This is a brief message for those out there that have thought about playing free jazz or have played this stuff in the Vancouver area...
What is free jazz? Is it just a bunch of morons playing whatever the hell they want to? Does it have some underlying meaning? Is it primitive? What do you think about when you play this kind of stuff? Who would want to listen to this?
All good questions (I feel like a loony talking to myself)...
- Free jazz is a genre of music where musicians give up on the conventional.
- Some people might consider free jazz musicians morons OR very intelligent depending on how they feed off each other (or what they create if it’s a solo performance).
- I think anytime someone tries to put “emotion” into playing a musical instrument there has to be some underlying meaning.
- It can be primitive but some might consider it sophisticated (I think Eric Carle’s stuff is primitive but in some ways it’s quite sophisticated because he’s created his own unique style... the same can be said for free jazz).
- What do people think about when they play any kind of music? It’s all about trying to create sounds at that moment.
- The audiences for free jazz doesn’t seem to be in the majority but I think they’re out there. If you have a sense of exploration, free jazz might appeal to your ear since if it’s done properly, it can be quite exotic.
Now, another question. Why am I writing about this topic?
Well, this summer I got together with a couple of guys. I met Walter Lovell at college many years ago. For a while he was actually a free lance musician (I don’t think he made much money from doing this...). Jay Schreib is a friend of Walter and he has just finished a degree at the University of Victoria (he’ll be moving to the States trying to escape the stale Vancouver music scene).
Together we would hang out, drink the odd beer and when the time came, we would play.
We’d play the odd standard tune but when we got sick of that, we’d just fool around (in a serious way) and play whatever. Whatever was thrown out was taken seriously and we tried to feed off each other...
A couple of months ago I had an idea... I typed in “free jazz Vancouver” and “free jazz trombone” on that evil Youtube site and I couldn’t find anything related to this kind of music. At this point I told myself... why not record some stuff on my iPhone and see where we can take this.
It’s been done. Click here to see what it all sounds like. To hear further videos, click on my Youtube name (Mark Quigley).
I have a feeling it might not appeal to your eardrums but for those who are out there I hope to make music with you some day (as long as you know how to play your instrument).
Contact: wayneshorter12345678@yahoo.ca
