Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom - Glitter Wolf

[jlhoots]

22 minutes ago, JSngry said:

We'll keep the options open, the better for there to be the taste of surprise!

BTW, no nut allergies.

If we go to Mezcal, it has to be Del Maguey Chichicapa!!

[Larry Kart]

"...the dichotomy between suspect governmental policies inspiring rightful protests; embracing the varying degrees of the feminine and masculine from within or living a fulfilled yet challenging life are reflected back in musical juxtapositions of space versus density."

What?? And, in particular, what "dichotomy" or dichotomies? There are none I can see between "suspect governmental policies" that inspire "rightful protests." Tthe latter would follow logically from the former, no? 

As for the rest of this gibberish, from the clip it looks like both the hesitant violinist and the hesitant drummer-leader are taking their cues from some  sort of  blurry coffee house manifesto. In the immortal words of Manny Albam, "The Blues Are Everybody's Business."

 

[Steve Reynolds]

17 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

I agree with Allen.
 

Inept diddling, it seems to me.

I like some of these musicians quite a bit - especially Knuffke & Melford, BUT that clip is god awful. I’ve never been prompted to see this band and if this piece is any indication of what the band is all about, I’m thoroughly uninterested.

how ‘bout some FIRE?!?!

oh yeah I’m going to see a band that truly rips tonight - more my calling lately is listening to musicians who want to PLAY. I’ve heard a few arrangements & fancy tunes and I’m just not that interested in all that unless it’s got some depth. 

[T.D.]

3 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

"...the dichotomy between suspect governmental policies inspiring rightful protests; embracing the varying degrees of the feminine and masculine from within or living a fulfilled yet challenging life are reflected back in musical juxtapositions of space versus density."

What?? And, in particular, what "dichotomy" or dichotomies? There are none I can see between "suspect governmental policies" that inspire "rightful protests." Tthe latter would follow logically from the former, no? 

As for the rest of this gibberish, from the clip it looks like both the hesitant violinist and the hesitant drummer-leader are taking their cues from some  sort of  blurry coffee house manifesto. In the immortal words of Manny Albam, "The Blues Are Everybody's Business."

 

Gack. That mind-numbing rhetoric. After scanning the promotional text (my eyes glazed over and I couldn't make it all the way through), I have no desire to hear the music. And it's not a political/ideological bias (I tend to be "on their side"), I simply can't stand such pretentious and gaseous writing. I don't think the "dichotomy" passage even parses.

Edited March 28, 2019 by T.D.

[JSngry]

59 minutes ago, T.D. said:

Gack. That mind-numbing rhetoric. After scanning the promotional text (my eyes glazed over and I couldn't make it all the way through), I have no desire to hear the music. And it's not a political/ideological bias (I tend to be "on their side"), I simply can't stand such pretentious and gaseous writing. I don't think the "dichotomy" passage even parses.

Word. And I REALLY hate it when people attach weak-ish music to strong realities, it's cheap in damn near every way, and the older I get, the more offended, deeply offended, I am by cheapness, no matter the source.

It's like when the Trayvon thing went down, some clown on the internet wrote a song called "Trayvon", posted the lead sheet, and called for every right-minded person to play it on their next gig. Well, I was on a gig where the leader brought it in and said we should play this, and I'm thinking, ok, cool, that was some fucked-up shit, let's bring it.

And then...the "tune" was the weakest of weak dumbing down of "Equinox" just a totally simplistic - dumb even - piece of shit. And I got pissed off, stopped playing it, because, you know, serious shit deserves serious contemplation, not some bullshit sorrow-by-numbers. You don't win anything by dumbing it down. But that's more comfortable. Fuck comfortable, dealing with real shit in a real way is not going to be comfortable. Deal with it or STFU, please.

So yeah, if you bring your politics to your music, I need for them both to be on-point and solid, some grownup shit about some grownup shit, bring it for real, not for jsut the words of it, #MeToo ≠ Me Too, Yeah!

I'm starting to vomit just thinking about this.

[jfire]

Had a chance to see them a few months back - a rare show in my neck of the woods by a working jazz unit. They were fantastic. Highly recommend check them out.

[AllenLowe]

 "perfect example of "modern jazz". One more reason why I just don't care about "modern jazz" these days. I'm glad they're popular, though.

