I've always seen Brahms as a sort of John Lewis figure-- a guy trying to hold on for dear life to the formalism he honestly believed was the right thing and largely doing dry work in the process.
sh
good call. and what you said about Zorn vs Javon and jazz purism seems right on. There's a certain quality of taste that goes further than technique. Steve Coleman's pretty ass-whuppin at his finest, like in Strata Institute, but sometimes his projects exhibit a lack of taste, and his playing suffers from it. Zorn's sense of melody is almost always compelling, regardless of its complexity or accuracy over the changes. and whoever said Zorn is weak at free improv obviously wasn't at the Bailey/Zorn/Baron/Workman sets at Tonic a spell back. damnation.
on 11/20/02 9:10 AM, Steve Smith at ssmith36@sprynet.com wrote:
Of course, Beethoven *did* scramble for commissions and he did long for official positions at various times, a longing that went unfulfilled. The first truly, completely independent composer was apparently Brahms, who accepted only a handful of commissions in his entire life and otherwise supported himself through publishing and by touring as a piano not-quite-virtuoso. The irony, of course, is that he was arguably a far less innovative creative force than were Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com NP - nmperign & Jason Lescalleet - "Such Is a Refrigerator, or Even Happiness," 'In Which the Silent Partner-Director Is No Longer Able to Make His Point to the Industrial Dreamer' (Intransitive)
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on 11/20/02 10:01 AM, Crowmeat Bob at crowmeat@hotmail.com wrote:
I've always seen Brahms as a sort of John Lewis figure-- a guy trying to hold on for dear life to the formalism he honestly believed was the right thing and largely doing dry work in the process.
sh
good call. and what you said about Zorn vs Javon and jazz purism seems right on. There's a certain quality of taste that goes further than technique.
That's a very well-put thing, and I think that's one of the things that elevates Zorn so -- his taste as a player. Both in his choices as to what to draw from, and also his ability to take the most seemingly unnatural thing and make it singable (sounds like I'm talking about Bacharach).
Steve Coleman's pretty ass-whuppin at his finest, like in Strata Institute, but sometimes his projects exhibit a lack of taste, and his playing suffers from it.
Coleman's groups always sounded to me like somebody grafting Herbie, early Weather Report, and Balkanish time signatures. The shit is played ungodly well, but I never felt the groove. Coleman is a great player and a very accomplished composer, but it's all a little brainier than anything I would reach for. sh NP: the complete blind willie johnson
participants (2)
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Crowmeat Bob -
skip Heller