Goodbye to All That (For Now)

by Anthony Medici in Editorials, Opinion Posts

I’ve been writing for this blog since its inception, more than a year ago.  I’ve decided it’s time for a rest, or maybe a change.  Sometimes a rest is a change.  I hope you have enjoyed what I have written.  Or, if not enjoyed, at least found yourself thinking about the subject at hand.  Thank you for reading, and thank you to Princeton Record Exchange for providing this forum.  I have tried when and where I could to argue for the necessity of keeping the art known as jazz fresh, vibrant, indeed revolutionary, as it has always been at its best, but now seems in danger of ossifying under commercial pressure.   There is no point to jazz’s survival, if that survival is one of only dreary “repertory” renditions, tired variations on tired themes, and endless reissues of many-times-reissued before albums.  I have directed criticism at public radio and TV for its timid cowering to commercial and organizational pressure, its abysmal failure to offer content with “the shock of the new,” its dereliction of cultural duties that are its real reason for existence.  Endless Yanni offerings, or pallid cocktail jazz, are not valid exercises of their public trust.  Instead, public programming should stop acting like an also-ran commercial network, and start being a cultural change-maker.  They do it much better in Europe. 

I have also poked criticism at the major jazz magazines for their myopic approach to the current jazz scene.  This seems to have ruffled a few feathers; in my estimation, a good thing.  Complacency is the hobgoblin of little minds (to sort of paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson).  Ruffled feathers often lead to change.  I suspect there are those in the magazine world who would love to lead such change if given some external support. 

I’ve also tried to convey to you the experience of live music, especially music from the avant edges of jazz, where the deepest creative currents are flowing.  I have really come to love that area of music.  I had hoped to write more extensively on this music, which many turn away from without having given it adequate time and attention.  In some ways, it’s like a foreign language.  Without knowing the language, it is meaningless; however, once one comes to understand that language, there are innumerable beauties to be had.  Intent listening and “big ears” are all you need to learn this truly powerful musical language.  Trust me, it will be hard to go back to your old habits. 

There is a tradition in jazz of woodshedding.  That is, taking some time off to think, reflect, listen, experiment, practice, all to find a new mode or approach or style.  Sonny Rollins has been the most famous practitioner of woodshedding.  His midnight practice sessions on the Brooklyn Bridge during one such period of woodshedding are legendary.  Don’t expect to find me blogging from the Brooklyn Bridge, or even from the base of the Washington Monument, in DC, where I live.  Woodshedding is as much a state of mind as a particular place.   I’ll be spending more time reading, thinking, and above all, listening, looking for new understandings, approaches, perceptions.  I’ll know when  it is time to come off that Brooklyn Bridge of the mind and start writing again.  In the meantime, listen and enjoy.