Bilbo

[quote name='endorka' post='373131' date='Jan 7 2009, 03:14 PM']The Muppet Show theme is also on our repertoire. As is "Cantina Band". Bilbo, I know I'm not going up in your estimation by stating these facts, so I'll propably just stop right now :-)[/quote] As in Star Wars Cantina? Done it. It sucked.

What do I think of that GRP All-Stars trumpet section video? Load of horses***. I know where the one is and I can hear the changes - I know the tune and have played it although, like bassace, I am not a lover of the tune. As someone said, the performance doesn't swing, it is emotionally empty and exists only to show that these 4 trumpters can play very fast and very high. Its a malaise that has existed in jazzsince its exception and this kind of showboating is a renowned failing in trumpet players (the jazz version of lead guitarists. All I can say in excusing this excess is that someone must have thought that, in the context of a full evenings performance, this might be a bit of fun. But, as an advert for jazz, it is a gift to tBBC and those others who seek to ridicule it. And I have heard Randy Brecker play SOOOO much better...

[quote name='Galilee' post='401191' date='Feb 5 2009, 04:16 PM']Sitting down?[/quote] LYING down!

Actually, I think you can pretty much play the whole thing (except the solo) in one position! Galilee: the numbers you are looking for are 4,5, 6,7 and 8... But not necessarily in that order

Like anyone, I can respond to the immediacy of a great funk groove, or the energy of a System of a Down track but, after a very short while (like 2 tracks), I'm finished. I think the only reason I like them when I hear them is some sort of visceral nostalgia. Using the analogies already raised, for me its like a Big Mac is ok once in a while but two? Three? Every day? No way, Jose. Or Police Academy One might be a laugh; but PA 2, PA 3, PA 4, 5, 6, 7 etc. S'no good. Charlie Parker's stuff is actually very melodic (unlike later Coltrane etc). Best way to get inside it is to learn to whistle a couple of heads.You have to understand that, when he hit, Parker was God. Nowadays, any half decent big band can play charts that are written of his heads and solos; with 13 horns covering it in unison. How hard can it be? For teh record, when I listen to jazz, I almost never respond to anything simply because it is complicated (some very hard stuff is very boring and emotionally unsatisfying). I react to good jazzin exactly the same way as I did Iron Maiden, Rush, Genesis, Yes, Motorhead etc when I was starting out. Main difference is I Know What I Like and I Like What I Don't Know. That's why I like improvised music. Precisely because it is a lot less predictable. Not, in any way, because it is hard to do.

'Serenade' the last track on Dave Holland's 'Points Of View' CD. This track features a trio of Dave Holland on bass, Steve Nelson on marimba and Billy Kilson on drums. Pretty calypso type tune with a very relatively easily read bass line AND NO MINDLESS NOODLING IN SIGHT (note: key signature changes. Also, harmony is implied by marimba but not stated). Enjoy

Yeah but no nut. Its also about breaking down prejudices. If I hear the terms 'jazz' and 'mindless noodling' in the same sentence (which is very common amongst the uninformed), I have two responses. One is the pro-social impulse to educate, to inform to enlighten. The other is more defensive ('I've got a brain the size of a planet and you think I am going to be satisfied with 'mindless noodling' and invest 28 years (and counting) in perfecting my approach to it? Eh? Do Ya? Do Ya?). Besides, like most Welsh people, I like good argument!

There is a freat Dave Liebman/Steve Swallow/Adam Nussbaum trio cd out there called We Three Recommended

[quote name='Eight' post='398888' date='Feb 3 2009, 01:20 PM']I do like The Jazz Singer (Neil Diamond version) if that makes up for my joke. [/quote] That has as much to do with jazz as small cars and aftershave. I was thinking about the point someone made about everyone being made to feel that they should like jazz when the same was not the case with other genres. I think the answer to that is that most people who come to jazz do so after having played other genres and have got to it after a journey with their instrument. I started out thinking Steve Harris was the dbs, then Chris Squire, Geddy Lee, then on through Percy Jones to Jaco and Jeff Berlin, onto Mingus, Paul Chambers, Marc Johnson, Dave Holland etc. So when you get to the point where you have found something that holds your attention (for decades), it is inevitable that you want to share your enthusiasm. More controversially, you get to recognise that many of the so called greats, like Harris and Lee (or Flea or whoever), are not so unassailable as you thought they were when you heard them as a young player - if I can play Phantom of the Opera, it can't have been as hard as I once thought. So, because you went through this process, you are inclined to think you 'know' a truth that is not evident to those who liked the first thing they heard and stuck with it.

Its not a bass. It's a Chapman Stick. Get over it.

Thanks for that, Garry. Looks live a marvelous site. Somewhere else to spend time when I should be doing 'more important' things!!

