Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
So many responses and comments regarding Terry Teachout’s “Can Jazz Be Saved?” post out there. Still more coming in daily.
Like this from Ramsey Lewis:
“…Diz was overheard telling Bird that “We better be careful ’cause it seems like less people are dancing than before.”
Even then, some jazz musicians desired to become artists and forsake entertainment. Some, however, found a way to do both without sacrificing their integrity, but alas, not enough of us.
The art of talking to and interacting with one’s audience does not cost an artist any loss of respect. On the contrary, it adds to the audience’s overall experience of the music.”
I’ve certainly felt this way before. But really only at the most polarizing of concerts — shows where the leader of the group refuses to acknowledge the audience in any way or say anything to them. I have to say that those few times I can think of, the music itself wasn’t very good to begin with, and being mindful of the audience I don’t think could have saved it.
I’m wondering how important it is for our readers — those who attend concerts regularly — for there to be a level of entertainment aside from listening to and watching the players play. Any thoughts?
Regardless, the conversation happening almost everywhere on the web is one to keep your eyes on.
A few rock-related links to pass on in case you’re interested…
New Radiohead Tune Leaked – “These Are My Twisted Words?“
Jonny from Dead Air Space: So here’s a new song, called ‘These Are My Twisted Words’.
We’ve been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished. We’re pretty proud of it.
There’s other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we’ve been practicing, and which we’ll probably play at this summer’s concerts. Hope you like it.
It seems they actually leaked it. Perhaps a piece of the “great idea” Thom mentioned in a recent interview. Never a dull moment with those guys.
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New Jim O’Rourke Album – “The Visitor”
Stream a preview of a track at the new Drag City website. More details to follow, I’m sure.
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From boingboing.com – New Jersey police detained 68-year old American music star Bob Dylan recently, after a young officer failed to recognize him. A disheveled Dylan was wearing a hoodie, wandering around in the rain looking at a house for sale. The 24-year-old female officer was responding to a phone call from the occupants of a home that had a “For Sale” sign on it. The residents were called in with a report of an “eccentric-looking old man” in their yard .
Greatly saddened by the passing – but uplifted by the nonstop music at WKCR. Listen live here.
Always interested in new formats around here.
CMX was just announced and it looks pretty cool to me, though I haven’t seen any details on sound quality and the like. Here’s what “a label insider” told the Times Online:
“[CMX] will be a file that you click on, it opens and it would have a totally brand-new look, with a launch page and all the different options. When you click on it you’re not just going to get the ten tracks, you’re going to get the artwork, the video and mobile products.”
Here’s hoping that the major labels will start signing bands that can fill up the CMX with 10 good tracks. If not, we’re back at square-one with no one buying albums because there are only 2 tunes they want.
And another new format came to my attention via WFMU’s blog.
Much in the same way itunes dismantled the notion that paying $16 for a cd with 2 good songs on it was a good idea, songparts goes a step further and argues that even $.99 is too much to pay for that one part of a song you really like. Instead why not fork over $.06 for the “Best line in Steely Dan’s ‘Kid Charlemagne’ looped for your convenience” or the “Gluten, gleebun, glauten, globen” intro from Def Leppard.
The majors recently bought a 17% stake in Spotify, the much loved (but Europe only) music subscription service and one can only hope they can get on board with these guys too…. I give the site about a week to live.
Songparts seems like something that won’t catch on, but I’ve been surprised before. I know I wouldn’t want to buy just a piece of a tune. Even if it is the ripping solo from Kid Charlemagne. Wonder how much they’d charge for just the turnaround?
Patrick Jarenwattananon is updating us with his rundown of the Newport Festival at A Blog Supreme. Two interesting topics to read his thoughts on besides the music — Where Were The Young People At Your Last Concert?, and Can Jazz Be Saved? (Is That A Useful Question?).
In the Where were the Young People…, he writes:
I didn’t think I’d ever see Chicago free jazz at Newport. (More on that act in a later post.) But this band, one of Ken Vandermark’s most approachable, brought distorted, punk-ish backbeats as an anchor. Some younger folks didn’t appreciate it, but there were a lot of heads nodding. Including an old lady standing next to me.
Being that I’m in his hometown I have seen Vandermark play dozens of times with a few of his bands. The majority of those shows haven’t included more than 5 people over 40. I’ve often wondered why that was. Reading this just threw me for a loop. Patrick, come see Powerhouse Sound play in Chicago. You’ll be surprised how many young’n’s are there.
