Between You and Jerome Ellis


Jerome Ellis
Today at 12:21am
Iit's all about roots. Music has drifted too far away from its roots. I have these lectures, in both book and video format, by the great composer/conductor/performer Leonard Bernstein where he tries to grasp where music is going in his time, made in 1973. He touches on this whole concept of returning, returning to roots. They're titled The Unanswered Question, you need to get a hold of them. I envy drummers because their primary medium is rhythm, and you were right when you said that that was the foundation. The African conception of rhythm itself being melodic is truth. What I strive for in music is just what we were talking about, towards roots. Example: Coltrane in Love Supreme, throughout pervades the 1 b3 4 motif, like Acknowledgment's groove motif is 1 b3 1 4 (like C Eb C F), and Pursuance uses C Eb F (1 b3 4) and F Ab Bb (1 b3 4) as its first six notes. That motif, that series of notes, is the root of the blues, and honestly I think Coltrane recognized at that hugely mature part of his life the importance of roots--nothing could be simpler nor more foundational for jazz than the blues. The same with all music, and I believe that it all traces back to the motherland. I mean, we as humans trace back there, why shouldn't our music? I saw this Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra show last year with Wynton directing, and he had this African troupe with him, the set was called Congo Square, this huge suite of like 15 different "movements," and it felt/sounded just right. You and James, man, you get that. Like I was saying, last Friday before you get there, he laid down this rhythm, and I went over it like I was from Egypt or thereabouts. Roots. I read that Darwin, in the Descent of Man I believe, asserts that music in its primal form was connected with mating rituals and other such highly emotional activity, and of course, it was just rhythm in its first incarnations, with the addition of primitive bone flutes and such. That really points to my fundamental conception, you could call it, of what music needs to do, at least when I make it, create an intense, spiritual experience, and it doesn't have to be loud to be intense, nor fast, nor complex. Coltrane understood that. I stand by the comment I made, about how that performance of My Favorite Things ceased to be jazz, labels don't suffice. It's simply music. I'm so scatterbrained, man, but another thought I've been pursuing is how both classical and jazz music have come to, mostly, a dead end in very recent times. Not that there isn't wonderful music being produced within each "genre," despite my dislike for the categorization, but that the development/progression has halted considerably. Classical stuff especially, and I have so many thoughts on the peculiar time of the mid 20th century, I need to gather those into a coherent whole. But man. Return to the roots, and you can't go wrong. More later.


David Napier
Today at 3:22pm
Amen.
I'm so delighted to have someone who shares my mind. You're familiar with T.S. Eliot, I'm sure, but have you read or heard explained his tretise, "Tradition and the Individual Talent"? The turn of the twentieth century is such a fascinating period to me, mainly in its aesthetic geist and intention: to reach enlightenment - a transcendent state - through art. The cry of the era was, "Make It New," and I absolutely love that...perhaps with a slight modification: "Make It FRESH". And here's where Eliot's idea blooms...
He suggested that there is a connection of all humanity through art called "The Objective Correlative," which basically means that those who could touch the correlative had the ability to transcend environment, culture, and history to speak to the deepest parts of a man. This is the principle that explains why Shakespeare can be translated and performed in Japan and still garner a significant aesthetic response.
Eliot's prescription for the artist was this: learn the Classics, inside and out. But why? Well, they are classic for a reason; they have stood the test of time, and we can still draw the deep humanity out of them as though the author had a studio apartment in NY and putting out a novel every few years.
How were they able to create something that transcends time and culture? By connecting to the Objective Correlative of humanity - by knowing HOW to reach the human heart, not the Greek or Roman heart, or the Imperialistic Brittish heart, or the 19thC Russian heart. Eliot says that we should intensely and intently study the classic writers in order to discern HOW they reached the core of humanity. Then, once we've begun to understand it, we can then employ it in our own works; we can create something completely fresh accompanied by the understanding of how to touch the correlative.

That's why we, you and me, are getting back to the roots. We're looking for that essence, that thread that strings throughout the entire human experience...
HOW...
That's our crisis...

There's this killer quote that I've adopted from a guy named Aaron Lindsey:
"Playing is talking; you can only express musically what your vocabulary will allow. I submit that going to a greater level of playing has much to do with one's ability to speak the language of that level. Minstrels are few and far between; musicians are a dime a dozen."

Mm!

Dude, a lot of time just freed up for me. I'm going to be practicing like a mothasucka. I would love to gather with you and expound and express.

And here's a thought about the other night with James:
We were talking about whether or not Coltrane's life was worth his art...
Here's the beautiful thing about us, Jerome, we have the strength of Christ-in-us. We don't have to end up like Trane, or Bird, or any of those cats that had major problems but ended up making our world possible. We won't be overcome by the world rather we HAVE overcome it!

It's time for Renaissance/Revolution. We're on the cusp, and it's going to be ushered in by us.

You're right. "My Favorite Things" wasn't Jazz anymore. For a man, the most enlightening revelation that can come to him is that of existence: I am. That's one thing that kills me about what God said in Exodus. He made the most powerful, fundamental, essential statement ever: I AM.

I exist. I am the essence of existence. I am true existence. I am the source and flow of existence. There is nothing beyond. I am all has been, is and will be.

That's what "MFT" turned into: the most essential expression: I exist, and I am stating that with music. The essence of Music is simply expression of existence.

And here's the thing with generae past (Rock, Jazz, all of which are DEAD): they want to express what WAS, and not what IS NOW.
That's why our musical culture of rehashing is so stale and past rigor mortis.
Don't rehash the past. DO NOW.


Whoooo!
We've got so much to talk about!!!