some musicians - most notably 20th classical specialists and jazz acts - suffer from the superficial satisfaction (and a mild case of alliteration) of happily doing art that is beyond the regular joe's comprehension. there is a mistaken sense of pride found in doing something that folks just can't get with. presenting art in this fashion is masturbatory in nature (pardon the visual). composers are often writing for their own sake, concerned with how the music looks on the page and not necessarily how it sounds in the hall. improvisers are proud of themselves for executing patterns that bear their own sweat and tears, not considering where these flying licks land. the push here is a fuzzy understanding of what is actually respectable amongst peers yet accessible to the listener.
i try so desperately to have my improvisations be an immediate conveyance of the abstract shapes in my head, realized through my horn. i try every time to do that. every time. i do practice this skill as often as i can, yet don't always require my horn in hand to further its development. i don't whip out automatic licks (truth be told, i can't really remember any, no matter how hard i practice). i spontaneously compose with all of the elements around me: participating musicians, visual stimuli, my physical state, my ears comprehension of what i am doing inside my noggin. i am so scared to miss out on the obvious musical moment that needs to be represented.
phil always talked about serving the music, and i often thought he was full of shit. turns out he is right on the mark. so, uh, sorry man...
the last couple of days have shown me the value of honesty in music. my buddy ryan plays fiddle in trampled by turtles. they did a show last night in ames, and the vibe was so positive. their energetic-while-artistic bluegrass tunes were joyous and unpretentious. the crowd loved it, so did the band, and i actually stuck around through the entire set. this afternoon i heard the boston brass quintet play some stuff. they sounded fantastic and treated the noon hour concert/masterclass in a professional way. they never came across condescending in their instruction or their playing. they even seemed to enjoy being there. tonight i heard the envy corps, one of my favorite indie rock bands going. the singers vocal quality alone sounds unabashedly genuine (just like brandon flowers, whose band they toured with for awhile.)
these music acts were all doing their thing, in an honest fashion.
my little ricky had a classroom demonstration last night, which included a tune sung by he and his 16 other classmates. they stood up, pinned their proverbial ears back, and belted out a song about freedom and equal rights in the world. a bunch of it was out of tune, some kids forgot the words, and the teacher was inconspicuously singing along to keep the train on the tracks. but i'll tell you what - those kids were singing for all they were worth, getting that song out of their hearts and into our ears in the only way they knew how... honestly.
it literally is my job to teach aspiring musicians about all the different aspects of successful musicianship through both pedagogy and performance. but - it is my responsibility as an artist to encourage (no, insist upon) the myopic dedication to honest music making.
Good thoughts, Mike, and an interesting glimpse into your head. What is your take on the responsibility of an audience to do a little work as listeners? Do you find that (maybe particularly American) music fans tend to want their improv, their live music in general, easy to swallow? Or do we just lump all these questions under "personal taste" and forget about them?
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