I once said that Jazz was the sharp object(the paint thinner, the razor blade, the putty knife) with which I scraped off the layers of new music, old music, silly music, stupid music that I constantly indulged myself in and/or was forced to listen to. I described it as if I were in a room.... this room was my life... and I painted it with colors and used wallpaper on occasion. The colors and papers were the music that I listend to... some chosen... some not. At the end of the day, figuratively, I needed to remove all of these built up layers: to start anew. Jazz was the tool that I used for this task... it was somehow able to cut through all of those voices and instrums and hit to the very basic... and then peel it all off... I see it falling to the floor...

And it was not just any Jazz.... it was Kind of Blue, it was Armstrong doing W.C. Handy, it was Count Basie, it was many things.... but it was not everything.

I don't feel this particular use of Jazz nowadays... and that's a subject for another time.

Today, I had another thought.

I am listening to Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum...

and this popped in my head:

"the beat... in any song... is the cage that the dancer is trapped in... and without it... you would not appreciate that song in the way that you do now."

the song... melody, harmony, key, pitch, chords... this is the beauty of the Lord... these are the places that new babies' feet and toes and knees are formed and the place where old men and women fall in love with each other for the first time.

and it's all trapped inside of the beat. the beat, the drums can give and take... the beat can allow freedom and it can contain it. the beat is math... it is law.... it is controlling.

but what if one removes the beat? one, and one's audience, loses the particular perspective which may be desired.

what does this say about my feelings on freedom?

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max says:

i don't know, i'm more under the impression that the beat serves the purpose of making the lyrics and purpose of the song palletable...Plus, why wouldn't we want the beat, its such a beautiful thing!

Posted 9 months ago | Delete