today i have been a brave chap. i have ventured into the unknown (well, for me, that is) musical territory known as…
jazz.
i remembered as a kid listening to ABBA in the 70’s, then evolving briefly into the the realms of 80’s new romantic stuff (duran duran… yeah!), subsequently moving out to the angst-fuelled, riff-ladened music of hard rock and heavy metal. rock music was pretty much my staple for such a long time and it wasn’t until recently that my appreciation for all things rawk was more discerning and matured.
for the past two months, i began to drift into the most unvisited section of hmv. i tried out the qawwali of nusrat fateh ali khan. real old school blues from the likes of masters such as son house. since i also knew that blues evolved into, among others, jazz, i have now decided to tread that path.
in the 80’s, i’ve listened to ayah’s cassettes of fusion artistes in the vein of grusin and ritenour. don’t get me wrong, they are great musicians, but i just can’t help feeling that kind of music was more suited to commercials and background music for soft porn flicks.
so, i decided if i wanna try jazz out, i’d go get the classic ones.
i don’t know anything about jazz. i know jack. i’ve heard of greats like thelonius monk. john coltrane. and who’s not heard of miles davis. i knew who they were. but no idea what they sounded like.
i was first exposed to miles davis’ genius while watching ‘finding forrester’. “oh, so that’s what miles davis sound like”, i mused to myself.
probably that was why i chose to buy miles davis’ ‘tutu’. saw it on the cheap at fopp, i simply bought it. only to realise that it was so 80’s! damn! i dared to call the album a limau. much to the chagrin of my mate, imran. “go get ‘bitches brew’ and ‘sketches of spain’ lah!”. ok. i got the picture. should’ve done a little research.
on the way home from work, via hmv, i endured 20-odd minutes of ‘pharaoh’s dance’. damn. that was some serious shit. now, was that free form? i don’t believe that the piece was actually written in the conventional way. it felt like that they just jammed. and recorded the whole thing.
however, i do believe that music is to be enjoyed rather than endured.
i suppose sometimes you endure to understand why music is the way it is. like the day when i first listened to the raw blues of robert johnson to understand where the trademark licks come from. in the words of the one, “whoa”. or the neon, “gila. sakit otak sial…“. in all honesty, i change the cd after listening to just three tracks.
on reading the cd liner notes of ‘bitches brew’, i found familiar names. john mc laughlin. joe zawinul. chick corea. i immediately smiled to myself knowingly. no wonder these people are jazz greats.
i simply sat back and just let the music take me for a ride. in fact, while writing this blog post i have his ‘sketches of spain’ cd playing in the background. have i converted yet? probably not.
but i can tell you my ears (sic) have definitely opened. wider.
Dude, that wasn’t ‘research’. That was foolishly taking your uninitiated friend’s advice hook, line & sink(ing)er. I *read* somewhere that those two were Davis’ avant-garde recordings. The stuff supposedly pushed the boundaries of jazz. Have I heard them myself? Hell, NO! Hihihihi.
“however, i do believe that music is to be enjoyed rather than endured…” – diktator, rejim kuku besi sheffield.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Good one, Firr. Genius. Kena balik kau, Kudo! Padan muka. 🙂
my first time here. great blog.
i’ve tried so hard to listen to jazz but i just can’t, really. i dont know why. now that i’ve taken guitar class, i think i’ll stick to ROCK! 🙂
jazz… hmmm, bought a manual and switched to flyfishing magz after few pages…
but john coltrane’s central park is kinda good!
Jazz is like Japanese food. Nothing’s cooked, they all taste the same… once the taste is acquired, the real enjoyment begins! And like the introduction to Japanese food, one should attempt tempura first, then teppanyaki, next sushi, then the hardcore stuff…. unless you have a death wish, you can go ahead and try the fugu… )
Try listening to early Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and Jaco Pastorius… then move on to Miles Davies, Coltrane and the lot…
firr, you GOT me!
*kudo now tries to drag riki, the other kuku besi into this as well*
Ini bukan diktator… ini demokrasi terpimpin… ini ada harapan mati…! Eeee…. 🙂
apsal aku plak?!
woi! woi! woi!…
elehhh… buat tak tau plak. berapa ramai budak2 malaysia yg tau main jethro tull. betapa kuku besinya ngkau. hehehe.. kalau nak beat kau aku kena paksa band main miles davis dgn guitar!! hahahaha
now, now…
Riki… Jethro Tull, siout!!! Aku sekarang ni stok main lagu2 New Wave American Rock Bands balik dah. Secara hardcore. Aku rasa takde band yang lebih hebat dari The Calling. (Hahahahaha).
Kawan2, bila kita nak main lagu Melayu asli? Kalau dah makan petai, cincalok, durian… Melayu tu Melayu gak la! No amount of Jethro Tull is going to hide that fact. Apsal kita tak main Zapin? Jom jom! ‘SRS plays The Dondang…’ Elemekkkk…
i jez wanna show what these so-called new metal kids what they’re missing! once upon a time, about 30 years ago, aqualung supposed to be one of the rock hits…
“feeling like a dead duck…”
tp initially bandmates aku bengang jgk kena main lagu2 mcm tu, but now dah melted & blended! semua main secara ikhlas! so mmg aku kuku besi jgk laa. tapi takde laa aku terajang bass-drum kalau drummer aku main salah beat. (hehehe… kesian Kachap!)
imran, what happen to Mr Robert Johnson/Mr Eric Clapton…yadaa… yadaa… yada..? new-wave-american-rock? r u sure?
lagu melayu suruh Kudo main drum! die main drum lagu Wings/Search sebijik mcm Jojet… cool habis! tapi jgn risau Kudo; kalau kau salah beat, aku takkan terajang bass-drum tu… 😉
bila masa aku terajang? hehehe… cilakak kau…
tapi sekarang nick menza tgk kachap main terkamjat jugak… hehe
Dude, I’ve had a listen to Bitches Brew. No, I don’t understand the point he was trying to make. I wouldn’t call it pure bull either cos for something to be so chaotic, but still have some semblance of being a musical form, there’s got to be some degree of control to it.
But I’ve always had a soft spot for old (late 60s to early 70s) recordings. They just sound more organic, I think. Try listening to it (Brew) on headphones for the full 47 mins. I was staring blankly at the ceiling.
Incendiary? More like ‘hangus’ to me.
roberto? he da devil!