pollock

Walter Cronkite died today at the age of 92. I remember him well. When I was a kid every night at dinner my parents would have the CBS news on. Then one night when I was 16 years old he came on and said the war in Viet Nam was unwinable. I was already registered for the draft, and I was used to seeing the clips of the helicoptors and the kids who were soldiers running through fields getting shot at. But when Walter Cronkite said that it had real resonance. My father got very pissed off, he though the army would make a man out of me and I don't think he ever forgave Walter Cronkite. But it was at that time that I knew that there was no way in hell I was going to get drafted come hell or high water. I liked Walter Cronkite. There was true integrity, journalistic integrity, about the man. Hard to imagine isn't it. "And that's the way it is..."

I'm sure there has to be a least one in there somewhere. Give me a minute to check and I'll get back to you.

I've spent the last two nights in the studio with my band recording my CD. It's completely fucked up. It's great. There's all kind of things wrong with it, it's sloppy and fucked up and wild and it sounds like a bunch of drunk musicians playing in a whorehouse band recorded it, BUT IT'S FUCKING GREAT! The thing is that people are going to get hung up about how sloppy and weird it all is. BUT THAT'S OKAY! I wouldn't expect, or want, any other response. The record sucks. It stinks (based on the roughs I've just listened to) but it's great. It's jazz music from the dumpster behind the 24-hour Mini-Mart. It's totally fucked up. Seriously, we're not going to win any awards for the best-played-cleanly-executed jazz record ever made. This is some desperate shit. I don't know why it ended up sounding like that and I don't care. It's the worst thing I've ever played on, and it's also the best.

I see. I had no idea, but then I don't know a damn thing, really, about classical music. I just love Beethoven, particularly the piano concertos. Thank you for that, Ron.

Sorry, what is it? I can't make out anything on the tiny picture. Here's all the info: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?...rm=frooglemusic Thank you for that HG. One question: Cleveland? I mean...nothing against Cleveland, I just wouldn't have ever thought that Cleveland would have, you know... I was in Cleveland once, maybe that's why I can't imagine anything good coming from there.

"Passage." Where exactly does this passage occur? Sonatas are, you know, sort of divided up into sections, like.

Sorry, what is it? I can't make out anything on the tiny picture.

And there are only nine of those. I don't claim to know shit about classical music, but I love the piano concertos and my question was sincere. I don't understand the sarcasm.

There are only five of them.

Thank you Shrdlu. By the way, my real name is Jay. I'm listening to Julius Katchen and the London Symphony Orchestra playing the C minor right now and it all sounds rather sloppy to me. There are definitely tempo issues. Not to mention that the recording itself leaves something to be desired.

I want to own the very best recordings of this music available on CD. I have rather a hodge-podge of them now, but I know there have to be "definitive" recordings that I'm not aware of. Oh, and I don't like the Brendels much at all. I'd rather hear the real cadenzas. Suggestions, please?

No, not at all. Just getting a feel for the place.

This is all really...weird. Why are people still posting to this thread? What is it that's being discussed here? Weird. I've been reading all this for the past couple of days and that's the only word that comes to mind. Weird.

Are you kidding? It's going great! Got a rehearsal with my band tonight, gigs are starting to get lined up, and we do nothing but 100% original jazz music. Recording a CD this summer. The music is already getting notice on the internet. Meanwhile I'm still working as a freelance musician, the money is good, the wife is lovely and we're both excellent cooks. Obama's won 10 in a row. Life is wonderful. You?

This is in reference to a little "essay" I put up in the musician forum about how I was using open-voiced quartal harmonies in the music I write. I never intended it to mean that I had discovered any new territory. I thought there might be some other composers here who would care to talk about their approaches and that we might get into a discussion about composing jazz. That's all. At the end of my post I clearly stated that there was nothing new in what I was talking about. The responses were rather dismissive, and a couple were just plain silly, referring to Jimi Hendrix and James Brown. This quote above seems quite mean-spirited, and coupled with the join-in-or-fuck-off post and a suggestion to make use of the ignore function, I get the impression that this is a common occurance here. It's a strange discussion board, and one that I don't find very appealing.

Oh yeah. A very friendly place, this is.

Whoa....don't think I will, thanks very much. I'll just "get the fuck out."

You mean http://www.elbaalabama.net/ ?

Nope. This: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/

Thank for for that very kind statement, Randaljazz. Well, it's true. Wordsandsounds, I see that you're from Carrboro, NC. I grew up in Chapel Hill. Lived in Carrboro for a spell.

I appreciate that very much, everybody.

Ah, I see. I'm still learning my way around here. Sorry...

I have for some time been engaged in trying to find a way to un-inhibit jazz music from the standard chordal harmony approach. In other words to support a written melody with "non-chords." I believe I have found it in a quartal-voiced 7#9 chord. For example, a C7#9 chord would be voiced as: (C bass) E Bb Eb. This is a non-functional chord. It can go anywhere. The voicing points to parallel harmonic movement, and it does not require a key signature. In essence, it gives rise to music that is atonal. This harmonic approach, however, does not give rise to tonal anarchy. Instead, it allows the melodic line to be the main focus of the composition. The music, therefore, is tonal, but it isn't in any key. Or, to put it another way, it is always in the key of C. Other chords can be used of course, in fact any chord can be introduced as a coloring element behind the melodic line. Take, for example, a minor 6/9 chord. This is essentially a quartal-voiced 7#9 chord with an added note, and a different note in the bass. Here's a C 7#9 chord: (C bass) E Bb Eb Here's a C# minor 6/9 chord: (C# bass) E Ab Bb Eb Here is the same chord, this time called a 7#9 b6: (C bass) E Ab Bb Eb Quartal voicing and chromatic movement are what makes this approach atonal, eliminating the need for a key signature, and allowing the chords to support the melodic line without there being any consideration of a key, which frees the melody to be anything it wants to be, and to go anywhere it wants to go regardless of any predetermined underlying harmonic tonality. It removes the emphasis on harmonic structure and replaces it with melodic structure, with the open voiced, non-functional chords serving as the basis for improvisation. Not a new idea by any means, but an interesting approach to composing jazz music.

Hello. My name is "pollock." I am a regular on another jazz website. And I suspect that I posted something this evening that may well be the cause of my undoing. I say I suspect it because I don't know what will result from my outburst. Something, someone, made me very angry. There are on these discussion bulletin boards persons whom I call vandals. I call them that because what they do is the equivilant of breaking windows, spray-painting hateful slogans and recklessly damaging anything in order to make a statement, always anonomously. Tonight I reached a point where I could not control my anger over this behavior. I threw all caution to the wind and broke the rules, I demeaned myself with vulgar language expressed violently. If I am to be banished here then so be it. I know that many of you here think ill of me. All I ask is that you allow me to quietly observe the proceedings, and allow me to make an attempt to contribute when I feel that I have something to contribute. Jazz is my life. It is the air I breath. It is the beating of my heart. It is my sanctuary. Those of us who have plumbed the depths of this music know that we are a small and select group. We live in the shadows of modern culture. Yet we live in those shadows by our own choice, and in those shadows we are inspired and lifted up. This, then, is my greeting to you. Accept me for what I am. I humbly present myself as an exile here, who means to do no harm. P