The documentary we’ve all been craving is here.
Take it away, Norm!
Tales of True Adventure for Rugged Men Not Unlike Yourself
Tales of True Adventure for Rugged Men Not Unlike Yourself
The documentary we’ve all been craving is here.
Take it away, Norm!
This “musician” angle is getting fun. In a narrow sense, yes, he is, since he plays an instrument with technical skill. In a broader sense, no, as he obviously has not cultivated any kind of general musical taste or sensibility. That leaves us with the ironic situation where Dylan, the non-musician, produces better music than the musician, Kenny G. I’m fine with that, as it’s just another way of saying “depends on how you define a musician.” Taste or skill? I prefer both. Sometimes you can have it all. Which might prove that “God exists and wants to us to be happy.”
There are thousands of technically skillfull lunkhead musicians out there, some of them successful. Which might prove that there is no God. Or that there is one, and his rival Satan is real and wants us to be miserable. Either way, smooth jazz must be stopped.
The look on Miles Davis’s face says it all.
I think Miles looked at everyone like that.
Let me break out my Herbie Mann records.
Some Herbie Mann is pretty good.
Do any of you current or former Memphians remember Edwin Hubbard? He was a local soft jazz/crossover flutist who made Herbie Mann seem like Ornette Coleman. Wretched stuff. Once when I was around 20 and always broke, I got wind of a record release party for him that featured an open bar. I rounded up some friends, and we ate and drank all evening. Edwin was very nice and thrilled that some young people were there. I didn’t have the heart to tell him we were just there for the free booze.
A few weeks later a friend, doing a show at WEVL, our local volunteer radio station, put his album on one turntable and my very own record of Halloween noises on the other and played them simultaneously. So listeners were treated to jazz flute with a background of shrieks, rattling chains, insane laughter, etc. I don’t know that I’ve laughed so hard since.