I Heart L-A-S-W-E-L-L

…I came across another old interview (isn’t the internet just wonderful?). This time with one of my all time heroes: Mr. Bill Laswell. Possibly the most productive artist EVER, Laswell is simply a machine. He has a very unique take on things. Check it out:

Interviewer: You’re probably the most prolific musician on the face of the Earth. It’s rare for a week to go by without at least one new Laswell-related album coming out. What motivates you to maintain this pace and output?

BL: It's responsibility really. A lot of it has to do with commitment. A lot of it has to do with the responsibility of helping people resolve or realize something. There's a part of it that's me just trying to get it done because I have that commitment. And certain times there's money involved. I have an overhead, so I have to create projects. The only way I make money is by making records. I'm not from a family of money. No-one's given me anything. I have to pay people, so I have to produce. I have to make records. That’s combined with helping people who realize they’re in trouble—you know, somebody from somewhere needs a record deal so they can have a family, so they can have a life. That's all part of it. So, we just keep pounding away to get everybody in place, including myself. It's not that I’m obsessed with an overabundance of activity. It's all just responsibility and commitment to staying alive—to keeping everything in place, not just for myself, but for a great deal of people. So, when people review things, they may not be talking about an artist who sat down and figured out something and said "This is my goal. This is what I want to do and I’m trying to impress somebody." It might be reviewing somebody who’s trying to save somebody’s life. So, good or bad, it means absolutely nothing compared to life. You’re just trying to help.

How about that?

Dig That Groove Baby

It’s been remarked a few times that this blog is “jazz centric.” For that I need to apologize, since jazz is by no means my sole musical interest. Looking back, it does seem that I’ve been wading in the jazz pool enough that it’s time for some variety. On that note, I’d like to take a trip back to the days of my youth and revisit one of my first musical loves: The Toy Dolls.

Still going after almost 30 yrs (though I haven’t checked them out in a LONG while), the Toy Dolls were/are a highly caffeinated cartoon-ish punk band that drank thirstily from the cup of Chuck Berry. In heyday of 80’s American hardcore, where bands like the Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front ruled the East Coast scene, the Dolls were, for me, a welcome change of pace. Also, since they were British and loosely affiliated with the Oi! movement, you could listen to them without fear of getting beat up by the skinhead faction - which was present at every damn show in those days.

The Dolls had cult status in the US. In my hometown, there were a handful of us who grabbed up every Dolls record we could find. As it turns out, they all sound pretty much the same. So if you are interested, I suggest checking out my favorite: 1983’s Dig That Groove Baby (pictured above). It’s one of the records I used to teach myself to play the drums. The title track kicks things off and pretty much sums up everything the Toy Dolls were/are about - and what I loved about them. Enjoy the video and the lyrics. Poetry, man. Poetry…

Friday Night Is Bath Night This Is What They Say
We Are Gonna Dig The Groove, We've Waited All Day
We Wear Trendy Trousers With Belts A Mile Too Long
We Are Gonna Catch The Bus Into The Town
We Are Boogie On Down...

Dig That Groove Ba-A-By
Dig That Groove Ba-A-By
Dig That Groove Ba-A-A-A-By
Dig That Groove Ba-A-By
Dig That Groove Ba-A-By
Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig
Digga Digga Digga Dig That Groove Baby

There They Are Again Covered In Old Spice
They Think They Will Get The Girls Cause
They Smell Nice,
They All Call Me Riff Raff
'Coz I Wear A Crombie
I Couldn't Stand It Being Just Like Them
They All Look Like Puffs Not Men

See That Trendy There She Used To Be A Punk
Now She's Off To The Disco To Listen To Junk
Her Boyfriend Was A Skinhead
He Used To Shout Oi! Oi!
Play That Funky Music That's What They Say Now
Come With Me And I'll Show You How

The Future is Written, Get out now

Phil Schaap is a hardcore Charlie Parker enthusiast. He is also a prominent fixture in the NYC jazz radio community. Love him or hate him (I've only read about him - but I understand that he is a polarizing figure) he can certainly lay down some food for thought. As someone who is about to wade into the waters of musical academia, the following quote - from the New Yorker's extensive profile - caught my eye:

"The school system is creating six thousand unemployable musicians a year—from the Berklee College of Music, Rutgers, Mannes, Manhattan, Juilliard, plus all the high schools,” he said. “There are more and more musicians, and no gigs, no one to listen. So what happens to these kids? They work their way back to the educational system and help create more unemployable musicians. .."

I already know that there are no jobs for musicians and I still plan on studying music academically, Does that make me crazy, stoopid or both?

I'll pick crazy...

