timouse

nice review george! glad to hear it was a success!

he could segue it out of "dear janet jackson." i had no idea this had been around so long. my brother sent this to me the other day and it was way too funny not to share, old news or not. and fwiw i think pat's hair and kenny g's playing are equally bad in their own way.

Pat meteney reacts to Kenny G's "updated" pseudo-duet with Louis Armstrong on "what a Wonderful World." here's the whole interview. it's long but worth it. Pat Metheny on Kenny G Question: Pat, could you tell us your opinion about Kenny G? It appears you were quoted recently as being less than enthusiastic about him and his music. I would say that most of the serious music listeners in the world would not find your opinion surprising or unlikely, but you were vocal about it for the first time. You are generally supportive of other musicians, it seems. Pat’s Answer: Kenny G is not a musician I really had much of an opinion about at all until recently. There was not much about the way he played that interested me one way or the other, either live or on records. I first heard him a number of years ago playing as a sideman with Jeff Lorber when they opened a concert for my band. My impression was that he was someone who had spent a fair amount of time listening to the more pop oriented sax players of that time, like Grover Washington or David Sanborn, but was not really an advanced player, even in that style. He had major rhythmic problems and his harmonic and melodic vocabulary was extremely limited, mostly to pentatonic based and blues-lick derived patterns, and he basically exhibited only a rudimentary understanding of how to function as a professional soloist in an ensemble. Lorber was basically playing him off the bandstand in terms of actual music. But he did show a knack for connecting to the basest impulses of the large crowd by deploying his two or three most effective licks (holding long notes and playing fast runs ~ never mind that there were lots of harmonic clams in them) at the key moments to elicit a powerful crowd reaction (over and over again). The other main thing I noticed was that he also, as he does to this day, played horribly out of tune ~ consistently sharp. Of course, I am aware of what he has played since, the success it has had, and the controversy that has surrounded him among musicians and serious listeners. This controversy seems to be largely fueled by the fact that he sells an enormous amount of records while not being anywhere near a really great player in relation to the standards that have been set on his instrument over the past sixty or seventy years. And honestly, there is no small amount of envy involved from musicians who see one of their fellow players doing so well financially, especially when so many of them who are far superior as improvisors and musicians in general have trouble just making a living. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of sax players around the world who are simply better improvising musicians than Kenny G on his chosen instrument. It would really surprise me if even he disagreed with that statement. Having said that, it has gotten me to thinking lately why so many jazz musicians (myself included, given the right “bait†of a question, as I will explain later) and audiences have gone so far as to say that what he is playing is not even jazz at all. Stepping back for a minute, if we examine the way he plays, especially if one can remove the actual improvising from the often mundane background environment that it is delivered in, we see that his saxophone style is in fact clearly in the tradition of the kind of playing that most reasonably objective listeners WOULD normally quantify as being jazz. It’s just that as jazz or even as music in a general sense, with these standards in mind, it is simply not up to the level of playing that we historically associate with professional improvising musicians. So, lately I have been advocating that we go ahead and just include it under the word jazz ~ since pretty much of the rest of the world OUTSIDE of the jazz community does anyway ~ and let the chips fall where they may. And after all, why he should be judged by any other standard, why he should be exempt from that that all other serious musicians on his instrument are judged by if they attempt to use their abilities in an improvisational context playing with a rhythm section as he does? He SHOULD be compared to John Coltrane or Wayne Shorter, for instance, on his abilities (or lack thereof) to play the soprano saxophone and his success (or lack thereof) at finding a way to deploy that instrument in an ensemble in order to accurately gauge his abilities and put them in the context of his instrument’s legacy and potential. As a composer of even eighth note based music, he SHOULD be compared to Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver or even Grover Washington. Suffice it to say, on all above counts, at this point in his development, he wouldn’t fare well. But, like I said at the top, this relatively benign view was all “until recently.†Not long ago, Kenny G put out a recording where he overdubbed himself on top of a 30+ year old Louis Armstrong record, the track “What a Wonderful World.†With this single move, Kenny G became one of the few people on earth I can say that I really can’t use at all ~ as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a thing, and as a musician, for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music. This type of musical necrophilia ~ the technique of overdubbing on the pre-existing tracks of already dead performers ~ was weird when Natalie Cole did it with her dad on “Unforgettable†a few years ago, but it was her dad. When Tony Bennett did it with Billie Holiday it was bizarre, but we are talking about two of the greatest singers of the 20th century who were on roughly the same level of artistic accomplishment. When Larry Coryell presumed to overdub himself on top of a Wes Montgomery track, I lost a lot of the respect that I ever had for him ~ and I have to seriously question the fact that I did have respect for someone who could turn out to have such unbelievably bad taste, and be that disrespectful to one of my personal heroes. But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of the great Louis’s tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and by default, everyone who has ever tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture ~ something that we all should be totally embarrassed about ~ and afraid of. We ignore this, “let it slide,†at our own peril. His callous disregard for the larger issues of what this crass gesture implies is exacerbated by the fact that the only reason he possibly have for doing something this inherently wrong (on both human and musical terms) was for the record sales and the money it would bring. Since that record came out ~ in protest, as insignificant as it may be, I encourage everyone to boycott Kenny G recordings, concerts and anything he is associated with. If asked about Kenny G, I will diss him and his music with the same passion that is in evidence in this little essay. Normally, I feel that musicians all have a hard enough time, regardless of their level, just trying to play good and don’t really benefit from public criticism, particularly from their fellow players. but, this is different. There ARE some things that are sacred ~ and amongst any musician that has ever attempted to address jazz at even the most basic of levels, Louis Armstrong and his music is hallowed ground. To ignore this trespass is to agree that NOTHING any musician has attempted to do with their life in music has any intrinsic value ~ and I refuse to do that. I am also amazed that there HASN’T already been an outcry against this among music critics ~ where ARE they on this??!?!?!?! Everything I said here is exactly the same as what I would say to Gorelick if I ever saw him in person. And if I ever DO see him anywhere, at any function ~ he WILL get a piece of my mind and (maybe a guitar wrapped around his head). Pat's Note: This is partially in response to comments people have made regarding a short video interview excerpt with me that was posted on the internet, taken from a TV show for young people (kind of like MTV) in Poland where i was asked to address 8 to 11 year old kids on terms that they could understand about jazz. While enthusiastically describing the virtues of this great area of music, i was encouraging the kids to find and listen to some of the greats in the music, and not to get confused by the sometimes overwhelming volume of music that falls under the jazz umbrella. I went on to say that i think that for instance, Kenny G plays the dumbest music on the planet ~ something that all 8 to 11 year kids on the planet already intrinsically know, as anyone who has ever spent any time around kids that age could confirm ~ so it gave us some common ground for the rest of the discussion. ADDENDUM: The only thing wrong with the statement that I made was that I did not include the rest of the known universe. The fact that this clip was released so far out of the context that it was originally delivered in is a drag, but it is now done. Its unauthorised release out of context like that is symptomatic of the new electronically interconnected culture that we now live in, where pretty much anything anyone anywhere has ever said or done has the potential to become common public property at any time. I was surprised by the Polish people putting this clip up so far away from the use that it was intended ~ really just for the attention ~ with no explanation of the show it was made for ~ they (the Polish people in general) used to be so hip and would have been unlikely candidates to do something like that before, but I guess everything is changing there like it is everywhere else. The only other thing that surprised me in the aftermath of the release of this little interview is that ANYONE would be even a little bit surprised that I would say such a thing, given the reality of Mr. G's music. This makes me want to go practice about 10 times harder, because that suggests to me that I am not getting my own musical message across clearly enough ~ which to me, in every single way and intention is diametrically opposed to what Kenny G seems to be after.

