Jaco/Wooten Philosophy

[john turner]

Originally posted by LoreBard
It could hurt if i take it and apply it to my playing. Knowledge is not a bad thing, it's what we do with it that determines our alignment.

depending on whether you fail your wisdom save

seriously, though, yeah, that's the point. unfortunately, many folks have an alarming willingness to allow other folks to think for them, and are more than happy to allow others to provide opinions for them. you see this with beginners and experienced players alike. i've seen guys with decades worth of experience mindlessly regurgitate bass dogma with no critical eye to the source.

We listen to them because they have a degree of expierience. Think of it this way, would you trust a review on a bass from a reviewer with half a years expierience or a player with 15 years expierience under their belt?

the issue here, though, is that music is not an absolute, objective science, it's an art. there's aspects of science and art to instrument building, and a good review should objectively grade the science and subjectively critique the art, but with music there is no "science". there's music theory which describes the art, but doesn't necessarily bind or constrain it. experience is not the only arbiter to what makes good music.

i'm not saying that one should not listen to one's elders, far from it, i'm just trying to provide the inspiration to always question the message, if not the messenger. don't question it just to be contrary, but rather question it to understand it and to seperate the pure message from the messenger's baggage. this way, one can decide whether the message is applicable for one's self.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally posted by JimK


Jerry-
There's a tune on Dave Holland's Seeds Of Time called "Gridlock"....what an appropriate title, he's actually captured what gridlock might actually sound like if played in a Jazz 5-tet.

On the latest Ed Jones CD - he's one of my favourite British Jazz Sax players and composers - there are tunes called "Mind the Gap" and "Rush Hour", which are based on his experience of using the tube (underground) to get around London!!

 

[LoreBard]

About time i replied to this...

depending on whether you fail your wisdom save

seriously, though, yeah, that's the point. unfortunately, many folks have an alarming willingness to allow other folks to think for them, and are more than happy to allow others to provide opinions for them. you see this with beginners and experienced players alike. i've seen guys with decades worth of experience mindlessly regurgitate bass dogma with no critical eye to the source.

I commenly fail my wisdom save...damnable halfling penalties...

I do the same, unless it's something I care about. I'm not trying to be the uber-bassists, I'm simply trying to learn what made them think the way they did, so I can put my red-hot poker into it so it'll be mine.

the issue here, though, is that music is not an absolute, objective science, it's an art. there's aspects of science and art to instrument building, and a good review should objectively grade the science and subjectively critique the art, but with music there is no "science". there's music theory which describes the art, but doesn't necessarily bind or constrain it. experience is not the only arbiter to what makes good music. inspiration to always question the message, if not the messenger. don't question it just to be

i'm not saying that one should not listen to one's elders, far from it, i'm just trying to provide the contrary, but rather question it to understand it and to seperate the pure message from the messenger's baggage. this way, one can decide whether the message is applicable for one's self.

Music is an art, you are right about that, but like any other art, it's an expressive sort of thing. People respect Shakespear or Chasser for the way they expressed themselves, so it would be the same way with Jaco?