Awaken the Music

i am the walrus.

This one's been blowing our mind...

Check out Sir George Martin in the studio with his son Giles and Dhani Harrison (George's son) revisiting 'Here Comes the Sun', complete with lost lead guitar track, and a synth or something at 1:40 that still might possibly cause a sexual reaction, we're not sure yet.

 

 

 

What kills us is that just from this clip you can hear that there's literally hundreds of different songs that could have come out of this material - one button, and it's an entirely different track. If that's not genius, f*ck genius.

Mr. Harrison's in seclusion in the West Wing....

Loving this article on George Harrison from the Week (originally from Rolling Stone) - we always thought of him as conflicted, but a good job here by Brian Hiatt narrating the ebb and flow of his comfort level with fame. Lennon's spiritual persona was always on display, in your face, it seems; Harrison was no less ethereal, but quietly, and it seems, in stints.

"Look, we're not these bodies, let's not get hung up on that." - beautiful.

 

the Bums will always lose.

20 years later, despite all the bullsh*t and moneymaking, despite Dave Grohl's ever-more-prettified facial hair and overproduced sound, it's impossible to downplay the importance of Nevermind. We didn't even like it when it came out, to be honest (not that that lasted long). And it didn't matter - life changing then, life changing now. What a gift.

NPR musings here. 

 

 

 

'we're talking about unchecked agression here...'

The following is from Seattle Weekly's 9/14 issue; an edited version of an interview with Branford on the problem with jazz today. And yes, there is a problem. Many.

One of which, it seems repeatedly clear, is that the Lincoln Center gig went to the wrong damned Marsalis.

Branford Marsalis: The Problem With Jazz

The saxophonist says the genre needs to get out of its rut of virtuosic self-indulgence.

As told to Chris Kornelis. Wednesday, Sep 14 2011

The following is edited from an interview with jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis, whose latest album, Songs of Mirth and Melancholy, is a collaboration with pianist Joey Calderazzo.

You put on old records and they always sound better. Why are they better? I started listening to a lot of classical music, and that really solidified the idea that the most important and the strongest element of music is the melodic content.

In jazz we spend a lot of time talking about harmony. Harmonic music tends to be very insular. It tends to be [like] you're in the private club with a secret handshake.

I have a lot of normal friends. 'Cause it's important. [When] you have a bunch of musicians talking about music and they talk about what's good and what's not good, they don't consider the larger context of it.

You read a review of something and some guy in New York says "This is the most important music since such and such." And then when you look at it in a larger context, you say, "Well, can we really use the word 'important' for something that the majority of the people have never heard?"

"I am alive, and my life has meaning..."

A brilliant welcome address (we believe from this current year) from the Boston Conservatory's Dr. Karl Paulnack, their Director of the Music Division. Would that we heard anything approaching this level of speech in our own educational career - we didn't.

One of my parents' deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn't be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother's remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school—she said, "you're wasting your SAT scores!" On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they loved music: they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren't really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the "arts and entertainment" section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it's the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.

One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you some examples of how this works.

the New Rules

Here's one that's been circulating for a hot minute - great food for thought that reached us as a forward - if someone has the source, feel free to let us know so we can properly credit it. We've concluded that it simultaneously inspires and infuriates us, and we hope it does the same for you.

1. It doesn't matter what kind of music you make.
You build your own audience. There's an established niche for every genre. From folk to metal. Don't worry about playing to everybody, just play to somebody.
The last thirty years, the MTV era, has been about giving people what they want, which is just like what they're already consuming. Major labels and major media, most especially radio, had control of a narrow sieve and if you didn't fit, you couldn't play. That is not true today. Those powers mean ever less. You can reach your audience easily online. You've just got to start.

