JAZZ, TOO MUCH IMPROVISATION and BASKETBALL.
Just something quick i was thinking about.
You know. I have to be honest. I never liked the super Jazzy Jazz stuff that much. I like "Jazzy" Stuff but I was never too hot on like THE "REAL" JAZZ. I had a couple of friends who really liked playing it. And i have to be honest. Initially the reason why i didnt like it was because i couldnt play it. It was too complex for my puny musical mind to comprehend.
A little background on myself. Im "uncultured" when it comes to music. I never listened to the "Classics" like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Herbie Hancock, Beatles etc. but im poorly to fairly famliar with their stuff. I dont even know a lot of these "standards" that people like calling out during a gig. I guess musically i was on a different path. I grew up listening to what was "cool" at that time. Like i remember listening to Guns and Roses, Metallica, Pantera, Alice in Chains etc. which eventually moved on to Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine etc. or whatever.
I tried listening to it. And i kinda liked some of it. I remember listening to some George Benson and Wes Montgomery but at the end of the day. I couldnt digest it too much cause it was just a lot of soloing for me. Which made me realize why i dont dig it so much. I DONT LIKE LISTENING TO AN HOUR OF SOLOING. I dont like having 5 minute guitar solos. or whatever you call it everytime i jam. Cause like my guitar teacher said, A lot of these jazz cats are nice and technically great but at the end of the day, when you listen to some who plays too much, its like listening to 2 OLD LADIES YAPPING AWAY. It can get annoying. And i agree with her (yeah i have a female guitar teacher and shes AWESOME!!!) Cause you really dont want to listen to people talking all the time. You know what im saying? Sometimes its nice to shut up. Give space for everyone else to Shine.
When i was listening to some of these people in school who like jazz talk. They always talk about improvisation, soloing and all those things related to that. Which brings me to the question "WHY?" "What the hell do you need to solo 5 minutes for?" Cause honestly, sometimes i just see it as and pardon the term ... "Musical Masturbation" cause i always find that whenever i solo, i always put some unnecessary element that only pleases myself whenever i would go out and play a gig. And i find no need in that.
If you think about it in a Basketball context. Its like watching all these streetballers do their tricks and talk trash to the other team. But when you put them in the pro league, they can't play well cause they got used so much to playing for themselves that they forget about the TEAM and that a straight simple lay up does the same job of dribbling, faking, doing some fancy move left to right and back then putting it in. Its the same thing. You see the coaches mad cause they end up fumbling or messing up cause theyre doing some trick move thats unneccesary. You dig?
I dont care about soloing. I dont care if i can't pull off a super fast mixolydian flat 13 augmented 5th sus 2 arpeggio over some complex time signature you know what im saying? (ok i dont even know if thats possible cause a mixo only has a flat 7 and flatting the 13 would make it some sort of a dominant flat 13 #5 HAHAHAH EWAN) The reason being, i care more about being listenable and writing GREAT SONGS. Songs that will touch hearts and change lives and move the spirit.
Ive watched a BUNCH of "THOSE" Jazz gigs already and can i please say that i usually get bored out of my mind? You watch all these cats solo and do a really fantastic lick and youre like "WHOA WHOA WHOA" another minute into it and your mind wanders off somewhere else. I was actually analyzing and found a common pattern among these "Jams"
START
MELODY
MELODY
B PART
SOLO Instrument A
SOLO Instrument B
SOLO Instrument C
MELODY
B PART
VAMP WHILE DRUM SOLO
MELODY then END.
I like listening to the melody. Its the hook and the "chorus" part. But when it comes to the solo part ITS JUST TOO LONG. You could easily do away with all that soloing. You can cut those solos in half and it would still be TOO MUCH.
Sorry if im offending other people out there but this is my blog and i can write whatever i want. If you dont like it then dont read it. I dont need you to read this. HAHA.
But anyway i was thinking "maybe theres SOME good into it, soloing i mean" And then i began to think about basketball (cause i was watching NCAA before i walked to the store when all these thoughs came raining) and began to think about all these great NBA players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird (Go Celtics!) and how they approached their game.
Then i began to realize that. "I GUESS" you could say that these players had a well balanced game of stability and improvisation. They had to go through a lot of "Crunch Time" moments where they had to either do a play that they practiced over and over or completely improvise and trust their instict to make a winning shot.
Not to downplay improvisation. It does take a lot of instinct and talent to be able to do such a thing. AND I WOULD KNOW, CAUSE TO BE HONEST. I AM NOT REALLY GOOD AT IT. So i was actually thinking if i had the right to say all these things that im saying cause i can't even pull out a good solo you know what i mean? I usually run out of licks to do after 20 seconds or something and i guess its stupid of me not to try to improve on that at least. (Well cause i guess i dont really care much about it) But yeah i realize that it takes a lot to be able to do it. A lot of skill and instinct.
There are a lot of MCs who do freestyle and its such a nice thing to hear and watch someone pull his thoughts and translate them into words. The sicker MCs pull out verses that are really compelling to listen to. From the phrasing to the content. And i believe it came with a lot of practice. But then again listening to some MC barrage his way with like 27328378273823 words could get tiring just like any other thing. Point being, i dont know why anyone would want to shine that long and solo for like 92839283923 minutes.
In a musical context I guess a well balanced player is great. Someone who can improvise and hold the groove down when needed. Just like any other thing. WHATS THE POINT OF THIS ENTRY?
They dont have to always make sense. Sorry if there are people who got offended. Dont judge me. HAHAHA. I dont know why im so angsty about this Jazz crap. I guess its the one aspect of the environment in school that i dont like so much.
