Valencia-We All Need A Reason To Believe
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Monday, March 23, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
What Essay?
In a fit of complete altruism, I've decided to put off doing my Environment & History essay in order to give you something new to listen to, you faithful, non-existent readers of my blog.
Anyway, the theme for tonight is apparently 'weird shit I like at 3 in the morning,' which means later Black Flag and Ornette Coleman.
The Process of Weeding Out is an all-instrumental EP focusing on Black Flag mastermind Greg Ginn, sometimes called "the worst guitar soloist in the world" by someone who was a fucking idiot. He apparently does a bunch of microtonal stuff but I have no idea what that means, so I'll just say it sounds like a cross between avant-garde jazz and methamphetamines.
The Process Of Weeding Out
Here
I'm fucked for a description of this, so here's allmusic.com's take on it:
"Ornette Coleman's Atlantic debut, The Shape of Jazz to Come, was a watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering its future course and throwing down a gauntlet that some still haven't come to grips with. The record shattered traditional concepts of harmony in jazz, getting rid of not only the piano player but the whole idea of concretely outlined chord changes. The pieces here follow almost no predetermined harmonic structure, which allows Coleman and partner Don Cherry an unprecedented freedom to take the melodies of their solo lines wherever they felt like going in the moment, regardless of what the piece's tonal center had seemed to be. Plus, this was the first time Coleman recorded with a rhythm section -- bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins-- that was loose and open-eared enough to follow his already controversial conception. Coleman's ideals of freedom in jazz made him a feared radical in some quarters; there was much carping about his music flying off in all directions, with little direct relation to the original theme statements. If only those critics could have known how far out things would get in just a few short years; in hindsight, it's hard to see just what the fuss was about, since this is an accessible, frequently swinging record. It's true that Coleman's piercing, wailing alto squeals and vocalized effects weren't much beholden to conventional technique, and that his themes often followed unpredictable courses, and that the group's improvisations were very free-associative. But at this point, Coleman's desire for freedom was directly related to his sense of melody -- which was free-flowing, yes, but still very melodic. Of the individual pieces, the haunting "Lonely Woman" is a stone-cold classic, and "Congeniality" and "Peace" aren't far behind. Any understanding of jazz's avant-garde should begin here."
The Shape Of Jazz To Come
Here
Goodnight, moon.
Anyway, the theme for tonight is apparently 'weird shit I like at 3 in the morning,' which means later Black Flag and Ornette Coleman.
The Process of Weeding Out is an all-instrumental EP focusing on Black Flag mastermind Greg Ginn, sometimes called "the worst guitar soloist in the world" by someone who was a fucking idiot. He apparently does a bunch of microtonal stuff but I have no idea what that means, so I'll just say it sounds like a cross between avant-garde jazz and methamphetamines.
The Process Of Weeding Out
Here
I'm fucked for a description of this, so here's allmusic.com's take on it:
"Ornette Coleman's Atlantic debut, The Shape of Jazz to Come, was a watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering its future course and throwing down a gauntlet that some still haven't come to grips with. The record shattered traditional concepts of harmony in jazz, getting rid of not only the piano player but the whole idea of concretely outlined chord changes. The pieces here follow almost no predetermined harmonic structure, which allows Coleman and partner Don Cherry an unprecedented freedom to take the melodies of their solo lines wherever they felt like going in the moment, regardless of what the piece's tonal center had seemed to be. Plus, this was the first time Coleman recorded with a rhythm section -- bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins-- that was loose and open-eared enough to follow his already controversial conception. Coleman's ideals of freedom in jazz made him a feared radical in some quarters; there was much carping about his music flying off in all directions, with little direct relation to the original theme statements. If only those critics could have known how far out things would get in just a few short years; in hindsight, it's hard to see just what the fuss was about, since this is an accessible, frequently swinging record. It's true that Coleman's piercing, wailing alto squeals and vocalized effects weren't much beholden to conventional technique, and that his themes often followed unpredictable courses, and that the group's improvisations were very free-associative. But at this point, Coleman's desire for freedom was directly related to his sense of melody -- which was free-flowing, yes, but still very melodic. Of the individual pieces, the haunting "Lonely Woman" is a stone-cold classic, and "Congeniality" and "Peace" aren't far behind. Any understanding of jazz's avant-garde should begin here."
The Shape Of Jazz To Come
Here
Goodnight, moon.
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