On being emotionally present

I had a gig recently that really made me aware of the effect that emotional interaction has on Jazz performance. I felt like one of the musicians on the gig wasn't emotionally available. I know that this sounds like a talk that your needy girlfriend might want have with you but hear me out. A musician may physically be playing appropriately or mentally be thinking about what he/she is playing. If you're focusing more on the hot cocktail waitress than you are the music, then mental distraction is the result, this is musically crippling.

If a musician that you are playing with is emotionally withdrawn or depressed, you won't be able to converse on an emotional level with them. I don't just want the rhythm section to react to the musical ideas that I'm playing, I need them to project and respond to strong emotions. You might even call what I'm talking about emotional comping. They have to be willing and able to contribute vital feelings to the mix.

A musician depressive musician will have a hard time expressing joy and optimism in his playing. He might not be able to feel excited if the crowd isn't clapping or paying attention, if at all. I really want to feel palpable feelings of joy, sorrow and excitement emanating from the musicians I'm playing with, or else the gig feels like I'm screwing with a condom on (sorry kids). Give me something to work with please. Wake up and feel MUTHERF*#@%s+!!

You have to be willing to play like your life depended on it, like it's your last day alive, like your balls are on fire. Otherwise go get a job as a parking lot attendant or an accountant (sorry all you accountants out there). Being a Jazz musician requires intense emotional exertion. What if a pro football player didn't bother to run at full speed when he got the ball? Or a brain surgeon who didn't bother to really concentrate all his attention to the job on hand. Playing Jazz should feel like a matter of life and death! If everyone doesn't give 200% then the music will die on the operating table. If you never sweat or feel wiped out after a gig ,then I'd say you're trying hard enough. Even if your life totally sucks ass the time you spend playing Jazz needs to scream," I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!". Some band-leaders won't notice if you're phoning it in and are just trying to get through the gig, I do though.

The thing that separates the truly great players from to mediocre players is the ability to attain non-ordinary physical, mental and emotional states. When I go to a gig I know that I should be prepared to enter a higher mode of being from my everyday state. I try to be open to experiencing a level of emotional intensity that rarely happens when I'm not playing. Even if the gig is in a Yuppy bar in a Yuppy shopping center.

I don't think of myself as a particularly moody person, but I want to be as moody as an expectant mother or a rapid cycle bi-polar hypoglycemic. You must be willing to radiate waves of joy and then the deepest blackest sorrow in a split second. Clinging stubbornly to the mask of your ordinary persona will make you emotionally impotent and boring as hell to listen to. Hey, would the audience clap and hoot while you load the dishwasher or scoop the dog poop in the back yard. NO. No one is impressed with mundane personal chores, so don't make playing music one.

I sometimes refer to emotions with terms like radiate and emanate because when you strongly project feeling and emotion with your music it should make the listener feel as if they were a McChicken sandwich under a heat lamp keeping warm at McDonalds. If no emotional intensity is achieved then it feels like you're trying to catch a tan from a 50 watt light bulb. Chinese medicine sees all types of human experience as different manifestations of a life energy called Qi. This energy needs to circulate freely throughout the different energy bodies in order to maintain good health; emotionally, mentally and physically. Qi energy can become stagnant or blocked and all types of ailments start to set in.

• According to Chinese medicine there are seven emotions that a person can experience: joy, anger, worry, pensiveness, sadness, fear, and fright. These are normal emotions that are reactions to various life circumstances. Only when they come on suddenly and intensely, or continue for a protracted period do they lead to pathological consequences. It should be remembered that diseases caused by the emotions arise from the interior and directly affect the corresponding organs. This is different from, for example, the Six Excesses, which cause disease by entering the body from the exterior. Thus, symptoms caused by emotional disturbances often manifest very soon after onset. Furthermore, the immediate result is a disturbance of the Qi mechanism, which if untreated causes further disharmonies depending on the affected organ(s).

