The Joy of Easy Listening

The BBC has done it again.  This is the first clip of a documentary on that music we all know and love called "easy listening."  As you'll discover, it has a lot to do with the arranger bringing out the best in a hook.  This short will bring you back to the days of the record player and other electronic gadgets you've never heard of, like tuning knobs on televisions.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Check out John McLaughlin on Cherokee

Most people don't think of John McLaughlin as this kind of player, because they are familiar with a lot of his other work that is modern, but here he is burning up "Cherokee" - a jazz standard which is required repetiore for a bebopper.  It just shows you once again how important it is to be, rather than appear to be - esse quam videri.  Don't be a poser, learn your stuff, hit the practice room, so that you can be a jazz musician, and not a fraud.  Tell me, do you think after checking out this clip, that John McLaughlin spent some time in the shed?  The rest of the band isn't too shabby either.

Computer generated improvisation?

So you've learned your licks, you've figured out what scales work on what chord, you've got your voice leading down.  How is it any different if a computer does the same?  Is a computer capable of playing soulful sounding improvisation?  Is it possible for a computer to react to jazz changes and improvise, given some fancy programming code? 

Below is a computer generated solo using George Garzone's Triadic Chromatic approach - you can look back a few posts and find more on the concept.  I've also used the band in a box program and heard some computer generated Joe Hendersen-esque soloing.  Honestly...it wasn't that bad.  I even stole a lick - shhh, it might be listening.  So listen to this...