I would like to hear what they sound like when they're pissed off, not in some kind of formal "resistance" mode, but genuinely pissed off,. I bet not one of them owns a gun or a knife. Not that I'd expect them to admit it if they did, but, just sayin', they don't even project the possibility, and how pissed of can you afford to be if you don't hold the ability to arouse doubt in reserve?"

that's the definition if INEPT look it up.

But all seriousness aside, that performance is like Musical Malpractice. There are jazz musicians who don't know how to phrase in a "bluesy" way unless they have just listened to an instructional video by Maceo Parker, and even then, forget it. But I was offended by that performance. Don't play the line if you can't figure out the time.

[JSngry]

3 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

 "perfect example of "modern jazz". One more reason why I just don't care about "modern jazz" these days. I'm glad they're popular, though.

I would like to hear what they sound like when they're pissed off, not in some kind of formal "resistance" mode, but genuinely pissed off,. I bet not one of them owns a gun or a knife. Not that I'd expect them to admit it if they did, but, just sayin', they don't even project the possibility, and how pissed of can you afford to be if you don't hold the ability to arouse doubt in reserve?"

that's the definition if INEPT look it up.

I think it's more impotent than inept. They all have obvious instrumental facility, they just don't have anything to do with it (at least not in that clip).

 

[AllenLowe]

well, yes, because they have no concept of how to play this kind of music. 

[JSngry]

47 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

well, yes, because they have no concept of how to play this kind of music. 

I think they have a very defined concept. That's the problem (if there is one, and really, at this point, those horses have left so many barns and taken the cows with them, so there's no more milk to spill. No more tears, baby shampoo now, musical baby shampoo).

[Mark Stryker]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

Over 30 posts on a band that most people have never heard of. Why all the discussion? If you don't like them, don't watch or listen. If you like them, do. It's not like they're a big name band that's diverting attention from anyone else.

Leaving aside the substance of the discussion, it's not true that no one has ever heard of Miller or this band. She's gotten a lot of critical attention in recent years and, beyond that, the music also opens a window into broader questions of contemporary jazz. So, yeah , it's fertile ground for discussion -- whether or not one likes or dislikes the aesthetic or execution.  

Edited March 29, 2019 by Mark Stryker

[Larry Kart]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

Over 30 posts on a band that most people have never heard of. Why all the discussion? If you don't like them, don't watch or listen. If you like them, do. It's not like they're a big name band that's diverting attention from anyone else.

One good reason for the discussion is that the seemingly firm link between the band's flaccid (depending on one's taste) music and the flaccid rhetoric of the band's  P.R. sheet is, as that sheet might have said, no "dichotomy." And when I see music playing host to and seemingly being affected by semi-incoherent self-congratulatory b.s., I find it ominous. Also, I didn't single out  Boom-Tic-Boom for attention. IIRC, it was brought to our attention in a "Hey, listen to this hip new good stuff" manner. 
 

[Larry Kart]

3 minutes ago, Mark Stryker said:

Leaving aside the substance of the discussion, it's not true that no one has ever heard of Miller or this band. She's gotten a lot of critical attention in recent years and, beyond that, the music also opens a window into broader questions of contemporary jazz. So, yeah , it's fertile ground for discussion -- whether or not one likes or dislikes the aesthetic or execution.  

Not being snarky, Mark, just bewildered. What might those broader questions be?

[jlhoots]

None of you have convinced me to not like them.

BTW, "flaccid" - WOW!!

[JSngry]

I mean, OG Archie Shepp was definitely a propagandist, but the heat of his music represented (and often enough, matched) the heat of his rhetoric. He made you liste to both, the music and the propaganda. This shit just makes you want to ignore it all, which I'm thinking is NOT a desired outcome.

[Larry Kart]

11 minutes ago, paul secor said:

Yeah, I guess "I bet not one of them owns a gun or a knife" is fertile discussion.

Jim can reject my interpretation of his remark, but I took it to mean something like "This stuff inhabits a permanent Upper West Side of the mind." If so, I found it to be accurate, blunt, and fertile.
 

[Larry Kart]

1 minute ago, paul secor said:

How can you find it "ominous" if hardly anyone knows anything about this band? You and a couple of others have given them more publicity here with your anti comments than they ever would have gotten otherwise.
 