• "In this [western] culture, there’s this idea that if you suffer from depression, you should not talk about it. That makes it even worse. You’re suppressing emotions, and this causes energy to block.…If it’s blocked, you start to see symptoms, either physical or emotional. These are all manifestations of an imbalance of qi.…the key thing is to eliminate that blockage and promote the energy flow in the body, to help the energy flow smoothly.

In some cases one acupuncture session or just a good lay can help a musician more than a week of shedding. Others who are more seriously emotionally impaired may need to see a shrink for a script of mood stabilizers or elevators in order to regain emotional dynamics in their music.

You can't always just woodshed your way to the next level musically.
Many young players make this mistake. Spending 12 hours a day in the practice room will not bring emotional balance and vitality to your playing. Only truly experiencing life's tribulation and victories can make you more emotionally mature.

From now on I don't hire players who don't put out emotionally. They had also better have their Qi flowing freely.......

JazzTrumpetSolos.com

I recently found a web site that features 98 great trumpet solo transcriptions. The solos are from players like Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Bill Chase, Claudio Roditi, Dave Douglas, Tom Harrell, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Clark Terry, and Miles Davis. When you click a solo transcription link the transcription appears in a window that scrolls down in time as the original recording plays. This is a cool feature, unfortunately the scrolling audio clips don't contain the entire solos. You can download the complete solos in PDF format for free. The only thing wrong with this web site is that the Woody Shaw solos are missing. Were's the WOODY?!

Jazz Trumpet Solos.com

Bill McHenry- The Man.

I called Kenny Brooks a few days ago. He told me that he lives right around the corner from a club called Biscuit BBQ in Park Slope where Bill McHenry plays weekly. I checked out Bill's MySpace page as was mightily impressed. Bill plays the saxophone like a true master of the instrument. There's also a smoking live solo video posted.

I'm a sucker for a great sound and McHenry has one of the best sounds of anyone out there today. He plays with amazing sensitivity to subtle shadings of timbre and articulations.
The word that first comes to my mind when I think about how to describe his playing is Lyrical. He never sacrifices melody for technical prowess. His playing oozes emotion, and he sounds like himself.

Bill McHenry's MySpace page
Bill McHenry's home page
Bill playing Night and Day
Bill playing How High the Moon (more or less)
Roses
Live at Small's
Velvet Gentlemen

Dave Douglas defends the Bad Plus' Repetiore

The power Jazz trio Bad Plus plays some covers of some unexpected tunes and has come under harsh criticism from some British critics. Dave Douglas writes in defense of Bad Plus and makes a case for a more open view of what a 'Jazz Standard' should be.
ProgThese Are the VistasGive

Jazz Italia solo transcriptions

While looking for Bob Berg transcriptions I found a great Italian site called Jazz Italia. There is an entire page of solo transcriptions, which includes MP3s of the original recordings. There is also a page with a ton of links to Jazz blogs.

You can translate any page to English with Alta Vista's Babel Fish web page (I just added the translated feature to this blog, look below the Google ads in the left sidebar). Just type the web address into Babel Fish and the entire page will be translated into the language of your choice. This is great for all of those interesting looking but unintelligible European Jazz sites.

Jazz Italia
Jazz Italia solo transcriptions
Jazz Italia Blog links
Jazz Italia photo gallery

Charlie Mariano Tribute site

There isn't a lot of information on the web about Charlie Mariano, one of my favorite alto players of all time. Charlie has resided in Germany for the last few decades, so we don't haven't heard a lot about him over here.

I just found a Mariano tribute site that features a meticulous discography, complete biography, links to CD and concert reviews and some nice pictures.

The Charlie Mariano Tribute Site

Not Quite a Ballad
Blue Stone
Toshiko Mariano Quartet

The Devin Phillips Octet- Summertime

Last Sunday I played a gig with with Devin Phillips' octet. The lineup was alto, tenor, trumpet, bone, bari, piano, bass and drums. I did Summertime as a Tane-esque alto feature.