2. You've got to be good.
This is about practice. We're in a music era, not a marketing era. Ignore those who tweet and Facebook their goings-on instead of focusing on the music. It'd be like Steve Jobs selling Dell. It wouldn't blow up overnight. Even better, Ferrari selling Smart cars. A great marketer is nothing without a great product, focus on the product.
Play for three or four hours a day. Take lessons. Play in your garage before you play in public.

There's nothing to say.
What brilliant execution.

 

 

Newport? We got you a carton...

 

A good friend... just appeared at Newport, of course. Very proud to have a few friends of AtM at the festival this year, including Ambrose Akinmusire (above), Hiromi, Mostly Other People Do the Killing and of course Esperanza Spalding. A great opportunity to catch what you missed here.

... and so will you soon, I suppose.

This was a tremendously important orchestra. Like any other, with strengths and weaknesses, skills and flaws... But a vital group. Story here... er, more or less.

An orchestra comprised of young musicians is not rare, of course - one that performs consistently at such a high level is. An orchestra that plays crossover styles of repertoire is also not rare- one that realistically achieves artistic credibility in doing so is. And a conductor and orchestra attempting to 'connect' with the general population is absurdly common - but success in doing so is not. In a music scene where tired old orchestral models and tired old musical directors alternately bore the masses to tears with their archaism and alienate their traditionally-minded fanbase with pathetic attempts to be 'young and sexy', the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas WAS young, sexy, and most importantly, fucking GOOD. Perfect, never. Crucial to a dying orchestral model? YES. And 802 broke them why? Not for the good of any of its members - don't believe that for a second. Simply because it could.

In a strong-arming that would not be out of place on a Chicago dock in the 1930s, New York's own Musical Gestapo finally forced the effective surrender of POA's board last week, sending to the bottom of the sea yet another young organization that was never given enough time to grow to a point where it could meet the demands imposed on it. Massive organizations take time to grow- 802 wants its money NOW. And so here we are again, as a fledgeling group actually contributing positively to the culture of this city (to say nothing of the Latin American countries it has extensively toured), sinks gracelessly into oblivion. Believe us when we say that this group, by the very aesthetic under which it operated, was doing more for the general population of New York City than the New York Philharmonic has done since Bernstein.

Let us tell you what happens when a Musicians' Union, as an institution, actually gives a fuck about art and artists: they approach the orchestra, identify the problems, and then they find a way. When everyone sitting at the table genuinely wants a solution, then a solution is found. Not most of the time; every time. To act in a musician's financial interest by removing the musician's source of income is beyond counter-intuitive; it is sheer idiocy. And for 802's 'negotiations' to have resulted in the effective dissolution of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, one thing and one thing only could be the case- that the Union did NOT negotiate in good faith, that their goal this past year had NOT been the compliance of an existing orchestra doing good for the culture of it's city, but rather for the acquisition of every last cent of dues, fees, and other monies its enlightened leadership feels that it is owed, simply for existing. 

Someone prove us wrong. Please.

...and F*ck You Too, Mr. Brownback

 

 

And so the final decline begins. Apologies for referencing the LA Times on this one, but hey, it's what we found first.

In case you missed it, that's Gov. Sam 'The Darwin' Brownback, in the process of erasing state funding for arts programs in Kansas, as his Sith lord looks on. No doubt, a brilliant maneuver that will solve the state's budget woes and fix every other problem as well. In defense of this, er, evolutionary coup, Americans for Prosperity director Derrick Sontag nobly pointed out that 'Art is in the eye of the beholder. Some may enjoy Picasso or listening to Beethoven. Others may prefer a Dogs Playing Poker painting.'

We submit the following two pieces of evidence for the record:

As you can see, he's clearly correct. Clearly.

We encourage you to read the LA Times article, in particular the financial ramifications for the state, which is what this action on Brownback's part is about, anyway. Feel free to do your own research. In the meantime, we leave you with this thought, as pointed out by a dear friend:

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill's finance minister recommended that Britain cut arts funding to better support the war effort. Churchill responded, 'Then what are we fighting for?'