be in favor of 80 minutes max (I limit mine to that - one disc), though I got a lot out of Jeff's three-headed BFT and homeintheforest's 2 disc BFT.

[mjzee]

I vote to continue.  

I've only participated in one, and here are my impressions:  I agree with a time limit (45 - 60 minutes).  It seems the current goal is to present obscure cuts to see if the listener can identify the musicians, who can also be very obscure.  Maybe many enjoy this sort of exercise; I kept saying to myself "I don't know this one...no idea...I have nothing to say here."  It's not a lot of fun to be shown up by people who can identify them and put them in historic context.  My response is: what am I doing here?  But also, is the focus on the music or the obscurity?  This is dovetailing with my project this year, which is to not buy music but to get in touch with the collection I already own - relistening rather than listening.  So if it's just a game of "identify this obscure musician," then it's not that much fun to me.  But if we could share more identifiable music, with the goal of discussing what the music means to us, then that might be much more enjoyable.

[JSngry]

I enjoy unfamiliar music, and then figuring out why I may or may not like it without being able to "project" established feeling onto easily recognizable players. For example, if I hear Lockjaw on a cut, whoa, it's gonna be a variant on my Reflexive Lockjaw Response, because hey, Lockjaw, right? But I hear some shit on these things that I have no earthly idea who it might be, and then...well, ok, how am I feeling about this, hmmm?

True objectivity can be a real bitch sometimes, ya' know?

Also, I like those cuts where you hear a seemingly familiar voice in an unfamiliar setting, those are fun too, becuase you think you know the voice, but are you really, really sure?

What sucks is when you get a bunch of totally unfamiliar stuff that doesn't engage you at all, what soars is where you get a bunch of totally unfamiliar stuff that you really dig. New doors opened!

Point just being, the tricky/scorecard/Guess Who? thing is not where the fun in these things is for me. YMMV, etc.

[Homefromtheforest]

10 hours ago, felser said:

The long tests with a lot of cuts can be daunting to me.  If there are fewer cuts, I don't mind if they run long.  Better a 120 minute BFT with 12 cuts than a 95 minute BFT with 20 cuts.   If I don't like a cut, and don't really have much to say about it, I often don't listen to the whole cut, I may page forward to see if anything changes drastically, and if not, I move on.  I would be in favor of 80 minutes max (I limit mine to that - one disc), though I got a lot out of Jeff's three-headed BFT and homeintheforest's 2 disc BFT.

In my defence it was only 2 discs by about 1 or 2 mins   

I think it was just over 80!

But yeah I'll try to keep it around an hour next time 

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

18 hours ago, mjzee said:

I vote to continue.  

I've only participated in one, and here are my impressions:  I agree with a time limit (45 - 60 minutes).  It seems the current goal is to present obscure cuts to see if the listener can identify the musicians, who can also be very obscure.  Maybe many enjoy this sort of exercise; I kept saying to myself "I don't know this one...no idea...I have nothing to say here."  It's not a lot of fun to be shown up by people who can identify them and put them in historic context.  My response is: what am I doing here?  But also, is the focus on the music or the obscurity?  This is dovetailing with my project this year, which is to not buy music but to get in touch with the collection I already own - relistening rather than listening.  So if it's just a game of "identify this obscure musician," then it's not that much fun to me.  But if we could share more identifiable music, with the goal of discussing what the music means to us, then that might be much more enjoyable.

I think this is a valid and interesting point. I probably put more what people may think of as obscure musicians in my BFTs than most - because I'm not shy about putting in stuff from West and South Africa and the Caribbean. (Though those people are not, generally obscure; they usually occupy heroic positions in their own kinds of music.) But my view is that people who like jazz a lot can easily get the music from those parts of the world, because it's as hugely influenced by jazz as US R&B; it just comes out as something else, as the prevailing culture strikes it - and as R&B does.

But I also like putting in well known names doing different stuff or working in different contexts.

But that's just me. What do you'all think, folks?

MG

[Hot Ptah]

5 hours ago, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

I think this is a valid and interesting point. I probably put more what people may think of as obscure musicians in my BFTs than most - because I'm not shy about putting in stuff from West and South Africa and the Caribbean. (Though those people are not, generally obscure; they usually occupy heroic positions in their own kinds of music.) But my view is that people who like jazz a lot can easily get the music from those parts of the world, because it's as hugely influenced by jazz as US R&B; it just comes out as something else, as the prevailing culture strikes it - and as R&B does.

But I also like putting in well known names doing different stuff or working in different contexts.

But that's just me. What do you'all think, folks?

MG

I think your African and Caribbean tracks are great. I think if the music is fun and immediately compelling, the obscurity does not matter so much.

Something I wonder-despite our elevated levels of taste, it seems to me that fun, soulful, swinging and immediately compelling tracks go over well on Blindfold Tests. Slow, ponderous explorations into quiet, dissonant textures, without immediately discernible melodic or rhythmic content, which go on for more than seven minutes, do not seem to be as well received. At least that is my theory. What does everyone think!

[felser]

The best part of a BFT experience for me is if I am knocked out by a new name, and am able to easily find affordable stuff by them.  Masabumi Kikuchi was the ultimate example of this for me, but there were also some things on Stefan Wood's last BFT that fit the bill.  But stuff I find unlistenable by names I've never heard of is the worst part of a BFT experience, so it's all a mixed bag.  Another frustration is discovering a new name whose music sounds great, but then finding out it's only available on an $80 album that went out of print in 1974, or whatever.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

42 minutes ago, Hot Ptah said:

I think your African and Caribbean tracks are great. I think if the music is fun and immediately compelling, the obscurity does not matter so much.

Something I wonder-despite our elevated levels of taste, it seems to me that fun, soulful, swinging and immediately compelling tracks go over well on Blindfold Tests. Slow, ponderous explorations into quiet, dissonant textures, without immediately discernible melodic or rhythmic content, which go on for more than seven minutes, do not seem to be as well received. At least that is my theory. What does everyone think!

Thank you BIll

MG

[Hot Ptah]

What does everyone find unlike able or unlistenable in a Blindfold Test?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Jazz

MG