looping=ambient?????

[JFOG10@aol.com]

Hi......new list member here....enjoying the discussion. Recently someone( 
I
deleted the post before I got the name) brought up the excellent point that
many of us seem to assume that looping=ambient/space/new
age/instrumental/...what the heck let's throw jazz in there , too!!!!  LOL
    Well...here's my 2 cents on this issue.
       While I'm a big fan of many "ambient" guys ( Torn, Fripp,Michael
Brook), this isn't really where MY muse lies. I come out of a blues, 
country,
folk and rock background, mostly.I've owned a Jamman for @ a year now...and
before that spent FAR too much time experimenting with repeat/hold on mere 
2
second delays.For years I've felt like I was split in two ( or more)
parts...my "spacey/out" side that loved to loop and mess with textures and 
my
"rootsy/down to earth" side that stayed idiomatic, bluesy and melodic. So,
the struggle for me in the past year or so has been to somehow join these
seemingly divergent pieces into ONE single voice that is uniquely my 
own.Good
luck , huh??? My quest began in earnest when I saw Daniel Lanois with 
Emmylou
Harris doing, in his own way of course, what I'd only begun to consider.My
course was set from that point on..... To be honest, I'd almost considered
giving up on my more "spacey" proclivities, I had begun to think that the
whole thing was just too esoteric.Luckily a couple of situations have shown
me that I'm on the right track......
                My buddy Caryn Lin ( electric Violinist/loopist) asked me 
to
join her band which is playing around supporting her CD produced and very
much played on by David Torn......also in this band in Bon Lozaga from 
GONG.
Well , my loop stuff doesn't sound like Bon's loops....and it CERTAINLY
doesn't sound like Torn...so I'm starting to believe it sounds like,well,
me!!!!.....also, my wife Lindsay Gilmour( vocalist) has a wonderful band 
with
myself and two of the areas top Jazz musicians on bass and vibes..(yup ,
there's that J word , again...but they really DO play jazz, the Bill Evans,
Herbie Hancock, Charlie Haden kind!!! LOL)..Lindsay and I write fairly 
simple
folky tunes which are then thoroughly messed with by the Jazz guys. Since 
I'm
NOTa jazz musician by ANY stretch,and just strumming C,F &G chords behind
them doesn't satisfy any of us, looping and laying down textures is a
wonderful option. We recorded an original christmas tune today for a
compilation and the arrangement that the other three came up with was real
nice , but a bit too"Chestnuts Roasting O'er an Open Fire"-ey!!!! So I 
made a
point of SERIOUSLY stretching it with some "out there" loops...........lo 
and
behold, goodbye lounge, hello??????...welll something kinda, almost, dare i
say it, ORIGINAL!!!! yeah!!!!
         Any way........i guess this is a (VERY) long winded way of telling
you how looping has helped me outside of the "ambient" music stereotype 
that
we have.....I'd LOVE to hear from any of you who are trying to travel this
path also......and i look forward to all the talk about this crazy, 
beautiful
technique that we love...thanks for your time.
                       Take Care,
                                   JIM FOGARTY