when i quit, a guy at work kept offering me smokes in front of everyone else at break. finally one day i took one. he handed it to me with his lighter. i snapped the cigarette in half, pocketed his lighter and handed the smoke back to him. that ended that

hey jodie, get hold of "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" by Allen Carr. This very small book changed my life and helped me become a happy non smoker. Carr advocates admitting to yourself that you are addicted to smoking, and that you can either continue to feed your addiction or you can break free of it. That's really the key. You are not "giving something up," you are breaking free of an addiction that is making you unhealthy and smelly and shortening your life expectancy. Carr was recently diagnosed with cancer at the age of 76. When asked he said that he developed his method and quit smoking around the age of 50, and that the last 20 odd years of his life have been the best, and more to the point he probably would not have had any of them had he not quit. good luck, and remember you're breaking free of an addiction.

happy belated birthday!

happy belated 40th!

in today's mail: Bush Claims He Has Supernatural Abilities Bush Sells Louisiana Back to the French Gay Terrorist Kills Eight In Fabulous Bombing Chinese Police Arrest, Beat Up, Olympic Panda Bodyguards Positioned Outside Jolies Vagina BREAKING NEWS: Cheney Visits Afghan President Shoots Him In The Face BREAKING NEWS: Illegal Immigrants Seize Control Of The U.S. BREAKING NEWS: McDonald's Happy Meals In San Francisco To Include Gay Marriage License Paris Hilton Infested With Cockroaches

I'm on it! Sweet!! M.T. - we're just going to have to work on getting the start of the school year pushed back.....who do we need to call? a well-timed bomb threat would do the trick. that would buy mark at least a day or two

happy belated birthday! hope that you guys did it up at the boathouse!

RIP Isaac. I loved your singing. I also loved Chef. Your crazy assed Scientology related antics not so much.

thanks jerry. wouldn't be the same without you. and thanks for the link, kk!

happy belated birthday!

((((((((((((vibeamophones)))))))))))))

happy birthday mike!

it always makes me sad to think that you were trying to clean yourself up near the end. i read an interview where jerry talks about terence mckenna and the next great shift in consiousness coming aropund 2012, and how excited he was to see that. *sigh* miss you jerry, thanks for everything.

that's great! "it's my birthday!" have a good one, heather!

::::: stifling inappropriate laughter :::::::::::: i saw this on the cbc website this morning, and i have no idea what to make of it. the first thing i thought was "Highlander" - did the guy taunt the cops with the head by yelling "there can be only one!?!" my condolences to the people that had to witness this. 2012 indeed, william. hope you have your house flipped by then

check your account preferences and enable "safe search" filtering. or stop googling such gay stuff so then i re read your post to see you've done this already. so stop googling gay stuff in public

349. Songs mentioning baked goods 1. Frank Zappa - The Muffin Man 2. Cookie Monster - C is for Cookie 3. Don McLean - American Pie 4. The Who - Heinz Baked Beans 5. Bob Dylan - Country Pie 6. Widespread Panic - Blue Indian (cornbread) 7. Kinky Friedman - Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed 8. Warrant - Cherry Pie 9. Jethro Tull - Piece of Cake 10. James Taylor - Sweet Potato Pie 11. 12.

happy ershday!

happy birthday luke!