[Dixielandjazz] screw the changes

Wed Oct 7 15:04:33 EDT 2020

I’m bored by most free jazz on record, but I’ve come to enjoy listening to it live, when there's occasion to do so here in Montgomery. Watching a risky and adventurous act of invention as it unfolds, seeing the players find some form in near-randomness is a worthwhile way of being present. Sometimes what shows up doesn't capture anything or engage me, but even that is a perception worth having. Life is like often like that, and it's useful to be able to rest with the passing parade of ambiguous occurrences. A good friend here, Jeff McLeod, is devoted to free improvisation (not jazz per se). A few years back he conducted monthly group improv sessions for musicians at a local bookstore. I didn't bring my drumset because I knew that certain automatic reflexes and responses are likely when I play. I brought a large suitcase, mallets, and brushes to see what sounds might be elicited from them, and the also from the chair I sat in. There’s sonic potential in everything. There was always a prompt, however vague, to begin with, and we played and co-listened. I felt that everything was refreshingly new, sometimes evolving with a conversational sense, other times just rackety until an overlap or theme showed up. There were no recorded playbacks and I wouldn’t want to hear them anyway, because the good stuff was a thing of the moment. Three of us did play for a church service at the Unitarian Fellowship here, taking as cues for brief exploration the names of the sections in the service. It was seen as weird, but expressive. 

Charles

> On Oct 7, 2020, at 10:46 AM, Charles & Jane Freeman <mobychuck at aol.com> wrote:
> 
> Gents -
> 
> Until the 1970s I was a bebop pianist.  My heroes were Bird, Diz, Monk, Bill Evans, Miles, and Trane. Then when I started getting calls from trad bands I had to start listening to “dixieland” records to learn the repertoire. At first it was done strictly for business, but the more I listened and the more I played in trad bands, the more I got to love this wonderful new/old music, and my new heroes included Jelly Roll, Louis, Bix, Tram, and Fats. 
> 
> Sure, on the surface the O.D.J.B. and Trane sound completely different. But their music springs from a similar artistic impulse, namely, to create a spontaneous, collective musical conversation. And, Mr. Homzy, those early New Orleans jass musicians and late John Coltrane free jazz players also didn’t like chords with “numbers in ‘em” either. And, Mr. Boym, both early jazz and free jazz musicians were greeted with scorn by those whose ears were not ready to hear beyond the surface cacophony.  I believe beauty can be found in what may at first seem ugly. In fact, without a degree of ugliness, you have elevator music.
> 
> I regret that music like the rest of the world is divided into tribes. That all types of jazz are currently out of favor with audiences makes me wish people’s musical tastes were not so narrow. But my purpose in writing you all is not to make converts — that would be a fool’s errand. I am always on the side of those who find delight in any kind of music. We all have our tastes, and we all have our limitations - mine are hip-hop, George Winston and Vijay Iyer. And if everything is wonderful, then nothing is.
> 
> Mostly what prompts me to reply is that I must say how much I enjoyed reading about Jim K’s free jazz experience. There are few experiences in life more magical than when a new world opens on the bandstand. It’s those moments that hook you and make you a musician for life. Thank you, Jim, for putting in a word for musical tolerance.
> 
> And thank you, Bob Ringwald, for this keeping Dixieland forum going.
> 
> -charlie freeman
> Bearcats Jazz Band 
> 
> 
>> On Oct 7, 2020, at 8:33 AM, <jim at kashprod.com <mailto:jim at kashprod.com>> <jim at kashprod.com <mailto:jim at kashprod.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com <mailto:marekboym at gmail.com>>   Call me a reactionary, but "free" music means cacophony.  Full stop.
>> Cheers
>>  
>> On Wed, 7 Oct 2020 at 10:11, Robert Ringwald <rsr at ringwald.com <mailto:rsr at ringwald.com>> wrote:
>> I hate Free Jazz, or whatever you want to call it. 
>>  
>> -Bob
>>  
>>  
>> While I doubt I would put up with actually sitting & listening to “free Jazz”, I did have an experience with it in the late 1960’s, playing that is, and actually enjoyed it.  To explain, I should say that what I really enjoyed was the coming back out of the free part & back to the magical, swinging, together all the band, bit!  
>>  
>> I was working nitely with musicians way over my head as far as talent goes, but I managed keep my head above water most of the time with them.  It was a mix of some (not enough!) Dixieland, standards, and some more far out stuff.  Any given tune could break into a “free” section, practically without warning, and the really great part for me was getting back to the tune itself.  This “rejoining” of the whole band just sort of happened, mostly driven by the drummer, and it can be a really magical moment for the musicians.  
>>  
>> Can’t say the audience would get much out of that moment, though.  And, there lies one of the secrets why our kind of Jazz can be so popular with a general public.  We, most of us, anyway, play for our audiences.  Once a musician starts playing “for himself”, then he can easily lose that precious connection with the audience. (*)  And, that was what that “free” business felt to me….like we were playing for our own enjoyment, and to hell with the public listening.  Granted, back then, we were playing midnite to 4am, 7 nites a week, so sometimes we might have an empty club at certain hours….so, why not have a bit of personal fun?
>>  
>> (*)  Maybe, if all goes well with an audience, a band can squeeze in a song or two in a set which is for their own particular enjoyment (or as an “Jazz Educational tool” for the audience).  But, overall, a performance has to be aimed at pleasing those who paid to get in.
>>  
>> Jim
>>  
>>>  
>>>  
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