Re Branford and "My new closing argument":
****However, sometimes the crap they say is so breathtakingly stupid, something has to be said in rebuttal. Hence the tangents····**** - Rok
The level of arrogance and stupidity shown by Branford in that article would be breathtaking were it not for the knowledge that this is the same Branford that has ridden the wave started by his brother Wynton. I think Branford is a better jazz player than Wynton, but not nearly good enough to make him, as Rok suggested, "darling of the thread". I don't particularly care for Wynton's jazz playing, but acknowledge that he is a force of nature with his amazing talent as an instrumentalist, educator and advocate for jazz. When the Marsalis brothers came on the scene, it was obvious who the star was going to be. Wynton was serious and would never pepper his language with obscenities the way Branford does:
"There's only twelve fucking notes"
One of the most idiotic statements that I have heard in a while and surprising even for him, a musician that in spite of a fair mount of talent is a generic player nonetheless. He even copied his brother in the "Look, I can play Classical music too" wave. He is, unlike his brother, a mediocre classical player. This is the same Branford who, during his stint with Sting's (!?!?!) band decided he wanted to sub in the pit of Sting's newly opened Broadway show and was too arrogant to do what is normal and required (sit through the show and watch/listen to the regular player play the part), and instead went in cold and, as musicians like to say, stepped on his dick and was told by the producers to not come back. Branford is a good player, but only good and he is an opportunist and does not have nearly the gravitas and importance in the music world that his brother has. So, bottom line, I think he is full of it with the comments he made in that article. I would have much to say as far as a more substantive rebuttal, but the first reader's comment accompanying the article says it about as well as I ever could:
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%%%% Everything that I dislike about Branford and his extraordinarily generic sounding recordings can be summed up in his own quote:
" I mean, man, there's 12 fucking notes. What's going to be new?"
" I mean, man, there's only so many colors. What's going to be new?" - Vincent Van Gogh, on why he abandoned painting 'Starry Night'
" I mean, man, there's only so many shapes. What's going to be new?" - Pablo Picasso, on choosing not to finish 'Guernica'
" I mean, man, there's only so many words. What's going to be new?" - James Joyce, on scrapping 'Ulysses'.
What's going to be new? Many things... and none of them created by someone who sees nothing but a closed system.
Branford has been singing the "there are only 12 fucking notes" line for so long that he has convinced himself. If he would continue with his search, he would find out it is no longer true. Bur he already has the answers so why bother looking. But to each their own. But where I have a problem in this shortsightedness is in how it can influence the young minds of young students and artists and stifle their growth. Art isn't anymore the notes than it is the instrument, the tones, the colors, the paint brushes or anything else under the sun. Art is the voice of the soul of the individual artist. Though important, these other singular things are technical matters that only give you the tools in which to express your soul. If you can't express ithat level of depth, all of these things are not going to help you. You'll just learn the tools and learn them well. To lump it all together would be diminishing the work of our greatest artists. And if you are going to concentrate on the 12 notes, then try this experiment. Gather 50 people and place them in a room. Take a tape recorder and then walk by each person and ask them to repeat, "There are only 12 fucking notes" and record each person. Now take the recorder and place it at the front of the room and play the 50 voices back and ask everyone how many various unique voices they hear. How many? Of course you can say, "The differences are not notes but various tones and or colors of the voices." Ok, but doesn't that count? If it does, then why would you focus on 12 notes when creating? What about the other aspects? It's simple, right? But when it comes to art you have to take it another step futher. At the foundation of each person is something that is incredibly unique that makes them who they are. However, not everyone is in touch with that something. In fact, very few. Artists are able to rediscover who they are and create from that place but not many can. Now you can think that's a bunch of hogwash and it's only one way of explaining it and I certainly will not say it's the best way. %%%%
