Watching musicians with great listening ability

I went to hear the jazz group Road Work Ahead.  Bill Mays- Piano, Bob Plank- Drums, Peter Sprague- Guitar, Bob Magnusson- Bass.  They played Jazz arrangements of some popular stuff and mostly originals.  The players made "IT" happen: separate instruments semlessly blend and create hybrid sounds coming from hybrid instruments... if you closed your eyes you might imagine that you were hearing the "Guitariano", the "Guitbass", or the "Drugitarbassiano".   I left so highly motivated to continue my ear training practices.    Listening is what does it.  They had mastererful technique but it was the sound caused by this unseen act that was tieing them together.  The players mixed eachother's sounds together in their inner ears, sent that sound out, and received a new version back.  It was similar to the feedback loop effect I describe in this blog post.     They deserved the standing ovation we gave them. Go see Road Work Ahead if you like Jazz.  They are the very real deal.  For you Jazz buffs, they are the deal inspired by Buddy Bolden back when it all got started.

You are the instrument

Trey Gunn posted this video of a great Jazz pianist describing how your instrument is an illusion.  How your internal process is the thing that is really happening.  I have experienced where the notes I am playing "fit" with the texture of the music around me because of my perspective on them, not necessarily because of their technical place in the music (i.e. playing a major scale because a certain kind of chord is playing in the background).  An example of the notes flowing out of my "perspective" would be that when I am confident in the stream of notes (and/or silences), they flow best.  I have had my solos fall to pieces when that confident sensation is not there.  This observation has led me to beleive that it is most important to practice things like "playing from a sense of confidence" and practicing "tenacious focus".  I have caught myself in moments where these things are in abundance, and I can do no wrong whether the notes are technically "in" or "out" .  Perhaps this "perpsective effect" works like some kind of quantum mechanical law. Enjoy. 

Possible approaches to improvisation

-Throw a rock through the window of your:

expectations

likes, dislikes

understandings

philopohies

ideas

concepts

memories

mind set

mind field

mindfeild

thought parents

thought children

practiced patterns

pitter patterns

ponder patterns

pain pots

pill poisins

THEN

let yourself understand chaos if you see it

Sound Music Generator

I was checking out this great wind acitivated musical instrument: 

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-beach.html 

I become the suit man

Paul Moeller from Technomania circus shot this great example of a suit composition.  This one is called, "wired". Watching this video shows an intersting compositional appoach that the "suit idea" is best suited for (questionable puns notwithstanding).  It is the following cyclical realtionship as composition generator:

 The movement of the player causes the sound, then the sound influences the movement of the player, the movement of the player causes the sound, then the sound influences the movement of the player, etc.

The player in this video is tighly linked to the sound and the sound is tightly linked to the actions of the player.

It is that relationship that my work wih the suit is exploring.
This blog post is about a similar effect I found in the "wild" when I saw "Road Work Ahead". 

Thanks Paul!

The video: