(no subject)

[kamomil]

Well I went to a lady from work's birthday thingie, on the weekend. It was held north of Dundalk. Wayy out in the country. I peed in the woods, and the mosquitos took full advantage, and I now have bug bites all over my ankles. I'm just glad I didn't brush up against any poison ivy. I am most certainly glad that I didn't get sunburnt. I think if I ever end up with skin cancer, the first place it will hit is the tops of my shoulders; they are so flat under the sun, and they don't make an appearance all the time, and so are unprepared when they do get sun exposure.

I bought Ah Um, by Charlie Mingus. I listened to it on the way to Dundalk. It is pretty good. I like it. It is pretty standard type jazz, nothing shockingly dissonant, yet it is not boring either. I can't get used to the original version of Pork Pie Hat, I have listened to the Uzeb one for almost 20 years, and the timing is pretty different - the Uzeb one is draaawwwwwnnn out.

I bought Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, I have yet to crack it open cause I'm not sure about it.

I have been googling jazz people, and reading up on which "must have" CDs to have. I got the Mingus one I really wanted, but I wanted On the Corner by Miles and didn't see it in the store. Jazz is so well-documented, it was fairly easy to get reviews of several artists' material, and figure out for myself which ones I would enjoy. However for the jazz fusion stuff, I might be on my own; people tend to like older jazz stuff. I will be hunting for Thelonious Monk & Emmylou Harris next. I am told that her Daniel Lanois stuff is not to be missed.

I am *this* much closer to buying a PC. I know, Mac, but my Nokia phone only communicates with PC. Besides, I'm so used to the ones form work that I want a loverly one for my very own. I have become very proficient with DOS FTP on the work PCs, as they have no floppy or CD drives.

Heh I am at work, and I am clone-tooling out subtitles so I can use the graphic for something else. I was working on a graphic of a traffic jam, and accidentally clone-tooled out a truck along with some subtitle characters. LOL

Comments

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

Well, certainly some fusion is just guitarwankery, Joe Satriani kind of comes to mind.

However I do like some fusion quite a bit; for all intents and purposes it is jazz, with all its chords & solos etc., it just doesn't have that old musty smell about it. It doesn't have that cache, which is not always bad. Not every wine has to be a cranky old red; there are some cool girly-drink and zimfandel jazz outfits out there.

Miles Davis apparently got pretty fusiony in his later years, I'm interested in checking out some stuff like that but I have a feeling most voices on the internet will recommend his more classic sounding albums.

I love Uzeb and Alain Caron, certainly there is some how-many-notes-can-we-jam-in to it, but their live stuff is pretty tight, therefore impressive. For me, it is jazz for the attention-span-impaired, which I certainly am. Even my acoustic guitar interests tend toward more high energy music, like what BNL did with Lovers In A Dangerous Time.

Scofield's Uberjam and Medeski Martin & Wood are fusion without all the wankery. They actually remind me of maybe hippie pot-induced jazz fusion. And I like what I have heard of the Allman Brothers.

As for the confusing waily moany stuff, I'm not sure who I'm referring to... sometimes when I turn on the radio and it's jazz, I think one of two things: a) geez that's old sounding, like in an old movie, that's just a showtune dolled up with 7th chords, or b)wow, how can you make any kind of progression or anything out of that music? How is it enjoyable at all?

I am going to take an orderly pathway through the second type of jazz, to see if I can make any sense of it. However I think that some of that kind of jazz is only comprehensible if you know the original standard, because they have extrapolated it out into some far corner of the universe. I think there is something wrong with any type of art, if you need a degree to get any appreciation of it. Why not just sit down and write a research paper instead? Ha ha. It's like designing a car that doesn't actually go anywhere. Or clothes that you can't wear in public... wait, they do that. hmph.

I am going to get a Thelonious Monk CD, Criss Cross is what I have figured might be good... we shall see. If I find it in Music World or the library or wherever. I am interested in wacky music; jazz, sure, but fusion is even better.

Anyone want me to post a Uzeb MP3? Anyone actually download the Scofield Chicken Dog? :P

[bloobert.livejournal.com]

Anyone actually download the Scofield Chicken Dog? :P

I'm listening to it now.... Hmmm.... I've not listened to much of this kind of music really. I wonder if it's an acquired taste?

Bibbity bibbity wakka wakka womp! =)

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

Yes, bibbity bibbity wakka womp, to be sure, but:

daaah dutda daaah dutda daaah dutda daaah dutda!

it's kinda funky, no?

lemme see if I have any more stuff that is different by him.... when I heard live Uberjam stuff on the car radio, my eyes widened and I was like, wow, what IS that? whoa!

mebbe try listening to the whole thing, I like his solos, to me it's like someone telling a good story. I like when he uses weird scales in his solos, it's like watching a movie that you can't predict the plot for.

[bloobert.livejournal.com]

I'm curious, is your reaction to his music more of an emotional one, or one of appreciation for the technical skill / variety? Not being a musician, I suppose I don't have a sense of scales and so on. But yes, I'd like to hear more of it. I'm listening to that Ron Sexsmith stuff at the moment. I really like Hard Bargain, a lot.

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

well I guess part of it is the musiciany part of my brain, that appreciates the technical skill. the scales? For me, the movie analogy again applies: I don't like things that I can predict, ie the key change in every Celine Dion ballad, or for that matter, every sappy R&B ballad, or plots in movies. I like foreign movies, cause probably there is a cultural barrier preventing me from predicting the plot, so I am a little more on the edge of my seat. The same thing applies with jazz like that, wacky scales=unpredictability.

the emotional part is that it is FAST! I am pretty sure that I have attention deficit disorder, at the very least when it applies to listening to music. So it's not only the skill I am appreciating, it is the energy; part of the energy is because these are live recordings too.

Ron Sexsmith indeed rules.

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

Well I have:

-a disco-y 80s fusion sounding Miles Davis + John Scofield MP3
-a breakbeaty Uberjam MP3
-possibly a Uzeb batoutofhell 80s fusion track to make into an MP3

I'll see if I can get them loaded up & get a link to them.

[bloobert.livejournal.com]

I've not heard Uzeb before....