Straight, no looper.

["Michael P. Hughes, Ph.D." <pycraft@elec.gla.ac.uk>]

Kim desperately prompted:
>any jazz looping going on? that was one of the things that got me into
>this, great way to practice improvising, looping a set of chord changes 
>you
>want to work on....I'm sure it can be taken a lot further than that,
>though....

I've done that in the past, certainly; however, I have yet to get the
courage to take Jazz head-on, as it were.  I'd love to be able to play
Jazz, but it all seems so *complicated*!  It's as if I need to spend
several years of intensive learning to be competent enough to play with
other musicians; I just don't have time for that, and besides it seems so
*serious*, far more that the kind of stuff I can play that doesn't seem to
requite the kind of commitment usually associated with Trappist monks
(rather than Thelonious monks).  

So, am I completely wrong on this?  Can anyone resolve the facts that (a)
Jazz is horrendously complicated with (b) they all sound like a bunch o'
guys out to have a laugh, and not take anything seriously?

(I suppose this really applies mostly to swing/early bop - from the 50's
onwards Jazz musicians often sound like they take themselves far too
seriously.....!*)

Michael

*Fadoom!

 Dr. Michael P. Hughes, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK G12 8QQ 
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    "Jumping through hyperspace isn't like Dustin Hoffman, boy!"
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 www.elec.gla.ac.uk/~pycraft               m.hughes@elec.gla.ac.uk