[Dixielandjazz] Re: Art - One person? or more than one person?

[Dan Augustine]

Steve and DJML--
     Well, any time one says something can't happen is sure to open 
one up for being presented with an instance of that something 
happening, so i'm not going to say such a scenario as you suggest 
with "trading fours" can't happen.  I just think it seems unlikely to 
me that four players (unless they're telepathic) would be able to 
have the same vision/idea for an artistically unified 16-bar solo. 
Usually what happens is that each succeeding player tries to say 
something slightly (or mostly) different from the player(s) before 
him while adhering to the general spirit and harmonic structure of 
the passage.
     In an improvised ensemble, however, players simultaneously 
creating melodic variations and comments on what other players are 
playing is, while certainly great fun and exciting, it is not the 
same thing as one composer's unified vision of (say) four-part 
contrapuntal texture.  I'm not saying i don't like it, i'm just 
saying it's kind of like the four guys each trying to describe his 
part of the elephant over the phone: it's very rarely going to be a 
coherent whole.
     Thinking and talking about things like this are fun sometimes, 
for some people, but not for others; so it goes.  But if one can 
experience increased enjoyment from a new way of thinking about jazz, 
especially while you're hearing it, it seems to be that it's 
worthwhile (just like knowing not only the rules but some abstruse 
strategies while watching football--it adds a different kind of 
enjoyment).

     Dan
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:56:27 -0400
>From: Steve barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Art - One person? or more than one person?
>
>Dan says get 10 trumpet soloists together to create a solo and they can't
>make a coherent one. (or something like that>
>
>Dan?
>
>When several individuals in a jazz band "trade fours" usually, if they are
>any good at all, the result is a string of four bar solos that build upon
>each other. The original "creation" becomes a general theme and the end
>result is a VERY coherent solo, in total, by three or four participants.
>In effect variations, and/or counterpoints to the theme of the first in the
>string.
>
>Plus, improvised ensemble, done by good jazz musicians is a creative work in
>total, no? Each listening to the others and creating a harmonic structure
>that enhances the sum total, based upon their ears and minds.
>
>Hey Bill Gunter, and Anton, you are right on in your assessment, at least to
>my ears. Art can be a multi person synergy where to total may well be more
>than the sum of all its parts.
>
>Cheers,
>Steve

-- 
**--------------------------------------------------------------------**
**  Dan Augustine    Austin, Texas   ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu     **
**    "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again.  Then  **
**     give up.  There's no use being a damned fool about it."        **
**        -- William Claude Dunkenfield ("W. C. Fields")(1880-1946)   **
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