I've heard the band and seen its accompany rhetoric; what more do I need to know? And the history of art in this century and the preceding one is full of such ominous combos of mediocre art and elbow-jogging rhetoric. Yes, ignoring it is one option; trying to point to its b.s. qualities is another. 

Paul -- You think I agreed with what Jim said because we're both moderators? 

[JSngry]

24 minutes ago, paul secor said:

I still think that it was an ignorant (or at best, unthinking) comment to make.

You think wrong.

Jesus dude, people own guns/knifes/etc, always have always will. It's as much a part of urban life as it is rural, and I've had plenty of exposure to them on both ends, enough to know that people who seek "protection" go there, and not always without good reason.

That is not to say that a lot of stupid things happen when a lot of stupid people buy guns, but it is to say that when I rode a long with certain bandleaders to get their cash payroll to a safe place along a routes that very much posed real-world hazards and they had their protection at the ready, I was not at all unsympathetic.

I also remember when the Panthers called for their community to be armed and ready to defend themselves against hostile attacks from the established power structure. That shit got real and then it got hot, but dammit, people responded to a real threat in kind. I don't fault them for doing so. In fact I respect that willingness to have skin (literally) in the game a whole helluva lot more than I do all this boohooshiningstar rhetoric that is going to get all of nothing done.

Just saying - real problems call for real solutions. I'm glad people are feeling good and not letting the bastards get them down, but feeling good alone is just bullshit. When they come after you, whatcha' gonna have to push them away? Resistance? Yeah, good luck on that one...

Does it have to be guns/knives/etc? As the man said, you don't need the bullet when you got the ballot. But to pretend that there's not a place, and often enough, a need, for literal self-protection in this and any/every world, that's delusional.

Now - am I myself armed? Maybe yes, maybe not. Do you want to find out?

20 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

Jim can reject my interpretation of his remark, but I took it to mean something like "This stuff inhabits a permanent Upper West Side of the mind." If so, I found it accurate, blunt, and fertile.
 

Thank you, fellow-moderator!

[JSngry]

That's hardly a new rule!

2 minutes ago, paul secor said:

What you see as real world thinking, I see as paranoia.

Ok, keep telling yourself that reality is not real. That type of thinking is all the rage these days, so you'll feel right at home, no doubt!

37 minutes ago, paul secor said:

Perhaps he can start a thread in which we judge musicians by the size of their arsenals.

The fear of guns is like any other fear of an inanimate object.

What you need to be afraid of is de-evolution of humanity, with or without guns.

But no, let's piss our Paranoia Pants anytime the word "gun" come up, that will fix the problem.

Again, good luck with that.

[Mark Stryker]

54 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

Not being snarky, Mark, just bewildered. What might those broader questions be?

Just bouncing off Allen's initial comments about certain free-oriented players lacking certain kinds of musical development when they dip into other styles. I hear variations of this a lot today -- contemporary players that live in the world of even 8th note music so when they try to play in the tradition it sounds like they're "playing at swing" rather than actually swinging. Or players that get around their instruments really well and have a lot of harmony under their command but lack melodic or rhythmic depth. There's a lot of superficial eclecticism out there -- playing at "funk," playing at "free," playing at swing, playing at post-modern several steps removed from the source. etc. 

Edited March 29, 2019 by Mark Stryker

[JSngry]

Here's some reality: https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/mark-hughes-right-bear-arms/

[Dan Gould]

This shit is too heavy. Y'all need to get up and dance. Like this guy.

Discuss. I kinda like it.

[medjuck]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

 

Now - am I myself armed? Maybe yes, maybe not. Do you want to find out?

 

WTF!  

[jlhoots]

18 hours ago, jfire said:

Had a chance to see them a few months back - a rare show in my neck of the woods by a working jazz unit. They were fantastic. Highly recommend check them out.

I thought they were good live too.

[JSngry]

21 minutes ago, medjuck said:

WTF!  

10 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

I thought they were good live too.

And I see the potential for that. But that clip seriously dis-incentivizes me to find out, especially when coupled with the PR blurb.

Maybe they need to shoot their publicity team. Or at least threaten to!