[quote name='The Funk' post='397948' date='Feb 2 2009, 03:10 PM']That's a good thing. It's being in the zone![/quote] Isn't that where the magic bass pixie makes it all happen?! You should know what you are doing all of the time. Anything else is a fortunate accident and shouldn't be an aspiration! 'The Zone' is the space where rational people suggest we can all go to justify why we can't play like people that work harder than we do. If your drummer had his eyes closed so he could concentrate and listen more effectively, then great. If he was looking for nirvana, them sack him . I fell asleep playing a tune once - just for a second, like when you are tired and driving (the bit before you pull over and throw up!!). In the zone my a***, I wasn't even in the venue!

You've got to be fully aware in order to play jazz properly. Count Basie called it 'total listening'. Its actually very hard to focus that intensely for whole sets. But that's where the art of it is. I guess its easier if you play a fretless instrument because you are listening closely all of the time in order to maintain your intonation. Noone said it would be easy.

I have mine up high because it rests on my gut. If I had it low, Icouldn't see it. Like my feet.

Serial solos! Anyone else up for it? Take an Aebersold MP3, import it into Cubase or similar, record your solo, export it as an MP3 and then post it here! Its like an old jam session cutting club. Just don't tell Jamey. He'll get the a**e

I've done a session with that trio, too. They speak very highly of you! All done in the best possible taste (with the worst possible phrasing)

I don't know Elling but that is really lovely. Thanks.

[quote name='Eight' post='396409' date='Jan 31 2009, 08:32 PM']Couldn't resist some pollution Edit: as soon as I can figure out how to post YouTube videos. LOL. [/quote] Sweetheart! They're playing our song :wub:

[quote name='Stickman' post='396902' date='Feb 1 2009, 03:17 PM']Hi Bilbo, any reason you need to go as far back as GCSE?[/quote] None atall. I just want to prove something to myself (a very old grudge ) and get something onto my CV at the same time.

[quote name='Golchen' post='395331' date='Jan 30 2009, 12:30 PM']You wrote the book then Bilbo??[/quote] No, I am still writing it. The publishing date is June 2010 so, despite my enthusaism for the project 'pre-contract', it has now got a bit scary (I've never done this before either). I now have to put up or shut up! They clearly liked the two chapters I already submitted and a third has been seen and liked by other parties so I am cool with that one too but I have 7 more to finish and limited time to finish them in. Hence the title of this thread. But, in the end, it is like eating an elephant. You take one bite at a time and chew.

[quote name='Balcro' post='395276' date='Jan 30 2009, 11:42 AM']Good on yer Bilbo. Is it going to be submitted to the jazz critics in the posh papers?[/quote] Probably - which is where it gets scary - people who are interested enough to look will probably know more about the subjects discussed than me and I could easily come out of this looking like a complete berk But what spurred me on was a colleague saying that the only thing worse than writing this book badly would be not to write it at all. Its a story that needs to be told and noone else is telling it so I thought I would. If someone says it is crap and writes a better one, then it has achieved its purpose!

[quote name='liamcapleton' post='395236' date='Jan 30 2009, 10:50 AM']It's all about the player in front of the music, not the music in front of the player.[/quote] Marvelous quote, Liam.

[quote name='OldGit' post='394940' date='Jan 29 2009, 09:04 PM']Hey fab! Well done that man. I hope there's a chapter of analysis of the styles of Paul Davis Vs Carole Kaye [/quote] Apparently, it was her on 'Kind Of Blue' [quote name='OldGit' post='394940' date='Jan 29 2009, 09:04 PM']Iain Ballamy caught me out a few years ago when I trotted off to see him and to eat the advertised food at our local nice restaurant/jazz venue only to find the advertised Food was the name of his band that week .. I hope my rumbling tum didn't detract from the music ...[/quote] I actually think Iain is one of the most exciting and creative players in the UK today - he is a true original. I played a set with him in Guildford about 10 years ago and it was a thrill for me (I suspect it was a bit less of an occasion for him). I was doing several gigs with his father, Mark, and Iain was there for Mark's birthday party and played. I had a brief chat with him afterwards and he gave me one piece of advice (really!). 'LEARN TO READ'!!

It seemed like a good idea at the time and now I am thinking... [url="http://www.equinoxpub.com/books/showbook.asp?bkid=395"]http://www.equinoxpub.com/books/showbook.asp?bkid=395[/url] Wish me luck; I'm going in! :

I am here to say something I have already said (more than once). The reading thing, for me, is less about getting reading gigs than it is about learning quicker and not having to retain stuff to be able to reproduce it. It is about being able to produce proper, accurate charts for other musicians and about wasting less time at rehearsals (which is more important as you get older and lifes gets more and more complicated). It is about wasting less time trying to learn by rote and studying scores to get the knowledge you are looking for (like the guy I knew who nailed a dep gig by listening to recordings on the way to the gig and writing out charts using his ears only). It is also a great way to explain stuff to students and to put together exercises for developing players at all levels. You don't do any of this instead of developing your ears; you do it AS WELL AS. In fact, it helps you develop your ears because, if you are reading, you need yours ears to tell you that you are playing the right notes at the right time and in tune, not your eyes to tell you your fingers are geographically in the right place (this is particularly important for fretless players). Readers aren't better than non-readers, they are just better than they probably would be if they couldn't read. If they have bad time, its because they have bad time, not because they can read.