Thursday, January 31, 2008

Random Notes

It's been kind of strange trying to come back down to earth after last week's Trio M show. Everyday life looks and feels a bit bland after something that memorable. That and it's been just a hellacious teaching week, as every week is.

How I wish I could have coaxed a few more students to come to the show. One first year student, Zoe, three undergrad English Majors, Randi and Shelby and Derek (who videotaped it), and three grad students, Michael and Sarah and Stephanie. They always seem interested when I'm describing it and urging them on, but I guess it's like a lot of the time....they're not really listening. The master class was beyond belief. They talked for an hour and a half about what they listen for, how they improvise. We had to cut them off...they might *still* be talking if we hadn't stopped them.

I've been listening a lot to Matt Wilson's "Scenic Route," and trying to imagine Terrel Stafford's off-center embouchure, which Matt described at the Master Class. It's such a straight-ahead album that it's also kinda hard to picture the drummer as the same guy who was feeling his way into infinity and beyond, in the trio. Like I've said in an earlier post, it's a road album, and while I suppose you could listen to Trio M on your car stereo as you're tooling down the freeway, I just don't see it as the kind of music you drink Pabst to.

There's Pabst all over "Scenic Route." Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Milwaukee's Finest, and Goebel's (from Detroit), Red White and Blue . . . I remember a time in my younger days when Rolling Rock would be in that series, but it has long since graduated into hipper categories.

Next up, Marcus Shelby, on March 7.

1 comment:

Mike Mannix said...

Sadly, it is becoming more difficult to get younger generations into jazz. You would think that as jazz becomes more experimental and "modern" that it would retain a young following. Perhaps the jazz world needs to consider how to pitch (i am trying to not say "market") themselves to future generations. Is jazz on course to go the way of classical?