"Chops Justified " Music

Hi all,
I shouldn't have done this, but I was procrastinating, trying to avoid working on my Masters thesis. So, I went on Instagram and looked at some drum videos. I know! I should have known better. ( Hey! That would make a good tune title! Fabs rule! )
I've probably mentioned this TOO much but, once again, these people seem to mainly play some complicated beat they've memorized and play it like they're a robot. They don't really develop ideas, and everything is a beat or a fill, and never the twain shall meet!

                    Are you talking about me again Ted?   

Anyway, thanks for your input Ilene! So, I was thinking that these people always play "compositions" that exist only so they can show off some drum stuff! Fear not, you will never get the melodies to these stuck in your head, because these tunes don't have melodies! So, henceforth, I will call this egregious sonic experience "Chops Justified" Music, because the only reason it exists is to show off how fast you can play! NO THANKS!!!!

Now, I make a very important distinction between "Chops Justified" music and what I know as Fusion. Good fusion takes the compositional ambition of Modern Jazz and mixes it with the excitement of Rock and is beautiful and powerful indeed. I never listen to Electric Miles, Weather Report, Metalwood,  or Alan Holdsworth ( to name a few ) and think they are justifying anything but making beautiful music.

So, in conclusion, I thought I'd post something that is blatantly NOT "Chops Justified" music. Here's Jason Raso, Stu Hamm, and Marito Marques playing Jason's super fun tune, "The Pork Chop Express"

So, why is this true fusion and not Chops Justified? Well, there is a lot of humour. CJ Music tends to be really self-important! It is concise. It says what it needs to say without a lot of extra fireworks or anything. It utilizes the 2 bass thing in a collaborative rather than competitive way. Finally, it shows a lot of humility and lack of ego. ( Full disclosure: Jason is my neighbour and he'd never make me coffee again if I complained about him! )

All joking aside, I'm really looking forward to playing some real Fusion with Mr. Raso  later this month. I just have to convince to change the title of his tune to "The Pork (Non-) Chop(s Justified) Express. Just rolls off the tongue, don't you think? :) 

Odds and ends

Hey folks,
A couple of things.
As I'm sure some of you are aware by now, singer Amanda Palmer is trying to enlist musicians to play on her tour without being compensated. George Colligan's Jazz Truth has the lowdown.
If you feel as strongly about this as I do, please sign the petition and let this "artist" know how you feel about musicians being exploited.


Okay, on to happier things.

I just picked up Keith Jarrett's "Sleeper" off of iTunes and that's pretty much all I've been listening to this last week. This recording captures Jarrett's European band in 1979. They sound great! It's wonderful to hear the live version of "Personal Mountains" as well as material more associated with his Standards trio, namely "So Tender", and "Prism".
Jon Christensen sounds great throughout and I think this recording helps cement the idea that in a live setting, Danielsson and Christensen, were a lot groovier and tougher than they were ever given credit for.

Why this long for the recording to be released? Apparently, Jarrett didn't like it. For more on this see Peter Hum's Blog.
This makes me think that artists aren't always the best judge of their own work.
Recordings like this remind us of a time when Jarrett was creating new music, and as much as I love the trio with Peacock and DeJohnette, it's a bit more of a repertory band. ( I realize that's being a bit unfair. Jarrett's still improvising and I've never accused say, Red Garland of that even though he mainly played standards throughout his career. Jarrett has set the bar for himself very high indeed, because of his past work.)
Anyway, regardless of my gushing, go pick it up. You won't regret it!

P.S. to rant and other stuff

Hello music friends!

One more item to include with my Olympic rant the other day. A lot of media as been including the Clash's classic tune London Calling in their coverage of the Olympics. (I tend to hear that in the openings before I switch it off. I'm boycotting any personal support of the games because of how London is treating musicians.) I find this hilarious. Has nobody involved listened to the lyrics? The subject matter of the song is the sort of thing the IOC is terrified of! No matter. Let's dig the clash!



They sound (and look) great!

Also, there's been a bit of a Steely Dan discussion lately through social media. Now I really dig the later stuff they did (Aja, Gaucho, as well as the recordings they've done after they've gotten back together) but in some ways I feel that original drummer Jim Hodder was just as great as the many drummers who played on later recordings. He's on Can't Buy a Thrill and Countdown to Ecstasy. He sounds beautiful throughout and even sings on the tune Midnight Cruiser.


The whole later Dan thing is a bit of a double edged sword, I feel. Yes, they were able to get the exact musician on each song that would play what they felt was the perfect thing, and they created a lot of incredible music. On the other hand they were a big part of the "studioization" of popular music in the 70s and 80s where band members would be replaced on tracks. (Now I know this is a process a lot older than Steely Dan, but they helped make it more commonplace, to be sure.)

There a sound a band has and I feel when you fill music with guest stars and studio legends, it doesn't feel the same. For another example, check out bands where all the vocals are one person multi-tracked as opposed to a blending of different voices. In Dan's case. Jim Hodder was the one who played all the crappy gigs and did all the tiring travel. (When they were still playing live.) There's a really funny story of them being laughed at by Sha Na Na when they were sharing a bill with them.

So here's a couple of tunes with the late, great, Jim Hodder.






Anybody know why Fagan didn't sing lead on that like the record? Another Dan mystery!



Thanks all!

An Olympic level rant (or I hope nobody in Britain sues me for this title)

Hi all,
No doubt you're aware of the upcoming events in London in a few days. If you're a musician or music fan you also might be aware of the 2012 London Olympics attempt to exploit musicians by paying them nothing or next to nothing for their time, artistry, and expertise. If not, the London Telegraph does a good job of explaining the situation.

I've been fairly vocal about this on social media, and one surprising response I've gotten (including from some members of the media)  is that musicians should not play for lousy compensation. Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. The trouble with this response (for me anyway) is that it doesn't address the underlying issues.

The Olympics and the IOC are a big corporate machine with deep pockets. They, like many similar such organizations, have decided that not paying musicians is a good way to cut costs (even though for them even paying the musicians very well would be just a drop in the bucket.) They are therefore saying music is not worth paying for and not valuable. Unfortunately, desperate musicians will play "for the exposure' or the Olympics will simply used canned music.

Hopefully this is an aberration and not a trend. Friends that played in the Vancouver Olympics tell me they were well paid. For now though, I refuse to watch, read about, engage in social media about, etc. ANYTHING to do with this year's Olympics. I have nothing against the athletes, I admire the work they have done to get where they are. However, artists such as David Occhipinti, for example, have worked just as hard and deserve our pride and support as much as any Olympians.

Okay, rant over. Thanks.