Bilbo

PS look up Charice Pempengco on youtube singing All By Myself and tell me that talent shows can't recognise talent (she was discovered via a talent show in the Philipines).

I may be in a minority here but I cannot see the problem with these shows (the Voice or The X Factor). They are about the full package; voice, looks, dancing, body image, presence etc. So what? THAT is what the world of pop music is about and anyone who thinks it is about integrity or pure artistry is kidding themselves. If Waynetta Slob got up there and sang like a God, there would be a discussion about whether or not she could be cleaned up and rendered presentable. If not, end of story. There are dozens of old artist of yesteryear who were great singers but who, for all sorts of reasons, never made it 'big' in any mainstream sense; instead they had long careers as 'B-listers', cabaret acts, musical theatre or in other marginalised genres. For someone to make it in the [b]mainstream[/b] music industry, they have to have the whole package. It is not really that different in Jazz (the source of all purity). Every Jazz festival is nowadays headlined by what I call 'nearly Jazz'; Gregory Porter, Jools Holland, Van Morrison, Jamie Cullem etc etc - if you take a genius musician like, say, Kenny Wheeler, you cannot expect the kids who love to look at and dance to Justin Beiber to sit there, stroking their chins, watching a portly 70+ year old in a cord suit and loafers, standing there playing his horn, even if it IS magic. Same with Rock. Imagine a man with Albert Tatlock's looks and Graham Bonnet's voice? Would he be selected to front a reformed Journey? Of course not. In a world of visual imagery, the look is part of the deal. These shows are looking for mainstream artists and there are lots of different formulas for what that looks like (that is the art of it) but, to me, the approach as some integrity in it's own field of operation (those battles in The Voice last week, for instance. I knew who won every time because, prejudices aside and with a small degree of subjectivity, the better singers came out on top). For those who pass through and who 'lose', there is still an industry that can accommodate them e.g. Jonathan Antoine as a classical tenor, Rhydian Roberts in musical theatre, Susan Boyle in her field etc. These people are all perfectly credible and certainly have as much right to be out there as I do but they are unlikely to be on MTV any time soon. More to the point, lots of the winners have disappeared into obscurity for the same reasons. Voice aside, they could not cut it..

Mine's gone awry. It started with the image in mind but ended up somewhere else entirely. No time to start over so it will be submitted but the only Inspired by' bit is the fact that it started there!!

All of them!!

I mentioned this before in another thread but I am struggling with some annoying traits with my VSTs. If I set up a VST and it seems fine when I play it back. I then stop the track and, when I play it again, I have click on each midi track to start them playing again. This means I cannot record against any midi track that starts at beat one of the first bar. Also, whatever level I set it at, it always plays back at some sort of default volume. What am I missing, guys?

My point wasn't to make you like them,mate, but to show where Snorker Poppy comes from conceptually. Nuffink new under the sun.

Tribal Tech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzkDbBljZWU Steve Coleman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOs1keTcGo4

Return To Forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apq1A7bnrKI Weather Report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwywj2y9s8g

It's great that everybody loves these guys and they are highly competent but I think they are pretty unremarkable (I got 2.23 in). Tight but it's all very Weather Report/Zawinul Sindicate and just another in a string on techno-fusion/funk clever barstewards. Weather Report/Mahavishnu/Retrun To Forever followed by Tribal Tech/Al diMeola/Frank Gambale followed by Steve Coleman's Five Elements etc etc. Similar issues to Dirty Loops. It gets harder and harder but not necessarily better and better. Doesn't do it for me; lost of musicians but not that much music I'll go back occasionally and maybe a light will go on one day but, in the meantime, nah.

Mmmmm. 3.5 hours is a meeting or a gig or a flight or any one of a thousand other legitimate things that could make responding on Basschat potentially problematic. Not much sympathy, I am afraid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk_CghlLAr4

My teacher did the same, skej21. Dan Quinton (Otis Grand and The Dance Kings). I think the counting thing M@23 mentioned above revelas an aspect that you touched upon. The I er and er 2 er aspect of counting is a great means of explaning the idea of written music but it is NOT a tool you should use whilst actually reading (you would have no chance). You need to get the rhythms in your head so you are 'seeing' them as phrases rather than reading each note. Think 'word' rather than 'letter' or 'syllable'.Proficiency comes with practice (and it is worth noting that, if you don;t maintain the skill, you will lose it).

I am now a few years in with this bass and play regularly with some of the UK's greatest Jazz musicians: Art Themen, Jim Mullen, Alan Barnes, Nigel ORice, John Etheridge etc etc. The bass never lets me down; I do , but the bass doesn't . Here is a more recent sample... https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/estate

Congrats, Bleat. I voted for you

The idea that the composition is a soundtrack for the image is only one way of looking at it. It could be a reflection of the emotion that it generates in you or a memory it invokes, for example. People of different ages will experience things differently:did the train take you on holiday or did it take your parents to a Nazi death camp and so on. The potential for variety is one of the wonderful things about the challenge.

I don't think it really matters what you gauge the works with. It's entirely a matter for you.

I always liked this monster

Anyone arranging a Jazz jam will be aware of the wide range of skills available in a room full of fledgling Jazz musicians and will manage the event with everyone's needs in mind. If the playing standard is low, the tunes will be mostly diatonic, two, three of four chords and well known material like blues changes, Canteloupe Island, Watermelon Man, Summertime etc. As the standard improves, the tunes will get harder and harder but still with the ability of those present in mind. At the end of the day, no-one has any investment in managing a train crash so calling 'GIant Steps' for a room full of beginners would be stupid. My advice? Learn the changes to a twelve bar blues in F and Bb and learn how to read a simple chord chart. A good starting point would be Jamey Aebersold's play-a-long series (I think a lot of them are on Spotify now, although the accompanying books won't be). And, if in doubt, talk to whoever is leading the session. They are generally approachable people and will answer all of your questions about 'protocols' and do all that they can to get you up there and playing.

It all looks a bit grim from here.

Ref: bipolar. I think it was diagnosed and treatable then as it is now but there was a suggestion that JP didn't take his meds as they made his hands shake. I don't know but that is what I heard.

Some great work this month. Could have voted for about seven of them easily. Bring on the next picture!!

Bit like a general election then.

I struggle with most popular music in this regard and it was what got me into Jazz etc. Most pop/rock/funk etc has lines that provide challenges of one kind or another. Time spent with Jamerson, Rainey and a million other bassists all help to improve your playing and should be encouraged. Nevertheless, you are left with wonderful performances of great bass lines but, over the top of it all, comes 'My Girl', 'Dock Of The Bay', 'Son Of A Preacher Man' etc, mnost of which I find unlistenable. Even the greats like Steve Wonder I just can't listen to as it is all predictable and, for me, unengaging and can't listen to for very long. So, in terms of the OP, my answer is 'most of them'

I do a lot of gigs with big name Jazz musicians and they all use music stands because, when we hit the one of the first tune, we have never played together and the tunes are only known by half the band. Check out 'Beauty and The Beast' off my Soundcloud page. This is what can happen when people who have never played together play together with 0music stands. Alternatively, we could have played All Blues, Canteloupe Island and Straight No Chaser without music stands.