Jazz for aficionados

Indictment:

Just my way of saying, Silver was Silver, just as he always was, and his music was still better than most , or all, in my opinion, Jazz being played almost 50 years later.

Sort of like Magic Johnson coming back into the NBA today and being MVP, leading scorer and average a triple double for the entire season.   That would reflect badly on the current NBA players, or maybe, just reflect on the greatness of magic.



The Frogman:
I have seen conductors use the regular sized batons and even no baton at all.   But this?   WTF, over?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZDiaRZy0Ak&list=RDdZDiaRZy0Ak

Cheers

****Sort of like Magic Johnson coming back into the NBA today and being MVP, leading scorer and average a triple double for the entire season. That would reflect badly on the current NBA players, or maybe, just reflect on the greatness of magic****

Good point and good analogy.  And as much as we may resist the simplicity of it, and as much as we have heard it, isn't it amazing how it always comes back to this simple comment?:

"There's only two kinds of music, good music and the other kind".  

Doesn't matter the period, style or genre; it either tells a good story or it doesn't.  

Batons:

Even before I opened the link I knew it was going to be of Gergiev and his infamous toothpick.  First of all, imo, and that of many many musicians, Gergiev is one of the greatest musicians on the planet; he is amazing.  I had the great pleasure of playing under him once performing Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exibition" and I can comfortably say it was possibly my most memorable musical experience ever.  The job of a conductor is far more than the waving of a baton.  Much of the work leading up to the performance happens in rehearsal and even conductors with less than ideal conducting technique can conduct a fabulous performance because of a particular talent in conveying to musicians his/her musical vision for a piece of music and this sometimes has little to do with the waving of the stick.  Some conductors don't use a baton at all and in the performance that I mentioned Gergiev didn't use a baton.  He is known to players as having a very idiosyncratic conducting technique; especially this little "shake" that he makes with his hand which can be maddening since it can give "false cues".  You mentioned "magic":

Some conductors simply have "the magic" to convey what they want from players and are able to establish a musical performance-relationship in a way that is hard to describe; sometimes they can put their arms down altogether and still convey a great sense of pulse with their bodies; the magic.  The toothpick:

Think about it for a moment.  If a player sees a conducting pattern that is, say, three feet wide in any direction, vs one which is only a couple of inches wide (toothpick), with which is the "margin for error" greater?  A smaller beat pattern is more concise, lets the player see exactly where the beat is and creates a potentially more concentrated rhythmic pulse; which is what the opening of Bolero is all about.  I will admit that his use of the toothpick is a bit extreme, but I believe that is his reasoning.  Of course, with certain music ("Pictures") or parts of a certain piece, the toothpick won't work; notice how in Bolero, as the piece progresses, his pattern gets larger and the fact that he is still holding the toothpick is pretty irrelevant.

Frogman, I've liked music all my life. When I became interested in audio equipment, I subscribed to "Stereo Review"; Julian Hirsch of "Hirsch-Houck Laboratories" was my guru, and his philosophy was; "if you can't measure it, it ain't worth talking about"; consequently I purchased my audio equipment based on specifications.

When my Phase Linear 4000 went on the blink, I decided to find out what those crazy people called "audiophiles" who paid crazy money for stereo equipment were all about. That's when I visited my first "High end salon", and I was blown away; this thing called a CJ PV 10 was a little pre-amp that sounded better than anything I had heard before, although it's specs were not as good as my Phase Linear.

After that, I discovered I could hear beyond what any test equipment could measure; that's when I became what I call a "subjectivist". Now, I base everything on my "subjective" senses, and it works for me, and I'll give you an example of how this worked just yesterday.

As you know, reel to reel tape decks are very complex pieces of equipment. My "pitch control" quit functioning properly and needed adjusting. The instructions in the repair manual were straight forward and simple, except for one thing; I didn't have the repair equipment.

(1) connect a digital counter to the output jack.
(2) Set tape speed selector to 38cm/s
(3) Set pitch control to on in center position.
(4) Playback test tape QZZOW380EX (no problem if I had one)
(5) Read the output frequency, and confirm that output frequency is 3000hz
(6) If it is not 3000hz, adjust VR904 so that it becomes 3000HZ
(7) After adjustment described above, turning pitch control to maximum and minimum position, confirm that more than 3180 hz is obtained at its maximum position,and less than 2820hz at its minimum position.

As easy as falling off a log, providing you have the test equipment.

I put on a Nina Simone tape, plugged my earphones in, and proceeded to adjust VR 904. This was a live recording, and when I could hear the tinkle of ice cubs in the background, I knew I had it right.

I look and see with my third eye, and listen with my inner ear; my "subjective" senses do the measuring, and that's how I function.


Enjoy the music.

***** After that, I discovered I could hear beyond what any test equipment could measure;*****

Or put another way, that's when I begin to drink the Kool-aid.   Kool-aid is more expensive than people realize.  

Should have stayed with Julian.

Cheers

The Frogman:

Thanks for the info on conductors and their conducting techniques.

Cheers