[Dixielandjazz] Who?

[Bill Gunter]

Hello Listmates,

Brian Harvey asks:

"Just who is Jonathan Cage?"

First off, it's not "Jonathan" -- it's John Cage.

He was a professor of music at the University of California in Davis (not 
far from where I live in Sacramento), California and was a pioneer into 
realms sometimes referred to as "new music."

A quick Google search will reveal a quick biog in Wikipedia:

----> Google clip

John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American 
experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. He is most commonly 
known for his 1952 composition 4'33", whose three movements are performed 
without playing a single note.

Cage was an early composer of what he called "chance music" (and what others 
have decided to label aleatoric* music)—music where some elements are left 
to be decided by chance; he is also well known for his non-standard use of 
musical instruments and his pioneering exploration of electronic music. His 
works were sometimes controversial, but he is generally regarded as one of 
the most important composers of his era, especially in his raising questions 
about the definition of music.

John Cage put Zen Buddhist beliefs into practice through music. He described 
his music as "purposeless play", but "this play is an affirmation of 
life—not an attempt to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements 
in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we are living, which is 
so excellent once one gets one’s mind and desires out the way and lets it 
act of its own accord."

Cage was also an avid amateur mycologist and mushroom collector: he 
co-founded the New York Mycological Society with three friends. He was a 
long-term collaborator and romantic partner of choreographer Merce 
Cunningham.

Cage is also known as the inventor of the mesostic, a type of poem.

* aleatoric = characterized by chance or indeterminate elements.

----> end clip

The above information largely falls into the realm of B.S. Putting "Zen 
Buddhist beliefs into practice through music" is essentially the same as 
saying "putting nothing into practice through music - which is precisely 
what he did in a "composition" entitled 4'33" (four minutes and thirty three 
seconds) which is the precise amount of time a performer sat at a piano in 
concert and played absolutely nothing for the full 4 minutes and thirty 
three seconds.

Is that genius or what!

He was also gay (Not that there's anything wrong with that) and often 
performed with his partner, Merce Cunningham. Merce was a dancer who loved 
to interpret contemporary music via unusual choreography. Cage, I recall in 
one performance, played the music while Cunningham danced. The music 
consisted of Cage moving a chicken feather across an amplified guitar string 
in an irregular fashion which produced what some have termed "a really 
irritating chunk of noise!!"

Basically, Cage's genre was to see exactly how large a percentage of the 
audience he could annoy while still leaving at least one or two pretentious 
snobs to discuss how simply marvelous the concert was and how well it 
reflected upon the awsome genius that was John Cage.

He died in '92 after years of pretending to study "music" when, in truth, he 
pretty much made up everything as he went along.  His attitude seemed to be 
that if someone said "A" then Cage's response would automatically be "Not A" 
and then all the idiots around him would say "Egad! What a profound 
thinker!"

For a really pretentious autobiographical sketch by Cage you can click on 
this URL and read the most convoluted bucket of slop ever penned by this 
humble, modest, self-effacing, shy, and unassuming college professor . . .

http://www.newalbion.com/artists/cagej/autobiog.html

Other that that, he was a fine human being.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill "May the force be with you" Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com






>From: "Brian Harvey" <brer.rabbit at tiscali.co.uk>
>To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Who?
>Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 07:32:31 +0100
>
>
>
>  Just who is Jonathan Cage?
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