[Harp-L] personal epiphany, etc.

["Mick Zaklan" <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

   Just a few thoughts on music as conversation and brevity vs. excess.
Unlike other horn players, we play an instrument that does our breathing for
us.  "Noodling" is pretty tempting because often we don't have to stop to
take a breath.  The ability and ease of filling up space is a pretty
seductive thing.  Sometimes difficult to resist.
   I also think there is probably an age factor operating here, not just in
music but in almost everything.  When you're young, your energy level is
peaked.  Your brain is busy; your biorhythms and hormones, whatever, are
exploding.   When I was a young blues player, I wanted to play and hear
everything fast and loud.  Kind of like a young athlete flailing around on
the field, covering his or her mistakes with pure speed and strength.  I
think the older we get, the more we realize the value of space, of
shortcuts, of pouring more into the notes rather than using more notes.  We
almost have to. Our bodies are slowing down, our reflexes are
not "twitching" as quickly.  Just like an older athlete gets smarter about
anticipating what's about to happen in order to conserve energy; taking
smarter pursuit angles on, say, a baseball or a running back or a tennis
ball.  We learn, hopefully, to say more with less.  Striving towards maximum
efficiency.
   I kind of side of Iceman and Michael about space vs. tons of notes.  One
of my favorite jazz stories, if I can recall it correctly, involved the
package jazz jam session shows that Norman Granz used to send out touring:
Jazz at the Philharmonic.  Basically, a series of amiable cutting sessions
where jazz poll winners would play long solos over standards for big
audiences.  Trying to top the other guys onstage.  At one of these events
backstage a young horn player was warming up and trying to get psyched
before hitting the stage.  He loudly blew all sorts of exercises and
complicated song heads at breakneck speeds.  At one point, he made the
mistake of sticking the bell of his horn in the face of the great tenor
saxophonist, Lester Young, and blowing furiously.  Perhaps expecting to get
complimented or attempting to intimidate the old man.  Lester calmly
listened and told the guy something like; "Yeah, cool, baby.  But can you
tell me a story?".  I like that a great deal and regret that I don't do it
often enough.  Trying to make every solo like a short story.  Developing a
theme with a beginning and end, building to a climax.  Trying to say
something substantial that holds a listener's interest.  Using space like a
writer uses punctuation marks.
   For a moment, though, I'm going to reverse everything I just said.
"Genius" is an overused word, but occasionally there are people who have so
much to say of interest that I don't think brevity or space serves them
well.  Or reflects who they are.  I could listen to pianist Art Tatum all
day long and not get bored or feel aurally assaulted.  He hardly used space
in what he did.  I could and have listened to Charlie Parker for weeks on
end.  Nobody played more sixteenth and thirty-second notes than that guy.  I
don't know that there's anybody in our harmonica community that approaches
that kind of genius or level of technical brilliance.  But there will be,
and I'll welcome it.  I love Count Basie and Jimmy Reed, but it would be
pretty boring if everybody played with that kind of relaxation and empty
space.  But in general for most of us, those are good things.  In my
opinion.

Mick Zaklan