Keeping busy. . .

. . . with various and multiple challenges. . .

This piece was written well over twenty years ago.  My performance of it has evolved quite a bit.  This is my latest recording of it.  It may appear on an upcoming solo piano release, but alas there is a serious flaw in the execution and will have to be re-recorded.  Can you find it?  (let me know.)

HARBOR NOON
©1989 Raymond M. Jozwiak





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And the prize is . . .

. . . nonexistent. . .

 

 (from brainyquotes.com)
"Education is the investment our generation makes in the future."

"America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home."

"And the American people are the greatest people in the world. What makes America the greatest nation in the world is the heart of the American people: hardworking, innovative, risk-taking, God- loving, family-oriented American people."

"I feel very deeply about the need to respect and tolerate people of different social - or sexual orientation. But at the same time, I believe marriage should be preserved as an institution for one man and one woman."

Now, let me be clear. The path I lay out is not one paved with ever increasing government checks and cradle to grave assurance that government will always be the solution. If this election is a bidding war for who can promise the most goodies and the most benefits, I'm not your president. You have that president today."

"I spent my whole life in the private sector, 25 years in the private sector. I understand that when government takes more money out of the hands of people, it makes it more difficult for them to buy things. If they can't buy things, the economy doesn't grow. If the economy doesn't grow, we don't put Americans to work."

If you guessed George W. Bush, guess again.  Mitt Romney.

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Difficult. . .

 . . . yet simple. . .

 [When reading this, please do not interpret words like god, grace, divine, spirit and salvation as their archaic, pre-scientific definitions]
Glossary:  God = one universal mind (not 'Santa')
(from The Science of Mind by Earnest Holmes) 
"As the fall of man was brought about through his own act, so the rise of man will be accomplished through his own act.  God already Is.  Salvation is not a thing but a Way; the way of salvation is through the realization of man's unity with the Whole.  Grace is the givingness of the Spirit to Its Creation and is not a special law, but is a specialized one.  In other words, Grace Is, but we need to recognize It.  It is not something that God imposed upon us, but is the logical result of the correct acceptance of life and of a correct relationship to the Spirit.

We are saved by Grace to the extent that we believe in, accept and seek to embody , the Law of Good; for the Law of Good is ever a Law of Liberty and never one of limitation.  Limitation is not a thing, but is a belief.  Freedom is a Divine Reality while limitation is an illusion, a false belief.

Salvation is an act of man and not an act of God.  Man damned himself and man must save himself, if he ever is saved.  He will save himself to the exact degree that he stops damning himself.  He will live in Heaven when he stops living in hell.  He will be healed when he stops being sick.  He will become rich just as soon as he sops being poor.  He will become as God when he stops masquerading as the devil.  He will be happy when he stops being miserable. He will be at peace when he stops becoming confused.  He will be filled with joy when he stops thinking sadness.  He will live when he stops dying.  He will be perfect when he stops looking upon imperfection; and he will be saved when he stops damning himself.  HE WILL BE ONE WHEN HE STOPS BEING TWO.  MAN, MAN, MAN, MAN, MAN, MAN, MAN; "The great Thou--I--and the great I--Thou.""

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The roar . . .

. . . of the Lyons. . .

Jimmy Lyons alto saxophone player best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit, being the only constant member of the pianist's group from the mid-1960s to his death, after which Taylor never worked with another musician as frequently. Lyons's playing, which usually retained a strong influence from bebop pioneer Charlie Parker, helped keep Tayor's often wildly avant garde music tethered to the jazz tradition.

He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and brought up firstly there for his first 9 years, before his mother moved the family to Harlem and then the Bronx. He obtained his first saxophone in the mid-1940s and had lessons from Buster Bailey.

After high school, Lyons was drafted into the United States Army and spent 21 months on infantry duty in Korea, before spending around a year playing in army bands. On discharge, he attended New York University. By the end of the 1950s he was supporting his interest in music with day jobs in the Postal Service.

In 1961 he followed Archie Shepp into the saxophone role in the Cecil Taylor Unit. His post-Parker sound and strong melodic sense became a defining part of the sound of that group, from the classic 1962 Cafe Montmartre sessions onwards.

During the 1970s Lyons also ran his own group with bassoonist Karen Borca and percussionist Paul Murphy, taking performance opportunities at the loft jazz movement around Studio Rivbea. His group and the Unit continued a parallel development through the 1970s and 1980s, often involving the same musicians, such as trumpeter Raphe Malik, bassist William Parker and percussionist Paul Murphy.

Lyons died from lung cancer in 1986. The recording legacy of his own group was relatively sparse, though that situation has been rectified by a 5 CD boxed set of archive recordings from 1972 to 1985, released on Ayler Records.  (from wikipedia.com)

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Here I am . . .

. . . again.  On the crest of another Monday morning.

A dear friend fighting for life. . . want to help
A respite from a dull, cursory week was welcome, and now over
Hot, steamy conditions with which to cope, and with which I have little problem.  (No shovels required)
Good conversation with my west-coast son
Exhilarating workouts at the keyboard
Stressful coping with the 'critical' element
Progress made in the creative direction
Another future opportunity to make some joyful noise for friends and their family
Wonderful meals and time with my loved one (and ones)
But here comes that Monday again. . .

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Ah, the critics . . .

. . . gotta love 'em. . .

2012 marks 50 years of the Beatles. On Jan. 1, 1962, the Beatles flunked an audition at Decca Records in London. Label executive Dick Rowe’s brush-off: “Guitar groups are on the way out.”

