[Dixielandjazz] Contemporary Music

[Jim Kashishian]

>"As we all realize, this is total garbage".

I must agree that things like that "long" concert are stupid.  However, we
shouldn't blow off all of contemporary music along with it.

I had the honor of working (read 35 hours of studio time per cd) on 22 CD's
of Contemporary Music in the year 1992.  That amounts to more than a month's
work using 24 hrs a day!!  (No, I spread it out over 9 months!)

There was some garbage, but the majority of it was seriously written, and
seriously played, by the top of the musical field.  I responded well to all
of it as those involved were certainly not trying to pull anyone's leg.  

Try working on something way out like that all day, and go off at night for
a Dixie gig!
My improvisation took on some new turns during that period, and strange
sounds, discordant sounds I still find quite enjoyable.  However, I
particularly like the bit when you come back to blends our ears are more
accustomed to.  

In the late '60's I had a house band gig in Madrid...7 nights a week, 11
months a year, from midnite to 4am.  Our Dixie band played one of those
nights, but I was with the more modern jazz band the other nights.  There
were flights into free jazz during that period.  Once again, when the band
would all quite miraculously come back to hard, pumping jazz, after
seemingly "floating" through a period of free, was where the real excitement
was.

I could never fully enjoy the free floating feel in the Contemporary Music
CD's I did, but actually beamed if a particular piece would suddenly hit
what we all would call a melody.  The producer used to laugh at me, as he
could visibly see my enjoyment during those brief moments!

Weird, yes, but not all garbage.

Jim