The Music Thread
- Thread starter Mowl
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Mowl
Member
Start with the simple and easy stuff: big band and orchestral, that's the 'pop music' of jazz.
Then go for the birth of cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, etc.
The trios and quartets serve a different purpose to big band. The bigger orchestras play off the sheets, but the smaller line-ups have infinitely more freedom to improvise and solo. They get to throw the rule book out the window and go their own way, which offers a rich selection of artists to choose from. As you begin to find your feet musically, you'll find that you're already discerning between what appeals to you and what doesn't.
The form of jazz music makes its own rules.
Here's probably the single most important record ever made.
Without it, the music of today wouldn't exist in the manner/form it does.
Miles Davis: 'Kind Of Blue' (1959)
Trumpet: Miles Davis
Saxophone: John Coltrane
Saxophone: Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley
Piano: Bill Evans
Bass: Paul Chambers
Drums: Jimmy Cobb
Additional piano: Wynton Kelly
What makes this record so important is that Miles was searching for a new sound. Something a bit more raw and to the bone than the up-tempo dance music of the big bands and orchestras. Davis stripped it all back to the very basics and started to rebuild musical form by taking its clothes off and presenting it as is. No sheets to read from, but a whole universe inside one's gut to propel the music forward while keeping it as minimal as possible.
Understatement rather than brash.
Introverted as opposed to extroverted.
Naked rather than a clown suit.
It was a very daring thing to do for the times it was made in and it forged a whole new direction in modern music that still reverberates today. Every newcomer to the jazz universe eventually reaches the point where it all comes down to this album. As a black man in America, Davis (and Coltrane) had to use the staff entrance even for sold-out shows in Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall. It galled him. So this album was one way of stating his mind on modern America.
As ethereal and gentle as it sounds, the forces within it are atomic/nuclear - they ripped the art world a new arse.
One time, Miles attended a dinner at the White House. He was seated next to Nancy Reagan who asked who he was and what he does; and he replied:
'I'm Miles Davis. I've changed the course of music five or six times in my lifetime. What have you done except fuck the president?
In many ways, I envy those who are coming to this album for the first time.
It may be subliminal, but it changed my life - umpteen times over.
It still does.
Then go for the birth of cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, etc.
The trios and quartets serve a different purpose to big band. The bigger orchestras play off the sheets, but the smaller line-ups have infinitely more freedom to improvise and solo. They get to throw the rule book out the window and go their own way, which offers a rich selection of artists to choose from. As you begin to find your feet musically, you'll find that you're already discerning between what appeals to you and what doesn't.
The form of jazz music makes its own rules.
Here's probably the single most important record ever made.
Without it, the music of today wouldn't exist in the manner/form it does.
Miles Davis: 'Kind Of Blue' (1959)
Trumpet: Miles Davis
Saxophone: John Coltrane
Saxophone: Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley
Piano: Bill Evans
Bass: Paul Chambers
Drums: Jimmy Cobb
Additional piano: Wynton Kelly
What makes this record so important is that Miles was searching for a new sound. Something a bit more raw and to the bone than the up-tempo dance music of the big bands and orchestras. Davis stripped it all back to the very basics and started to rebuild musical form by taking its clothes off and presenting it as is. No sheets to read from, but a whole universe inside one's gut to propel the music forward while keeping it as minimal as possible.
Understatement rather than brash.
Introverted as opposed to extroverted.
Naked rather than a clown suit.
It was a very daring thing to do for the times it was made in and it forged a whole new direction in modern music that still reverberates today. Every newcomer to the jazz universe eventually reaches the point where it all comes down to this album. As a black man in America, Davis (and Coltrane) had to use the staff entrance even for sold-out shows in Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall. It galled him. So this album was one way of stating his mind on modern America.
As ethereal and gentle as it sounds, the forces within it are atomic/nuclear - they ripped the art world a new arse.
One time, Miles attended a dinner at the White House. He was seated next to Nancy Reagan who asked who he was and what he does; and he replied:
'I'm Miles Davis. I've changed the course of music five or six times in my lifetime. What have you done except fuck the president?
In many ways, I envy those who are coming to this album for the first time.
It may be subliminal, but it changed my life - umpteen times over.
It still does.
Mowl
Member
Yeah, that one came out of nowhere, Flint topping himself.
You have to wonder why a guy with the world at his feet opts out like that.
