Jazz for aficionados
So many people say "African Music"; there is no such thing. You have so many countries on the continent of "Africa" and they are all unique. Before slavery, there were many villages with their own rhythms. Big powerful countries like Nigeria captured and sold them to the "Americas"; consequently those rhythms no longer exist in Africa but over here. Slavery in the USA beat the African out of the slaves; consequently, I don't hear anything from that continent. They had to re-invent themselves, ergo jazz and blues. If you have keen ears, you will hear African rhythms that exist in Brazil, but not in Africa. Brazilian artists have incorporated them into their music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDPuQWg_A8Q Hear that beat, that rhythm, it's African, but you won't hear it in African music from that continent; the people who like and display that rhythm were brought to Brazil. It's unique to the slaves who fled to a Brazilian high plateau and named it "Palmare" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmares_(quilombo) The Haitian music is primarily from "Dahomey"; since Dahomey was involved in the slave trade, not many slaves from Dahomey; only those sentenced to slavery for crimes; but it was a port of exit, and also the primary exponent of "Voodoo". There is very little authentic recorded Haitian "Voodoo music"; you have to go there to hear it. The music is so incorporated into Haitian Society, that kids can play it with a rock in each hand, beating out rhythms on a steel shovel that has been abandoned by the side of a roadway in progress. Some beat out the rhythms while others dance as though their bodies have no bones; it's truly hypnotic; nothing can stop children from enjoying life; what a blessing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTBbC3cMaZg This is Cuban "Voodoo"; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1mb6CXDDU I find it amazing that the best African music exists in the Americas. |
Orpheus10, Cielo e Terra is one of my favorite albums. Mesmerizing mindscapes. Wanted to find some Caribbean music but instead found this. My apologies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhs4sJWOc0Y |
inna, thanks for the clips; very nice. McLaughlin’s playing on “Mila Repa” is about as restrained as I’ve ever heard from him. I liked it. I also liked “Django”, a lot. But the clips don’t change my mind about him nor how I feel about him vs Beck. For me, “Django” is a great example of what I tried to say in my response to pjw. As you pointed out, Beck plays the first solo. But Beck also plays the melody of the tune in the opening. Two notes and I could tell it was Beck. Had it been McLaughlin (without my knowing who the players were) I would not had been able to tell. That is one of the things that for me separates Beck from a lot of other players; so much personality. We all listen for different things in players and you obviously like the speed and intensity in McLaughlin’s playing. However, his solo sounds fragmented to me without enough musically logical connection between the melodic bursts that he plays. Beck’s solo has more musical coherence; more melodic connection from beginning to end. Still, neither plays over the changes of the tune with the kind of control of the harmony, nor melodic development that a great jazz player does. That may seem overly critical; but, as always, different players have different strengths, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rLWzIsT4-o0 |
pryso, your link didn’t work for me so I am reposting in case anyone else has the same issue. Great recording and very important recording. Several years ago I had the pleasure of playing a new composition for large ensemble that Ornette composed for a performance by a dance troupe. He oversaw the production and I was thrilled to get the chance to have a couple of conversations with him. I will never forget some of the interesting (some would say “off the wall”) things that he spoke of re his and music in general. My favorite comment of his was his indication to the ensemble to play one particular passage “ahead and behind the beat...at the same time”. Very unusual and brilliant musician. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OIIyCOAByDU |