OK THATS IT IM TIRED. PEACE YALL.
You know. I have to be honest. I never liked the super Jazzy Jazz stuff that much. I like "Jazzy" Stuff but I was never too hot on like THE "REAL" JAZZ. I had a couple of friends who really liked playing it. And i have to be honest. Initially the reason why i didnt like it was because i couldnt play it. It was too complex for my puny musical mind to comprehend.
A little background on myself. Im "uncultured" when it comes to music. I never listened to the "Classics" like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Herbie Hancock, Beatles etc. but im poorly to fairly famliar with their stuff. I dont even know a lot of these "standards" that people like calling out during a gig. I guess musically i was on a different path. I grew up listening to what was "cool" at that time. Like i remember listening to Guns and Roses, Metallica, Pantera, Alice in Chains etc. which eventually moved on to Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine etc. or whatever.
I tried listening to it. And i kinda liked some of it. I remember listening to some George Benson and Wes Montgomery but at the end of the day. I couldnt digest it too much cause it was just a lot of soloing for me. Which made me realize why i dont dig it so much. I DONT LIKE LISTENING TO AN HOUR OF SOLOING. I dont like having 5 minute guitar solos. or whatever you call it everytime i jam. Cause like my guitar teacher said, A lot of these jazz cats are nice and technically great but at the end of the day, when you listen to some who plays too much, its like listening to 2 OLD LADIES YAPPING AWAY. It can get annoying. And i agree with her (yeah i have a female guitar teacher and shes AWESOME!!!) Cause you really dont want to listen to people talking all the time. You know what im saying? Sometimes its nice to shut up. Give space for everyone else to Shine.
When i was listening to some of these people in school who like jazz talk. They always talk about improvisation, soloing and all those things related to that. Which brings me to the question "WHY?" "What the hell do you need to solo 5 minutes for?" Cause honestly, sometimes i just see it as and pardon the term ... "Musical Masturbation" cause i always find that whenever i solo, i always put some unnecessary element that only pleases myself whenever i would go out and play a gig. And i find no need in that.
If you think about it in a Basketball context. Its like watching all these streetballers do their tricks and talk trash to the other team. But when you put them in the pro league, they can't play well cause they got used so much to playing for themselves that they forget about the TEAM and that a straight simple lay up does the same job of dribbling, faking, doing some fancy move left to right and back then putting it in. Its the same thing. You see the coaches mad cause they end up fumbling or messing up cause theyre doing some trick move thats unneccesary. You dig?
I dont care about soloing. I dont care if i can't pull off a super fast mixolydian flat 13 augmented 5th sus 2 arpeggio over some complex time signature you know what im saying? (ok i dont even know if thats possible cause a mixo only has a flat 7 and flatting the 13 would make it some sort of a dominant flat 13 #5 HAHAHAH EWAN) The reason being, i care more about being listenable and writing GREAT SONGS. Songs that will touch hearts and change lives and move the spirit.
Ive watched a BUNCH of "THOSE" Jazz gigs already and can i please say that i usually get bored out of my mind? You watch all these cats solo and do a really fantastic lick and youre like "WHOA WHOA WHOA" another minute into it and your mind wanders off somewhere else. I was actually analyzing and found a common pattern among these "Jams"
START
MELODY
MELODY
B PART
SOLO Instrument A
SOLO Instrument B
SOLO Instrument C
MELODY
B PART
VAMP WHILE DRUM SOLO
MELODY then END.
I like listening to the melody. Its the hook and the "chorus" part. But when it comes to the solo part ITS JUST TOO LONG. You could easily do away with all that soloing. You can cut those solos in half and it would still be TOO MUCH.
Sorry if im offending other people out there but this is my blog and i can write whatever i want. If you dont like it then dont read it. I dont need you to read this. HAHA.
But anyway i was thinking "maybe theres SOME good into it, soloing i mean" And then i began to think about basketball (cause i was watching NCAA before i walked to the store when all these thoughs came raining) and began to think about all these great NBA players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird (Go Celtics!) and how they approached their game.
Then i began to realize that. "I GUESS" you could say that these players had a well balanced game of stability and improvisation. They had to go through a lot of "Crunch Time" moments where they had to either do a play that they practiced over and over or completely improvise and trust their instict to make a winning shot.
Not to downplay improvisation. It does take a lot of instinct and talent to be able to do such a thing. AND I WOULD KNOW, CAUSE TO BE HONEST. I AM NOT REALLY GOOD AT IT. So i was actually thinking if i had the right to say all these things that im saying cause i can't even pull out a good solo you know what i mean? I usually run out of licks to do after 20 seconds or something and i guess its stupid of me not to try to improve on that at least. (Well cause i guess i dont really care much about it) But yeah i realize that it takes a lot to be able to do it. A lot of skill and instinct.
There are a lot of MCs who do freestyle and its such a nice thing to hear and watch someone pull his thoughts and translate them into words. The sicker MCs pull out verses that are really compelling to listen to. From the phrasing to the content. And i believe it came with a lot of practice. But then again listening to some MC barrage his way with like 27328378273823 words could get tiring just like any other thing. Point being, i dont know why anyone would want to shine that long and solo for like 92839283923 minutes.
In a musical context I guess a well balanced player is great. Someone who can improvise and hold the groove down when needed. Just like any other thing. WHATS THE POINT OF THIS ENTRY?
They dont have to always make sense. Sorry if there are people who got offended. Dont judge me. HAHAHA. I dont know why im so angsty about this Jazz crap. I guess its the one aspect of the environment in school that i dont like so much.
OK THATS IT IM TIRED. PEACE YALL.