Sacrifice

I stumbled across an old Jazz Times interview with John Zorn (I'm guessing - late 90's/early 00's) which includes some candid reflections on the state and future of the music and the biz. It’s a great read. Quite refreshing compared to a lot of the discussion going around on various music forums and blogs – where the topics tend to be centered on “how am I gonna get paid?” in the new digital age. Of course, he doesn’t bother to talk much biz, instead he rails against the greed and consumerism that steer us toward the corporate mass market and away from independence and individuality…

Many are rightly concerned that there is no way for a musician to make a living these days. It’s a topic I’ve touched upon before. And if you are considering a career in the music biz, I would agree that it’s a scary time.

What does this have to do with Zorn? Well… since you asked, I’ve cut out some (in my opinion) very poignant quotes from the interview, for anyone who fancies themselves an artist. We sometimes forget what it's all about. I think Mr. Zorn, more than anyone else I’ve read lately, hits the points that many – in the mad rush to find a “new 2.0 business model” – are missing.

Quote #1. It’s long but I don’t want to distill it by editing.

…That’s what it takes— courage. It takes more courage than most people have. There’s less than one percent of people like that, but the world could not exist without them. The world would not move forward without them, and I really believe that. I think the outsiders, the indi­vidualists, the people who have a messianic belief in themselves and are able to stick with their vision despite all odds—and be­lieve me, every day of my life I’m haunted and tormented by the voices of people that are saying in my ear, “Maybe you’re wrong.” But the people that can stick with that, they’re the ones that are re­ally going to make a difference in the world. And they will always be a small number and I’ve always aspired to be one of that number.

I think about the people that I admire, people like Jack Smith, who lived in a small apartment right over here on First Avenue and died of AIDS 10 years ago. I worked with him for about eight years in the late ‘70s helping him with his theater performances that never more than 10 people attended. And, I mean, this was some of the greatest shit I ever experi­enced. Here was a guy my age performing for 10 people. And I think about John Cage not getting an orchestra commission until he was over 50 years old. When he was my age he was still working as a dishwasher, you know? I think about that and I say, “Those are the models. I’ve gotta live up to that.”

Am I that passionate, driven and confident that I will wash dishes when I am 50, because that’s the only way to pay the bills? It just may come to that the way things are going. Music isn’t exactly a rare commodity....

…I do think that history is going to have to be rewritten in the next hundred or so years, as it always has been. People that were really popular in their time eventually disappeared and were forgotten. And people who struggled and did it the hard way and concentrated on the music and tried to make something great, eventually their work came to light. It’s often well after they’re dead. It’s rarely in their lifetime and if it is in their lifetime it’s at the end of it… That’s beautiful in a certain sense and a fucking tragedy in another sense…

Are you seeing the same theme as I am? The word that comes to my mind when reading all this is SACRIFICE. What are we willing to sacrifice in the name of art and expression? Is it a right or a privilege or a goddamn necessity?

I think about what the truly gifted musicians I know all have in common. Some basic beliefs… Music is sacred. EVERY NOTE is important. Every time you pick up an instrument is a performance – and it could be your last – so put everything you have into it.

Thinking of it this way... keeps things simple, and much more profound.

So here is my new mantra: You are a musician, no one owes you anything. You owe everything to the music. Do not think in terms of what you want to get (fame, fortune, recording contracts, free donuts for life) but in terms of what you are willing to give.

Now go practice…

What the Hell????????????????????

Well, there's that too...

When it comes to appreciating the finer points of our American musical heritage, there will always be something or someone that one just doesn't "get." Take Frank Sinatra. He's been held in high regard for a long, long time. But us young folks who weren't around to experience his magic first hand might associate him more with camp, kitch and all that Vegas/Rat Pack/Cannonball Run II stuff.. as opposed to what really made him great.

Via Grow a Brain, I found this discussion going back an forth about just what made 'Ol Blue Eyes the legend he was. One contributor put it like this...

...I value him for his phrasing. It's hard to explain until you listen to a bunch of Sinatra, but he has a way of constructing musical lines that sounds so easy and carefree. They say that the early beboppers listened to Sinatra and tried to copy elements of his phrasing. If you listen to early Sonny, Bird, or Dizzy, you can hear some of this.

And on another note:

And from a pop culture sense, well, he is "so great" for the same reason that any pop culture icon is "so great". He had sex with some hot women, he did drugs with some important people, and he had a famously large package, apparently.

Any questions?

More Miles...

Miles Davis interview, 1968

interviewer: Do you have any particular hobbies?

Miles Davis: Making fun of white folks on television. That's my main hobby. That's about it.