Tommy Dorsey claimed, "Bebop has set music back 20 years."

Louis Armstrong complained that beboppers were playing wrong chords.

A prominent New York critic said, "Bebop sounds to me like a hardware store in an earthquake."

"He plays like somebody is standing on his foot." Miles Davis on Eric Dolphy

One critic said that Monk's music was "like missing the bottom step in the dark."

Critics called Thelonious Monk "the elephant on the keyboard."

Emperor Joseph II on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozars's The Marriage of Figaro,  "too many notes, Mozart"

Diana Krall is this decade’s Harry Connick Jr., Krall is popping up everywhere these days at festivals, in clubs and on CD sales and airplay charts. An adequate pianist, she’s a tentative, dry-voiced vocalist whose torpid, sorority-girl versions of classic songs barely measure up to hotel piano bar standards. Her eminence must seem like a slap in the face to vastly more gifted and creative singers, like Rebecca Parris and Ian Shaw.

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Writing about music . . .

. . . is like dancing about architecture. . . (Martin Mull)

If I may interject. . . 
 I’ve listened to the compositions here: http://rayjozwiak.com/music.html
Before I even listened to Ray’s music, I had to deal with his website.
Unhappily, it’s a clunky old thing and you’ll find yourself bemused with how even the simplest things can be complicated! I recommend setting up a WordPress site, Ray. It’s dead easy and it will look a million times better and work flawlessly, thus making it possible for your potential fans to check your music out without missing a beat (pun intended).
. . . quite possibly. . . 

And now to the real issue at hand. The music.
The samples provided are mainly solo piano pieces in a light jazz style. Most have a lot of potential, actually, and all feel like a welcome breath of fresh air in this mechanized-music world. But… there are issues here.

While Ray’s picture shows him playing a real piano, I couldn’t help but feel that many of these recordings were done on a piano synth/keyboard and then quantized with a sequencer. . . the piano in the photo was in fact NOT REAL, but an embryonic digital grand manufactured by Yamaha (off to a bad start). . . I don't know what quantization is. . . I could be dead wrong on that front, but that’s how some of this comes across. There’s a sense of rigidity which is so characteristic of quantization, so if this has been actually played . . .'fraid it's BEEN ACTUALLY PLAYED. . . should you just stop here?. . .  and NOT quantized… Ray! You’ve got to loosen up!. . . I'm sooo tight. . .  But if, indeed, it has been quantized – Ray, please stop that! . . . kinda damned if I did and damned if I didn't. . . A breath of 'quantized with a sequencer' fresh air huh?. . .

And so we come to my primary, and perhaps the only . . . why did you go on to mention six more and throw in a seventh in the GOOD part then?. . . really meaningful complaint. There are groove and tightness issues on these recordings which simply have to be addressed before this music sees a wider audience. This is particularly evident in the few multi-instrumental tracks within the above demo.

You’ve got to have a really loose feel when playing jazz, granted, but here we’re dealing with two forces pulling in opposite directions. On the one hand, many of the pieces feel rigid to the point of almost quantized, and on the other hand, some of the piano pieces seem to be doing their own thing while the background . . . background??? on the SOLO pieces. . . .come again please. . . is stubbornly refusing to get in synch!

Yeah I know. I’m a nitpicker from hell. . . . NO, YOU!!!???. . . But as a piano player myself and a part-time aficionado of good jazz, I wouldn’t be doing Ray any favors if I didn’t point these issues out. . . . you're TOO kind. . .

And then there is another side here. Ray clearly has the chops and a good technique – a good little . . . all 5'10" of me. . .  piano player for sure. But there’s also this thing known as a “take” . . . thank you very much. . . in the modern recording world! If you play it once and it ain’t quite perfect, . . . "Perfect". . . thought you said you KNEW jazz. . .  hit the record button again and do another one! And another. And you can even seamlessly combine takes using your sequencer . . . I don't have a sequencer. . . so that the final product is just perfect enough to be magical and just imperfect enough to be human.

In my view, then, the final production (i.e. attention to detail of the performance, not just the way the whole thing sounds) needs another serious look.

Since even the multi-instrumental pieces sound like it’s all done by one person with a sequencer, . . . I repeat. . . I don't have a sequencer. . . I would advise a different layering strategy than what might be a typical pop example. Rather than starting with sequencing a beat and then playing to it, start with pure piano performances (done on an acoustic piano, ideally) and then play LIVE along with the recording, when layering your drums, bass and whatever else you like. Avoid quantization like the plague except to correct minor errors.
And now for the good news. . . . there's GOOD news???. . .

As a composer, Ray is clearly in his element. He’s got some terrific ideas there and an unusual approach to rhythm and song structure. These are fantastic assets and more than one of his songs could find tons of fans who appreciate music which isn’t the same ol’ same ol’ all the time.
While I would question some of the dissonant notes here . . . what a surprise!!!. . . and there, none of that took away from the pleasure of immersing myself in the melodic, chordal and rhythmic patterns which are definitely not run of the mill. I miss this kind of music in today’s mad world. . . . maybe you could have LINGERED on some of this huh?. . .

In summary then, this needs to be meticulously “produced.” Just keep recording and fine-tuning each track until it completely rules. But make sure that it swings and is tight like a flea’s arse . . . sounds like you just might know something about THAT. . .  – while at the same time feeling loose and free. One of those paradoxical mysteries which make jazz so compelling.

FOISFOIS
from AMBIENCE & WINE
©2011 Raymond M. Jozwiak


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