But of course he had his reasons, and there's no doubt he tasted everything life has to offer in his time. Maybe that's exactly why? He made it from nowhere all the way to the top. Once he was there, perhaps he realized what a con the whole trip is. Same with Chris Cornell: highly talented and professionally skilled. Was clearly a deep thinking man considering his lyrical content. When on top of the world - he opted out. Left his wife and kids to inherit the estate but without any real explanation. Rumours abounded he and his pal from Linkin Park opened a Pandora's Box of child abuse by major players (in a sort of Jeffrey Epstein scenario) and had intentions of blowing the whistle. He was brown bread soon after.
Same story with Mick Hutchence of INXS. Perhaps the answer is in the band's name? Everything to an extreme? I was at an INXS post-gig party backstage underground at Le Rex in Bonne Nouvelle back in the 90s and he was dating Helena Christenson. Dude had it all. Everyone in the room was focused on him. I was sitting at a table with Kirk Pengilly, sax and guitars. Hilarious bloke, sharp as a knife. At one point he tied my dreads to back of my chair when I was lolling about from weed and wine. He startled me with a yell and a poke and when I stood up, the chair hit me in the back of my knees, causing me to fall back onto it half a meter from where I'd been seconds ago. Hilarious. Hmph.
Then there's all the ones you'd think might well top themselves?
But never do?
Those who have some fairly long shadows behind them? Not exactly your Jimmy Saville types but still: historical sex abuse by household names who sold millions and millions of units globally and who are alive today with nobody asking them about XYZ incidents over the decades? They got Saville after he died. But then you have your Bowie's and Plant's, your Pages and your Keith Moons. All well known for post-gig parties and nubile treats?
How long's it going to take for that one to crash back down to earth?
You can be sure of one thing: it's going to happen eventually - is that why these people top themselves eventually?
They don't want to be around when the shit hits the fan?
You have to wonder why a guy with the world at his feet opts out like that.
But of course he had his reasons, and there's no doubt he tasted everything life has to offer in his time. Maybe that's exactly why? He made it from nowhere all the way to the top. Once he was there, perhaps he realized what a con the whole trip is. Same with Chris Cornell: highly talented and professionally skilled. Was clearly a deep thinking man considering his lyrical content. When on top of the world - he opted out. Left his wife and kids to inherit the estate but without any real explanation. Rumours abounded he and his pal from Linkin Park opened a Pandora's Box of child abuse by major players (in a sort of Jeffrey Epstein scenario) and had intentions of blowing the whistle. He was brown bread soon after.
Same story with Mick Hutchence of INXS. Perhaps the answer is in the band's name? Everything to an extreme? I was at an INXS post-gig party backstage underground at Le Rex in Bonne Nouvelle back in the 90s and he was dating Helena Christenson. Dude had it all. Everyone in the room was focused on him. I was sitting at a table with Kirk Pengilly, sax and guitars. Hilarious bloke, sharp as a knife. At one point he tied my dreads to back of my chair when I was lolling about from weed and wine. He startled me with a yell and a poke and when I stood up, the chair hit me in the back of my knees, causing me to fall back onto it half a meter from where I'd been seconds ago. Hilarious. Hmph.
Then there's all the ones you'd think might well top themselves?
But never do?
Those who have some fairly long shadows behind them? Not exactly your Jimmy Saville types but still: historical sex abuse by household names who sold millions and millions of units globally and who are alive today with nobody asking them about XYZ incidents over the decades? They got Saville after he died. But then you have your Bowie's and Plant's, your Pages and your Keith Moons. All well known for post-gig parties and nubile treats?
How long's it going to take for that one to crash back down to earth?
You can be sure of one thing: it's going to happen eventually - is that why these people top themselves eventually?
They don't want to be around when the shit hits the fan?
Electricity
Member
Mowl
Member
Hah hah!
Y'know, if you hadn't added a facepalm to that - I'd never have known how thin-skinned and easy to jab you actually are.
Had you done nothing at all, I might even have thought you weren't completely fucking stupid.
Gets to you, doesn't it Jimmy?
Being a terminal failure at engaging with life?
You utterly sad and entirely miserable old bastard.
Y'know, if you hadn't added a facepalm to that - I'd never have known how thin-skinned and easy to jab you actually are.
Had you done nothing at all, I might even have thought you weren't completely fucking stupid.
Gets to you, doesn't it Jimmy?
Being a terminal failure at engaging with life?
You utterly sad and entirely miserable old bastard.
