[Dixielandjazz] RV: screw the changes

[Marek Boym]

Not quite, Jim, not quite.
Turk Murphy certainly wouldn't have played anything "free," but he said
that after a few numbers for the audience, his band played something for
the band's enjoyment, always traditional."Free" means no rules; that must
end in cacophony.
Cheers,
Marek

On Wed, 7 Oct 2020 at 16:16, <jim at kashprod.com> wrote:

> Marek Boym <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> 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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