Here it is:
Summertime

Casa Valdez Sells Out!- AdSense

I've been resisting selling out for a long time, but the time has finally come. Jazz clubs in town have been steadily closing or changing formats to pool tables and darts, or to titties. If I want to pay for my mouthpiece and reed habit then I need to do something drastic (that doesn't involve me going to jail). I hate to cheapen the noble and pure sharing of musical information with crass commercialism, but that's what I've decided to do. In about a week I'll be able to have some control over which ads go on the site, right now that's controlled by Google. The ads will eventually be directly related to the content on the blog itself. If all goes well this will only serve help readers to purchase materials relevant to blog post topics.

I wish it didn't come down to this, but I need to pay for the two Slant Links I just bought. If everyone pitches in and clicks an ad once in a while I can stay financially solvent and keep writing.

Hey, everything else on this site is F-R-E-E, so don't start whining......

The Very Best of Jazz Club

A way-too-hip-for-American-TV show sketch comedy TV show called The Fast Show features a brilliant parody segment called Jazz Club. This show is hilarious.

Best of Jazz Club

The Essential Casa Valdez

The blog format isn't the most ideal for finding and organizing older material. The Blogger search engine is unreliable at best and early articles get lost in the archives, never to be seen again. Over the past two and a half years I've posted a lot of didactic material, which I feel is the part of Casa Valdez that is most useful to the practicing Jazz musician. I've compiled all this material and formatted it into a Word document. Along with the articles I've written on harmony, practice ideas and the like, I've included some debates taken from the comments section and a few articles written by loyal readers.

This is the first stage of putting together a book. I plan to flesh out the book with many notated examples, footnotes, and more detailed explanations of a lot of the harmonic material.

If you find this initial compilation useful or if you have any comments, questions of suggestions please let me know at casavaldez@comcast.net

The Best of Casa Valdez

Dan Willis and Eric Satie

My old friend Chuck MacKinnon sent me an email this morning about tenor play Dan Hicks, who he plays trumpet with. Dan was going to be doing a radio interview about his new CD featuring the music of Eric Satie. I was able to tune in halfway through the interview and was blown away by the CD, especially by Dan's playing. His sound had warmth and complexity not usually found in a player of his age. I liked everything about his playing: time, lines, concept, technique, sound, material, intonation. He has it all. Dan moved to NYC after graduating with an oboe performance degree from Eastman school of music. He's supported his more creative projects by playing Broadway shows, studio recording and with gigs with people like Clay Aikin. Dan is also a member of John Holenbeck's large Grammy winning large ensemble. Here's a young conservatory trained player who has surpassed most of his contemporaries in breadth and depth.

Dan Willis' web site
All About Jazz article
Velvet Gentlemen

Openers, Limiters and Pairs of Opposites

One of the things that seems to help my playing the most is teaching advanced students. I am challenged to analyze and describe my personal concepts and approaches to Jazz improvisation. Yesterday as I was teaching a lesson I realized that I like to start out my solos with an abstract theme. I look for something that has an interesting shape to start my solos with. It may not even be such a strange shape or rhythm, or it may just be a pattern that lays funny on the horn. I do this in hopes that I'll stimulate something new in response to it. It doesn't need to be complete idea, just an introduction for what will follow.

For me, the first statement is very important developing the rest of the solo. I want to feel like I'm circling the tune like a vulture, waiting for the right time to drop in and devour my carcass. The first statements of a solo should have some relationship with either the tune or the prior solo. It should let the listener know that a new section of music has started. These first statements also act as a bridge for what came before. It's a mood change. I may not even have a particular mood in mind, it may be just an expression or a type of look that you may give someone.

Sometimes just for a change of pace I'll give myself 'limiters'. This means that I'll pick a few specific limits to different factors of my playing. I might set a limit on the range of just the first chorus, for example only playing between low D and middle G. Another approach would be to limit the dynamics that are you use, an example would be to play only piano on the A sections and only forte on the bridges. You might limit yourself to a couple of types of articulation or one type of interval. You could also limit yourself directionally, like only playing lines that ascend. If you combine more than one 'limiter' you can really get some cool effects that you might not come across any other way.

