Support |
Per wrote about John Abercrombie's ECM sessions: */"They simply set up the main rule as "improvise everything but adapt your playing to make it sound as if it were composed music being performed". I only heard about this recently but have always loved that attitude for my own playing and I think many actually use this method to generate music that is afterwards published as compositions."/* Cool you mentioned this approach, Per. Bill and I have played improvisatory instrumental music together and separately since the mid 1970's and we've always used this particular approach to mask that we were playing improv. In the early days, we were, of course, just playing things like jams based off of Santana, Allman Brothers, Led Zepellin, Who, Hendrix and other groups. But we would play these really long gigs at college parties where, because we didn't have a singer in our trio, we had to play recognizable stuff.........danceable stuff.........and be able to stretch our sets out for several hours because we didn't have that much material worked up.........<blush>. In those days there was such a tradition of extended jams in rock and roll and funk so it made perfect sense. ***********************************8 I think Schoenberg is attributed with this quote, "All composition is very slow improvisation" I always tell my students "All improvisation CAN be very quick composition" I think that using the most avant garde and experimental musical techniques that one can bring so called 'difficult' music to mass audiences by using very simple forms and techniques like 'call and response', 'response and call', different simple forms found in most simple forms of popular music like ABAB, ABAC, ABCB, ABAC, and then compound forms using the same strategies. I remember distinctly, the first time I heard the Art Of Ensemble of Chicago play the track 'Theme De Yoyo" with Fontella Bass singing lead. This track was a straight up R&B horn band romp but playing traditionally for 7 bars and then suddenly, playing completely "out" for one bar, coming in , perfectly , on the downbeat to start the chorus over again. It was so funky................and so , well......................OUT!!!! ....had a huge impact on me. Rick