[Dixielandjazz] Re: Subject: Re: identifying music

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

Hi Dan:

Sounds like a good book I would like to read, then perhaps I could figure out 
how to better expain myself when I step off into it like I did  this week.

It is not just Black music either, I almost immediately recognize 
Middleastern melodies and music structures within the first minute of hearing a song, 
similar with Latin sounds, Mariachi music, eastern music etc.  there is just a 
distinction that comes to my ears.

I relate it to listening to Dixieland and the various styles, if we did not 
have this ability to hear musical distinctions then how the heck could we know 
the difference between any band and the style of music they play.  Without it 
all music would sound the same, and unfortunatley in Dixieland much of it 
actually does.  Probably because so many players insist upon playing it just like 
the originators did, good or bad.

I also  think that much original Dixieland and Jazz sounded much better live 
than it ever did on recordings because of the drastic limitations of the 
recording process back then, it simply was not very good.  

Someone posted something about slowing down an old 78rpm recording to hear 
better and more accurate tonal quality from the Players when it was played back 
at the proper real time speed.   This leads me to believe that many musicians 
trying so desperately to copy the old masters have done so but inthe process 
have developed an almost abrasive sound picked up and interpreted from bad 
recordings.  

After all that is what makes the music different isn't it, cultural and 
personal flavoring by the players.  I don't know why that is so diffcult to 
understand for some folks, but then again Arn said he was a non-musician.


The notes are all pretty mucht he same and colorblind of course, but it is 
how they are expressed and inmprovised that puts each players feeling into the 
song and gives it that certain sound.

I maintain that musicians from different parts of the world hear and play 
musical sounds differently than one another unless of course they are just 
playing a classical chart and trying to duplicate it precicely time after time 
regardless of the culture in which it is being performed, however many times the 
sound is changed by using more ethnic instruments and the manner in which those 
instruments are played give the music a distinct sound.


I once booked a wonderful Zen player from China who did an album of Beatles 
music with an all Chinese orchestra, that was fantastic and had a totally 
intoxicating sound being played on ancient Chinese instruments and with totally 
different tonal structures than Western ears are trained to hear and enjoy.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins