Wednesday, November 10, 2004

More musical thoughts.
Well, it's going to be notalgia city on the 20th of november (a conincidnce given my brother's birthday is on that day and I'm headed for his wedding as I type) - for it is..

Citrus Waltz Reunion Recording day (which may be retitled "the john peel sessions" in honour of the great man we lost last week).

Yes, the four horsemen of the prolapsys are getting together again.

And, in the style of some almost-forgotten 80s supergroup, we've had to find a covergence of dates when we're all free :) Hopefully it'll be great fun. Nic will be away at Maria's hen night, which is happening at a center parcs somewhere. It's best not to know where your wife is all the time!

I'm stuck as to what direction to jump in next, musically. Jazz is proving to be great fun and very challenging, which can only be good for me I suppose, but at the same time I can feel that urge for less brain-taxing musical genres which lend themselves to ecstatic audience participation - i.e. The stuff I've played in the past like Funk and Rock. I'll admit the Van Halen-esque good time feel of Mike Tramp's support act the other day left me wanting to get on the stage as part of an instrumental 3-piece rock act and really shock the audiience with a funky, dense, danceable but in-yer-face style of music which never seems to go away (if the VH guys were anything to go by) - the american music market is interesting in this respect: if you're a truly talented rock act, there still seems to be plenty of interest in the genre, and plenty of places to play - especially on the west coast where Nic and I were earlier this year.

The music papers there are crammed full of live music: there doesn't seem to be the same, almost conspiracy-lke complex between these DJs and remix houses and the music press resulting in huge elite "clubs" which cost a fortune to get into and they cut off the mains water at 11pm so they can charge triple for the bottled...

Or then again, maybe the marketplace for musical entertainment in the US is so different, so huge, that it can support that level of diversity: the americans can also be far more loyal to something that they like, not so prone to fashion paranoia as dictated by the music press in the UK and europe. There's a refreshing simplicity, a lack of pretentiousness, about the crossover rock acts in the US, which probably explains why they don't do that well over here.

But getting back to me... Joost, the 17 year old jazz drummer prodigy, will head off to a music college at some point: that's his ultimate aim.
When that happens, I'll be back to square one - looking for someone I can gig with.

This time though, I'll really throw my weight into the finding: I might even advertise and scan ads in Ealing - birthplace of Acid Jazz! Jamiroquai (the original line-up, not the lazy coke-fuelled solo act it is now) and the Brand New Heavies hailed from there.

I suppose an amalgam of Funk (which I adore) and Jazz would be good for me, perhaps with more emphasis on the Jazz aspect - first developing and then working out my theory muscles while actually writng songs.

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