By using limits in this way you can create some very interesting and unique textural effects. You don't have to use limits for your entire solo, maybe just in the beginning or for a short period of time in the middle or at the end. You might try switching from a set of limiters to the opposite (or complementary) set of limiters half way though the solo. Some limiters would be better used for free playing, they can give structure and variety when there is little form in the music. An example of a limiter best used in free situations would be to only play flat or sharp, or to only play alternate fingerings.

Like any technique or musical device it takes some practice to get from the conscious mentation stage to the intuitive reaction stage. At first limiters are an entirely intellectual process, but with some practice they become automatic and natural. Of course some limiters will probably never be totally spontaneous, like deciding to only play Major or Diminished triads over an entire tune. Sometimes you need to set limits in order to focus what you're working on.

The idea of limiters is also related to what I like to think of as the table of opposites. This is an adaptation from an an idea from an ancient document called the tablet of Hermes. The fourth principle from this document is the principle of polarity. It reads like this:

• “Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.”

  This Principle embodies the truth that “everything is dual”; “everything has two poles”; “everything has its pair of opposites”; these phrases are old Hermetic axioms. It explains the old paradoxes that have perplexed so many, and which have been stated as follows: “Thesis and antithesis are identical in nature, but different in degree”; “opposites are the same, differing only in degree”; “the pairs of opposites may be reconciled”; “extremes meet”; “everything is, and isn’t, at the same time”; “all truths are but half-truths”; “every truth is half-false”; “there are two sides to everything”, etc. The Principle of Polarity explains that, in everything, there are two poles, or opposite aspects, and that “opposites” are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them. For example: heat and cold, although “opposites” are really the same thing; the differences consisting merely of degrees of the same thing. Look at your thermometer and see if you can discover where “hot” ends and “cold” begins! There is no such thing as “absolute heat” or “absolute cold”; The two terms “heat” and “cold” simply indicate varying degrees of the same thing, and that “same thing” which manifests as “heat” and “cold” is merely a form, variety, and rate of Vibration. So “hot” and “cold” are simply the two poles of that which we call “Heat”, and the phenomena attendant thereupon are the manifestations of the Principle of Polarity. The same Principle manifests in the case of “Light” and “Darkness,” which are the same thing, the difference consisting of varying degrees between the two poles of the phenomena. Where does “darkness” leave off, and “light” begin? What is the difference between “Large and Small”? Between “Hard and Soft”? Between “Black and White”? Between “Sharp and Dull”? Between “Noise and Quiet”? Between “High and Low”? Between “Positive and Negative”? The Principle of Polarity explains these paradoxes and no other Principle can supersede it. The same Principle operates on the Mental Plane. Let us take a radical and extreme example – that of “Love and Hate,” two mental states apparently totally different. And yet there are degrees of Hate and degrees of Love; and a middle point in which we use the terms “Like” or “Dislike,” which shade into each other so gradually that sometimes we are at a loss to know whether we “like” or “dislike” or “neither”. These opposing sentiments are simply different degrees of the same thing.

Can musical principles also be seen in this way?

How about these for a start:

Horizontal-Vertical
Sharp-Flat
Fast-Slow
Ascending-Descending
Bright-Dark
Short-Long
Dense-Sparse
Consonant-Dissonant
Legato-Stacatto
ppp-fff
Rushing-Dragging
Inside-Outside
Tradition-Modern
Sensitive-Aggressive
Sad-Happy
Vibrato-Dry
High-Low
Sloppy-Clean
Straight-Swinging
and on and on.....

