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Looper's Delight
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>> Are there any of you out there who actually prefer looser "open" >jamming and >> minimal imposed structure? >Well, I don't know that it's a matter of preference past how one feels at >a >given moment or series of moments, actually. Given... Depending on mood I swing between wanting to play structured pieces and open form pieces. Lately my mood has been very zen and open... wanting the dialog to develop in real time. My responses may be contrived or certainly informed by my technique and preference as well, but at least the idea has sprung from impulse rather than pre-meditation. An ongoing quandry for me is how to incorporate more structure without "canning" the experience. >I think most of the ways in which we address allegedly non-structured >content >may have a lot more to do with our expectations of that content, than the >content itself. I'm certain that on any given night there will be expectations. As to how the music fares in relation to them is anyone's guess. It's sad when you've been waiting to record with someone for a year and the anticipation creates too much expectation. It's great when you just walk in and surprise each other though. (especially when it's verified upon playback!) >* Those who expected something from the music that didn't happen (flaming >Frippian solos, KC material from the 70's, ad nauseam) were very, very >disappointed,... It was actually quite funny to hear prog dinosaurs griping about how shitty the show was and how dissappointed they were with Fripp! I guess I should have expected it... >* Those who went Without Expectations, and withheld judgement until they'd >heard entire works, were far, far less disappointed,... Oh yeah... >but in general tended to discuss the material a lot less than the angry >ones >did. Not sure about this but I definitely heard a lot of griping! My friends (who also quite enjoyed the show) and I talked a lot about it... >And, I didn't feel ripped off in any way. I laughed at the execution of >THRAK in that manner, in a good way... It was GREAT to see Fripp and co. really laughing and enjoying the show. I particularly enjoyed seeing Robert jump up and encourage audience response to Belew's drum solo with much arm waving and gesturing... Quite funny and charming. >So, does improvisational work - either participating or listening to it - >say more about us, or about our feelings about it? Not sure... This reminds me of a previous poster recalling someone asking if a Fripp piece was played by a keyboardist, would you still listen to it? It's a very interesting question... My knowledge that someone is "walking the wire" and improvising certainly affects my response to the music. It's more performance related than media related. On fixed media you lose the context of the improv and it's often impossible to relate all the elements which supported the improv and it's direction. Improv performance is more about the wiles of the performer and their responses and references etc. It's like surfing or skiing for me... a real time reaction to multiple stimuli... call and response... wit... rejoinder... parry... flow... gravity... vision... The phrase "You had to be there." could certainly apply. That said, it's "still just sound" as Andre LaFosse says and ultimately has to sit alongside work that may be far more mature and complete compositionally and in terms of production values. If an improv still elicits a strong response in that environment I give it double extra credit! 8-> Thanks Stephen... best, -Miko