Originally, the whole weekend was booked as The North Well ( a trio consisting of myself on drums and percussion, Lane Arndt on Guitars & Electronics and Thom Golub on Bass ) but our guitarist accidentally double booked himself one night, so trumpeter Joel Gray stood in on Friday.
Thursday August 9th
Listeners of music may think that playing music is all glamour and flowers and wonderful. While it is wonderful, it is just like anything else in terms of the amount of stuff there is to be with, as there is so much going on physically, mentally and psychologically.
I am sure other musicians will totally agree with this, that there is and there will always be nights where there is massive amounts of flow and it seems you can do nothing wrong and then other nights where it seems the opposite is true ( I.e. it doesn't matter how hard you try, you cannot 'make it happen' ).
While I think Lane and Thom played great and visibly enjoyed themselves ( and verbally affirmed this later ) I totally felt off for most of the night, like what I was playing was either just bad ( I.e. not in the groove, lazy, etc. ) or I was just filling space with stuff, not really keeping up with what was happening.
To add to all of those strange feelings ( which included thinking I wasn't a good drummer ) it happened that my ex-girlfriend of about 12 years ago showed up as well...we had reconnected through the wonder of that which is FaceBook. She reported enjoying herself as did another musician whom I respect and hope to work with in the near future.
My point to all of this is that I have learned that you can't really trust your experience as a musician ( and as it turns out as a human being ) to tell you what is real. I don't mean that one cannot see true things through experience like where to improve on things, but if one looks with kindness and humour, having such a night doesn't really matter if you are ok with not needing to be identified as a good musician, where it could really be easy to be hard on oneself. Then this becomes an opportunity for realness, which is what we were trying to get to in the music in the first place, well, if our motive is pure.
To clarify, I am not talking about not caring, but rather a warm disregard for your own reputation; not needing to be so identified with the output of the music. I have found this very state is what helps me really freely improvise with others and integrate my 'mistakes' into the music. Those of us who are uptight about sounding good, dare not venture into such areas.
Friday August 10th
This was a very interesting night as I had never really played with trumpeter Joel Gray outside of maybe the jazz jam at the Yardbird Suite ( which consequently does not usually involve people really playing but restricting each other ... hmm, another blog ). Joel has more of a 'traditional' sound ( ala Louie Armstrong ) than Thom and I, but we all had so much fun together because of openness, and Joel can really make the trumpet sing. We mainly played standards such as All Blues, JoySpring, Indiana, some ballads, some straight ahead swing and I couldn't resist the Dixieland flavours.
Now usually when it comes to jazz I have a taste for the more avant garde, and I generally have connected with musicians who have the same interests, and I find improvised music can be some of the highest music when it is good. However, here is my main point of this section, I do not give less of myself depending on the creative opportunities that are awarded to me. I think is the mistake that a lot of 'creative' musicians make, that somehow their 'atonal prepared piano sonata in B flat' is their soul music while the country band they play in is somehow less than that.
Now, I am not saying that it is not natural to be moved differently by different styles of music, this definitely happens for me; give me an Indian drone and I am like buttah! What I am saying is that sometimes we tend to focus on the thing that has less value in this case the creative content of the music rather than being satisfied with merging with the center of the music ( i.e. the pocket, the zone, the point ) in whatever situation. This is something I am really enjoying and will continue to grow in enjoyment of.
Note: there are certain musical situations I have learned to not put myself in.
Saturday August 11th
This night, again back with Lane and Thom, on the contrary to Thursday was one of those evenings where everything experientially went exceptionally well. I go so far as to say that it was, in my experience : ), the most mature or advanced I have ever heard us play, or at least the best I have ever played with these particular guys. The music was quite what you would call 'experimental' too. Besides doing some John Zorn Masada stuff ( pretty straight ahead ), some modal stuff like Keith Jarrett's The Cure, we really explored some standards like JoySpring and Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.
An exciting thing was that a friend who is not particularly a fan of jazz came that night, and even though she mentioned that we 'lost her' at some moments with some overly jazzy stuff ( i.e. everyone playing different stuff at once ) her main comment was that it was gorgeous. That is what I love, the ability to walk the line between free and open and playing whatever comes and being accessible to people who may not be used to listening to music in the same way; this is another goal of mine.
And let me say more about making mistakes. It is wonderful to be with a group of people, in this case musician types who allow each other to make mistakes; it is kind and it allows for such playful freedom and discovery. I think if we can get to the point where we use our mistakes for good, that is good.
Sunday August 12th - The Edmonton Folk Festival
I will be brief here. I went to the cheapy hill ( i.e. the place where everyone goes who doesn't feel like paying but wants a good view ) at the ( renowned ) Edmonton Folk Fest last night and had a pretty good time.
The artists:
- Ollabelle
- Ozomatli
- Michael Franti & Spearhead
- Buffy Sainte-Marie
While I think that the different artists did a good job of the spirit of togetherness thing with fun and social/political conscious lyrics I had wondered at moments when the sun was setting across the wide open sky, over the cityscape, as awareness was becoming still, as consciousness began to sparkle what it might be like if the music was only an expression of oneness and Truth we all come from.
Currently Listening To:
2 comments:
Mistakes are a healthy sign that creative music is being made, for sure. As long as the musician making the mistake is not inept, they show that pressure is being placed on personal boundaries.
Knowing when you've made one is crucial - something I can't always say applies to alot of the European (non jazz) free improv I've played and experienced over here in the past. Some of that stuff makes a virtue out of Monk's axiom that 'wrong is right' - fine on the theoretical level, but they often forget that crap will always sound like crap, no matter what the excuse.
The fact that you pleased the audience (not all of which came to the gig as jazz fans) can't be bad!! Creative music can still be approachable, it just needs more discipline and well developed group listening skills. It sounds to me like you have the balance right.
Enjoyed the blog, keep up the good work...
Ferd:
I like that what you said about mistakes being a healthy sign of creative music happening, and making mistakes with awareness.
I am often turned off, as you are, by free music for the sake of free music or outness for the sake of outness...Gregg and I have spoken a lot about that.
Another thing that helps in connecting with an audience is meeting them where they are, with something they are already comfortable and familiar with. That way, when you start to break boundaries you set up a comfort zone for people to expand in, instead of just blowing open their doors from start to finish.
On the weekend, we played a few pop/country songs like "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Time the Revelator" by Gillian Welch...these are sounds and beautiful chord progressions that people know and love and they are wonderful to open up and explore.
By the way, I don't get that Monk had any "wrong is right" philosophy, I found what he was doing was just coming from inside him, and it was sincere.
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