tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656000427056815096.post7586627687631982660..comments2023-05-31T06:11:56.628-04:00Comments on xyjazz: Work HARD not LONGJosh Ragerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14145305239438030807noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656000427056815096.post-24093243602463390602011-06-05T00:00:00.737-04:002011-06-05T00:00:00.737-04:00One of the things that I lament the most about mus...One of the things that I lament the most about music right now is its deconstruction of the song form. On one level I understand the need for it to happen, how the form of a song needed to get discarded in order to leave all of the stylistic concerns of the past behind. The current generation of popular music needed to find itself in a more immediate style, one that is less about the story and more about the vibe. That's cool and there are some really interesting bands doing this but the "story" has been kind of thrown out the window and that puts the history of popular music including jazz at odds with our culture in a never before seen (or anticipated) way. Once pop songs built simple yet direct linear narratives that linked all aspects of the form including things like verses, choruses, interludes, pre-choruses, etc. with the poetic nuances of the lyrics. Every cheesy love song had its "hook" which emerged from the tapestry of the song form. I think the great jazz musicians really "knew" or "understood" the music which they were improvising on because the underlying fundamental "story" of the songs were always there. What made their playing sound hip was how they could morph that story into something really different sounding and create a whole new emotional context to experience the narrative of that story.Josh Ragerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14145305239438030807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1656000427056815096.post-57417894896564217602011-06-03T17:33:49.686-04:002011-06-03T17:33:49.686-04:00Great post, Josh, as always. I'd add a couple ...Great post, Josh, as always. I'd add a couple of sub-points to what you say:<br /><br />One of the first real jazz lessons I ever had came courtesy of Mike Murley when I was 15 or so. At a jazz camp, our combo was playing and he came in and said, "You know, I should be able to walk in in the middle of the tune and know exactly which tune you're playing. Even if it's a blues." The idea being that you're not playing "rhythm changes," you're playing "Anthropology," or "Moose the Mooche," or "The Flinstones." They're all separate songs that happen to share the same form.<br /><br />I guess, for me, it boils down to the fact that we tend to forget that these are songs, that are supposed to tell stories. As students, we shrug off the idea of learning the lyrics to the standards (I know I did for a long time!), but that's the key to all the fundamentals, for me, anyway. Knowing the lyrics to "Body and Soul" goes a long way to understanding phrasing and what (not) to play on it.Ryshpanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07008400121978741507noreply@blogger.com