Jazz, Part 2

Like a jazz song, I’m going to begin writing this piece with a certain theme and direction, then go off into a tangent and talk about something else somewhat related while trying to stay within the overall theme, then come back and finish up cleanly. Hopefully.

I saw Luther Hughes and the Cannonball-Coltrane Project play tonight at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. Here’s a line from his March 2005 Jazz Review interview:

If you want true quality music you have to listen to jazz or classical, that's pretty much it. Some Brazilian and some Cuban, but that's about it.

I, Gerardo, took classical piano lessons as a kid. Classical music is damn hard to play, and there’s very little room for bullshitting, unless you’re very good at it. And if you’re very good at it, why bullshit in the first place?

Pop music, on the other hand, often depends on bullshit much more so than musicianship. By definition, pop music is the most popular music around, what most people listen to. Nine times out of ten, if you ask someone what music they like, you’ll probably get an answer that falls into the category of pop music. That’s just the way it is. If most of your friends listen to something other than pop music, you’re probably weird and not very popular with the majority crowd.

I heard jazz all my life but never really understood it until only a couple years ago. It was damn hard to understand. I’m not talking about smooth jazz, like Kenny G. Saying Kenny G is a jazz player is like saying Liberace was a classical pianist, or Thomas Kinkade is a painter. They all reached a certain point of fame and then depended on bullshit to sustain their popularity. Instead of using their talent to really dig into what’s underneath, what needs to be uncovered, they decided to buy a second mansion. Sometimes I don’t blame them.

As I was saying, jazz is hard to understand. I’m talking about straight-ahead, bebop, traditional jazz, the way black people intended jazz to be. Jazz that has nothing to do with vacation resorts. Jazz that corporations have yet to figure out and mass produce. Jazz that’s nearly impossible to dance to, because the beat is always changing, always being improvised, always being challenged to not be easy. Jazz that cannot be ambient noise or background music. Jazz that you have to pay attention to, just like you pay attention to a real person trying to tell you a good bit of truth.

Sometimes it also hurts to listen to jazz. Maybe because the beat is complicated and the melody, because of improvisation, is unpredictable. Maybe because it forces you to listen to every aspect of itself. Why is jazz the only place you’ll hear the bassist play a solo?

Why didn’t I like jazz when I was younger? Why didn’t I see as many colors when I was younger?

A friend of mine, the son of a true jazz musician, once told me that John Coltrane would practice by playing the notes off a page of sheet music, then turn the page upside down, and play the song that way. Beethoven completely lost his hearing at age 44 but continued to write music until his death at age 57.

In Los Angeles, there is one radio station that plays jazz (88.1FM). There is one radio station that plays classical music (105.1FM). There are at least three radio stations that play smooth jazz. There are at least ten radio stations that play pop music.

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Related links:
Luther Hughes interview from Jazz Review, March 2005
Cannonball-Coltrane Project
Ludwig van Beethoven on Wikipedia

Iron Man

I drew the above tonight. Click on it and you’ll see the whole picture. Hadn’t drawn like this in 15 years. I’d found some old school supplies from college—markers, pencils, sketchpad—and decided I should try to have fun drawing again.

When I was a boy, I would get sick a lot. During those times, I’d be inside the house, usually drawing or reading, or playing the piano. If I was sick, I usually didn’t have the strength to sit up and play the piano, or my eyes would strain too much from reading so many words. But I was able to draw. Drawing made me forget how sick I was.

Even as a kid, drawing helped me get into that zone that I later realized was bliss. Because of the demand for concentration, I had to clear my mind of everything except the task of making the picture right. There was no bullshit in drawing, at least not at that age. I didn’t have to please anyone except myself. I either got it right or I started over with another blank sheet of paper. When I was happy with the work, I’d scotch tape or funtack the drawing on my bedroom wall. That was my reward to myself for doing something good.

Since then, the world seems to have gotten more complicated. There are more obligations and commitments, more logistics and regulations, more preparing and arranging, more complications and convolutions. Just knowing that somebody else will be reading this entry will probably get in the way of my writing it the way it should be written.

Maybe this is why I’ve decided to start drawing again, just for fun. To clean out the clutter that’s been building up in my mind. Maybe I’m doing this to get back to that simple act of imagining something and putting it down on paper. Imagination can make a sick boy feel better. Imagination can make a sick boy feel invincible.

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Related Link: The Invincible Iron Man

Checklist of Attachments and Perceptions

On the MySpace Buddhism discussion group, this question was asked:

If there is a really negative situation, how do you function within that situation? How do you attempt to bring positive energy into the negativity?

My answer:

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that many negative situations are based on my perceptions and ego more than anything else. Whenever I feel like a certain situation is negative, I first go through my personal checklist of attachments and perceptions:

• Was I expecting something that isn't here?
  
  
• Does this situation or the people in it make my ego vulnerable?
  
  
• Did I do something negative that brought on this negative situation?
  
  
• Am I guilty of something that this negative situation is bringing to light?
  
  
• Am I in control of my perception or is the situation in control of my perception?
  
  
• Does this situation make me forget that I have a WHOLE LIFETIME'S worth of accomplishments, or did I just let this situation take over my self esteem?
  
  
• Did I come here because I wanted to or because of peer pressure?
  
  
• Am I doing this because I'm desperate?
  
  
• Am I assessing the situation using "morality" as a guideline, instead of practicality and health?

Good chance that I'll answer yes to one of the above, in which case I'll correct it by telling myself and/or the people around me at least one truth that will obliterate my ego. That usually releases a pressure valve and things go better after.