The more you become aware of all of the opposites, the more you can determine where your playing is on the scale of the opposites and the more you can bring balance and variety to your playing. Some players may be totally unaware of let's say the Sad-Happy opposite and always play happy sounding solos, never varying the level of happiness. Some of the West Coast swing players might do this. By consciously playing toward the opposite poles of your usual playing you can break yourself out of some real ruts.

Awareness of the musical opposites can really help give you a better idea of all your musical options for improvisation. If you aren't aware of these opposites then you could end up getting stuck in a rut with regards to your overall sound and texture. Even the mental and emotional sets of opposites can help you give more variety and depth to your improvisation.

And the Infinite,
according to Its Wisdom,
took a portion of its own being
and separated itself
into the pairs of opposites
which make up all aspects
of the manifest;
Dark and Light;
Night and Day;
Cold and Hot;
Wet and Dry;
Soft and Hard;
Negative and Positive;
Female and Male;
Dead and Living.

We must develop our abstract thinking in order to fully understand such an abstract art form like music.

Astrology and pairs of opposites

TV Links- better than a remote control

I usually try to keep this blog on topic, sometimes I even do. One of the themes on Casa Valdez is digital entertainment and I just discovered the motherload. My buddy just sent me a link to a British site that has links to just about every TV show, movie, cartoon, documentary, music video and anime that you can think of. I was in shock when I saw it. No more trolling Limewire for days just to find that last episode of Six Feet Under or the Six Million Dollar Man. Everything is here and in high and low quality streaming video, and it's F- R- E- E. Toss out your TV and cancel your cable TV service, now all you need is a fast connection and a big computer monitor. How do they possibly get away with this shit?!

Can you say," Yaaaarrr, ye scallywagger!"

Well, here's what their legal page has to say:

• TV Links is not responsible for any content linked to or referred to from these pages.

  TV Links does not host any content on our Servers

  All video links point to content hosted on third party webites. Users who upload to these websites agree not to upload illegal content when creating their user accounts. TV Links does not accept responsibility for content hosted on third party websites.

The categories are Shows, Documentaries, Cartoons, Anime, Movies and Music Videos. There are plenty of new movies here also. I haven't watched many so I don't know if they are of the handy cam in the trench coat variety or not.

and you thought that YouTube was wasting too much of your time.

UPDATE: TV Links did finally get busted and pulled off the Net. Here's another similar site that is almost as good- alluc.org

George Garzone- less on the fringe

George Garzone now has a long overdue website at www.georgegarzone.com. It looks to me like the web design of Kenny Brooks, one of his favorite students and lately a musical collaborator. When I saw George in Boston last weekend I asked him about the three tenor gig he played a couple of days prior with Kenny Brooks and Douglas Yates. He told me," Man, those guys are playing on a totally new level. That's going to be the first CD I produce myself." Shit, I wish I had seen that show.

George's site has a great page called 'Words of Wisdom', which has memorable Garzone quotes contributed by students and friends. If you have any memorable quotes from the master send them to- saxgarzone@aol.com

Here are a few of the Garzonisms-

"You have to find the center of time." contributed by Rick Stone

"Don't use your tongue...stop that tonguing..." - contributed by Rick Stone

"Otto, you're playing on those 2 by 4's, aren't you?"- contributed by Matt Otto

"In the early 1980's the Fringe performed a live radio broadcast and George was interviewed after the performance. The interviewer asked George how the Fringe played the way they did. George replied, "We listened to the messages." The interviewer asked where the messages come from, and George replied, "...from God".
- contributed by Wayne de Silva


The Fringe in New York
One Two Three Four
Four's and Two's
Moodiology

Herb Pomeroy- In his own words

This half-hour radio show produced by WGBH features Herb Pomeroy talking about his life and music. Herb talks about his experience playing with Bird, his days at the Stable, his feelings about big bands, the music of Duke Ellington, his teaching career, and his philosophy of life.

WGBH Jazz portrait of Herb Pomeroy in his own words and music

Walking on Air
This Is Always
Star Dust & Beyond: A Tribute to Artie Shaw