I was listening to Artie Shaw on the way to work this morning. Buddy Rich swings.
As far as country goes, I agree it hasn't swung too much since Bob Wills. Merle Haggerd was able to swing, but he's usually too lazy and for most of his career it's just too hard to swing when you're drunk *and* stoned.
Swing doesn't have a hard beat. It has a strong flow. Louis Armstrong may have said that but no matter...It speaks for me.
Not only that -- but where's the joy? In today's music, does anything good ever happen?
Have you ever listened to the 30s-40s swing guitarist Oscar Aleman?
Remarkable stuff.
Oscar Aleman:
In 1939, jazz critic Leonard Feather visited Paris. He returned to America raving about his new "discovery" and stated, "Aleman has more swing than any other guitarist on the continent."
I think the quality you define as "swing" is the randomness that is often quantized out of much of experience these days... music that saunters and insinuates and withholds and requires the listener to fill in the blanks is the exception these days... look at a swing-ish music like reggae, which has been one of the most influential and vital forms of music in recent decades; there are currently almost no actual practitioners of that form of music left in the country from which it originated; if you are young and want to escape the streets of Jamaica today you make dancehall, which is a cheesy, speeded up and commercialized hybrid of reggae and house music that perfectly illustrates how the global consumer culture narrows experience and has no use for the wobbly, offbeat and ultimately human music from which it originated...
To my ears though, its not just a lack of swing that is missing in so much of contemporary music... its that its SO deadeningly "unfresh" and people are so afraid to try truly new things... unfortunately stimulating the brain via the ears is one of those processes that requires new approaches constantly or the ear tires of it... as animals, our hearing functions on a primal level to alert us when something sounds different in the bushes that might attack us... and thats how I feel when I turn on the stereo.. if it doesnt sound like a new and different animal I'm not interested... to my ears what the current generation is missing is freedom of the imagination; even sophisticated, competent and accomplished younger artists think that art is mostly pastiche or a strategy... that if you know the right references and put them together then you have an approach that works... of course thats the path to hell, but most record shops are full of records which are supposed to sound new but are beyond DOA... I also think that the really interesting younger people arent going into music anymore... in 1969 or 1977 most of the interesting kids were into music on some level and it drew innovative minds and sensibilities... these days music is so easy to like and so pervasive in the culture that if you want to make your own little world I think you might be doing something else... but the great thing about pop culture is that if you stick around long enough something usually comes along... the key is keeping expectations VERY low and being on the lookout for innovation where you might least expect it!
Mister Wells:
Very interesting comments. I used to be a large consumer of reggae music in the 70s, Marley, Tosh, Wailer, Cliff, Toots, et al. Tosh in particular was my favorite. But to your point, it has simply dried up.
mp3 download cheap . Greg, Keith Richards has lived in the US for a while, certainly longer than George has been in power. Though it may be convenient for you not to think so, you really should start accepting that people could like the US, its lifestyle, etc, and still NOT like the incumbent president, whoever he is. best cheap bathing kid suit
insurance rates comparison insurance rates comparison insurance rates comparison // hotels with casinos hotels with casinos hotels with casinos
Please help me locate documentary exposing sex trade in washington. DC - nexuim and For those of you that care to listen. and if you dont. keep just commenting from the sidelines. its your right (acyclovir prescribed shingles) but Ahmadinejad has said his questioning of the Holocaust is aimed at encouraging scholarly debate and an examination of the reasons behind the creation of the state of Israel. . renova nexium wetrackit
I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge. never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led. and bearding every authority which stood in their way. - sialis and That is not what it means. I wish they say it more clearly but it is shrouded in opposite thinking. (renova cream and acne) but But then that angry God DID come to stand with you in a very scary conflict. That's why you are living in freedom today. It's not perfect yet. that's left up to you and your brothers and your fellow Iraqis. but make no mistake. God's hand is in this. . order online azulfidine
oh i agree - Well he talked about the 1990 series dollars having that micro strip in them. I've seen them and then he talked about how that money was an intermediatetary money and the next phase would be the Blue chip dollars. that would have color added to them and micro chips enbedded in them! Seen the New $10 and $20 and higher denominational moneys these days? LOL
Commenting by HaloScan
