on 3/16/03 10:14 PM, Gregoire Hamon at hamon@csl.sri.com wrote:

If you don't like a piece of music, you can always have the disturbing impression that it only means that you don't know how to listen to it, and you are missing the most incredible thing ever recorded (too bad for you, to stay sane and not go crazy over the vast amount of things they don't know how to listen to (ie, things they don't like), most people classify them as crap).

There are some things that I flat out KNOW I'm missing something, so I keep going back to them and hoping the key presents itself. It took a while, but I finally unlocked Sun Ra for myself, for instance, and now I'm hopelessly addicted. -- skip h http://www.skipheller.com

At 12:58 PM -0500 3/17/03, Steve Smith wrote:

I reiterate that 'Freak In' remains one of my absolute favorite of Dave's records,

Mine too! To be honest, it took me a long time to come around to Dave Douglas. I saw him years ago, both with his own quintet (w/ Mark Feldman and Erik Friedlander) and Masada, and in both performances, I perceived him to be kind of smug and arrogant. His trumpet chops are undeniable, but the attitude really bothered me. It took me years to get past that, and maybe I was wrong about it all along, but that was my perception. When I actually met Douglas, probably 10 years later, he proved to be very nice, and a clearly very committed artist. Maybe I saw him on a couple of off nights. Maybe I just completely misinterpreted him, I dunno, but it kept me from digging his music as much as I should have. Anyway, I totally dig his stuff now. While I like both Freak In and Witness, I can see someone being disappointed in Freak In after Witness. Witness is a deeply challenging record, Freak In is meant to be accessible. The electronics in Witness come more from the avant garde, in Freak In, they come from current popular music. And the tunes on Freak In, even without the electronic elements, are among Douglas most melodic and accessible. That's not a bad thing, I think there's some really beautiful writing on Freak In, but it's a very different intent from Witness.

and agree with Skip that Miles's 'Decoy' provides a key for some of it. So do 'OK Computer' and 'Vespertine.'

I would have guessed Big Fun over Decoy, but I can see that.

But I don't think there's anything "wrong" with not liking it. Lots of people here and elsewhere don't. Me, I'm eager to hear the septet play live on Sunday night, to hear how the music has further evolved.

I was a little disappointed with their show in Eugene a few weeks ago. David Gilmore played some great stuff, Douglas was of course great, but the whole thing seemed a litte restrained, compared to the record. DJ Olive, other than a totally brilliant solo spot, and Jamie Saft seemed kind of underused in the band, Saft mostly provided processed rhodes textures, I don't think he soloed all night. It seemed like the drummer was having a hard time syncing with the looped/programmed parts, this could have been a monitoring issue, but it's an integral part of the performance. I got the feeling that this was a relatively new ensemble, and after some playing time, could be really terrific.

Hi,

I reiterate that 'Freak In' remains one of my absolute favorite of Dave's records, and agree with Skip that Miles's 'Decoy' provides a key for some of it. So do 'OK Computer' and 'Vespertine.'

Damn, now I *have* to hear it, since I love 'Decoy' (but have somehow managed not to have heard any Radiohead before 'Kid A' except hearing 'Creep' and 'Karma Police' on the radio).

I can't really see how "Freak In" would be related to Radiohead's or Björk's mentioned albums at all. While I think that the compositions in "Freak In" could loosely work without the electronics element as a straight-ahead jazz album, imo "OK Computer" and specially "Vespertine" would lose a very high percentage of their appeal. These seem to trust much more in technology as an integrated element than "Freak In" does, and I have strong doubts about how those two albums could work in a more "physical" way, that is, performed by a standard guitar-bass-drums band, for instance. Best, Efrén del Valle n.p: Beatles "The White Album" ___________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Nueva versión GRATIS Super Webcam, voz, caritas animadas, y más... http://messenger.yahoo.es