Thanks also for pointing me to the 15 Steps / Take 5 mashup…
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More tidbits on the Festival via Jim Macnie’s Lament For A Straight Line (thanks to Accujazz’s Twitter for keeping me updated with hundreds of worthy links to check out).
Very interesting interview with Australian trumpet genius Scott Tinkler. Get yourself past the rather puzzling intro – Scott has some intriguing musical concepts he’s applying in his music. And he shares many of them here.
Really great interview with Nate Wooley at Bagatellen. A candid and comprehensive view of the creative life of this brilliant trumpeter and improviser.
Also, in the comments, trumpeter Stephen Haynes points out that musician-composer-trumpeter Bill Dixon is can now be located on Facebook.
A somewhat nerdy post…
Bill Gates is offering up a series of lectures by noted physicist Richard Feynman from 1964. Here’s Bill…
First and foremost, I have no pretensions of being the Blogging Expert on Science. But this excites me. It excites me in the same way the web is opening up education in other subjects, specifically in music — streamable lessons on youtube, live feeds from classrooms for students, etc.
I remember seeing the NOVA special on String Theory (available in it’s entirety here) and it being the first time I was able to (somewhat) understand what all those numbers and symbols meant. The narrator of that — Brian Greene — put things simply and in a way people could understand (for the most part). Feynman, from what I’ve read and watched, seems to have been that guy for his generation. He was able to put the very abstract ideas of physics in a more concrete terms.
Highly recommend checking out Project Tuva (keep typing “Tuba” as with the Brass Ecstasy lineup). It’s up an running at Microsoft Research website.
More non-nerdy posts soon…
I think it’s safe for me to say that my favorite jazz guitarist is Bill Frisell. McLaughlin being a close second. I haven’t heard a Frisell album that I haven’t loved yet. And his new one is no exception. NPR Music is streaming that record, Disfarmer, [Nonesuch Preorder Link] with an interesting set article titled “Is Bill Frisell A ‘Post-Americana Artist?”
I don’t think I care to throw my hat in on that question, but I will say that his Americana-themed work is some of my favorite. Being a guitar player myself and working with a few folk-ier songwriters in the past few years, these records – Blues Dream, Nashville, Good Dog, Happy Man, to name a few – have been a great reference for hearing how a simple progression or melody can be turned into something that transcends those changes. That is, in the hands of a master musician like Frisell.
I still from time to time learn his forms and melodies. I’m sure I’ll get going on Disfarmer when I get my copy. Funny how I always feel the need to break out my Anthology of American Folk Music box to hear tunes like “The Butcher’s Boy” (see the Elvis Costello cover) or play through “Frankie,” after I hear these records. Lots of great tunes on that box. It gets my highest of recommendations.
Anyway, great article/review over there. Definitely worth the read. And certainly worth the listen. Here’s an excerpt.
“Really, I see Frisell as part of a larger wave of postmodernism sweeping over jazz. Once the idea of stylistic linear progress (Armstrong begat Eldridge begat Gillespie, etc) exploded into a thousand different directions sometime around 1970, and now that we even have such a thing as The Jazz Canon to talk about, and now that we’re getting closer to having all recorded music ever available on demand, jazz musicians today feel liberated to mix and match their influences.”
Amen.
I have been wanting to do a post like this for awhile now. Thanks to Ethan @ Do The Math for posting his finds and putting the idea back into my head.
The record store is still a place where I love to hang. Music you don’t usually know playing a little too loud while you dive into the bins trying to find the deal of the century – you know, that original mono pressing of an early Zappa album for $.99. More likely, you’ll be luckier with that at a thrift shop where things like that slip through the cracks. Maybe it’s my love of High Fidelity that keeps me going in. Or maybe it’s just that I’m one of those guys who still loves the feeling you get when you drop the needle or press play on something you’ve never heard.
With everyone saying that retail is dead, I’ve been making a concerted effort to support at least 2 of my 4 favorite Chicago record stores every month – Dusty Groove on Ashland, Permanent Records on Chicago Ave, Reckless Records (all 3 locations), and of course Jazz Record Mart. Not that I continue to grasp at the music industry of the past. I just really dig the time spent there. Records stores are like my saloon, I guess – I spend a little too much time there, and when I get home, sometimes I can’t figure out where all my money went. And lately, each of these stores have had a lot of people shopping. Good to see.
Anyway, this past weekend, I went to Permanent and the Reckless on Broadway. My finds are below.
