Showing posts with label free jazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free jazz. Show all posts
Sunday, May 5, 2013
My Favorite Place to Play in Tokyo/Yokohama
My favorite "jazz" club in Tokyo-Yokohama. Airegin (Yokohama) near Kannai station.
Airegin is the home of a great music festival called the International Impromusica Festival. I've always enjoyed performing at Airegin cause I've always felt the music is put ahead of anything else. Sometimes there are good audiences and sometimes I've played for only 2-3 people. Regardless, there has never been any kind of bad vibe from the owner. It's all about the creativity. Especially in this day and time when the money seems to control all, it's so important for artists to have a space to create and let ideas flow. Airegin is just that kind of space.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
August 6
http://kennywernerlive.com/effortless-mastery-reminders/madame-chaloff-and-the-secret-of-music-your-effortless-mastery-reminders-015
Kenny Werner says so much in 7 minutes! Love what he says about the "creativity of the last note."
I've been thinking so much lately about some of things I heard in the video this morning. Maybe I'm not crazy..hahaha. This idea of free jazz..free improvisation...what is it? Werner says that when we are playing tunes with chord changes, we're not free until we "master" the chords/scales. I believe that. It's not about the chords or the scales, it's playing the tune a million times and mastering those aspects of the tune until we become free. We are not free to really improvise until we pass through that stage. I've had so much trouble the past few years to get my groups to even memorize the music before gigs. It's such a common problem, I've recently started to think maybe I'm foolish. Learning to play the tune seems like a logical first step (with music or learning by ear). Next I want to memorize the tune/chords/scales. Listen to different versions. Play the tune in different keys. Memorize and sing solos of others that have recorded the tune just to understand how they perceived the structure and learn vocabulary. Maybe even learn the tune on the piano, slowly playing the chords, singing the chords, singing bass notes, singing the melody. These are all small steps towards gaining freedom "inside" of a tune.
I've been thinking so much lately about some of things I heard in the video this morning. Maybe I'm not crazy..hahaha. This idea of free jazz..free improvisation...what is it? Werner says that when we are playing tunes with chord changes, we're not free until we "master" the chords/scales. I believe that. It's not about the chords or the scales, it's playing the tune a million times and mastering those aspects of the tune until we become free. We are not free to really improvise until we pass through that stage. I've had so much trouble the past few years to get my groups to even memorize the music before gigs. It's such a common problem, I've recently started to think maybe I'm foolish. Learning to play the tune seems like a logical first step (with music or learning by ear). Next I want to memorize the tune/chords/scales. Listen to different versions. Play the tune in different keys. Memorize and sing solos of others that have recorded the tune just to understand how they perceived the structure and learn vocabulary. Maybe even learn the tune on the piano, slowly playing the chords, singing the chords, singing bass notes, singing the melody. These are all small steps towards gaining freedom "inside" of a tune.
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