tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post6715362994304099488..comments2024-02-01T12:37:55.180+00:00Comments on Mostly music: Death of the Fast Tempo?Ronan Guilfoylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02668316692753726447noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-74314477649178080212017-10-09T01:19:32.190+01:002017-10-09T01:19:32.190+01:00I'm glad jazz is slower these days. Invariably...I'm glad jazz is slower these days. Invariably the jazz I like is slow, from Coltrane to Monk to Cher Baker and so on. I have always found the fast music IRRITATING. While I admit it's is a personal preference, I nevertheless despise the pride of being able to play fast. There is a long tradition of musical bankruptcy based on virtuosity. In classical music, Franz Liszt was the epitome of the virtuose who, lacking musical ideas, tries dazzle by playing fast. To this day, his miserable compositions remain as bad the bebop - empty and bombastic displays of virtuosity. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06457579114086270034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-79637505139867037602017-10-09T01:18:27.545+01:002017-10-09T01:18:27.545+01:00I'm glad jazz is slower these days. Invariably...I'm glad jazz is slower these days. Invariably the jazz I like is slow, from Coltrane to Monk to Cher Baker and so on. I have always found the fast music IRRITATING. While I admit it's is a personal preference, I nevertheless despise the pride of being able to play fast. There is a long tradition of musical bankruptcy based on virtuosity. In classical music, Franz Liszt was the epitome of the virtuose who, lacking musical ideas, tries dazzle by playing fast. To this day, his miserable compositions remain as bad the bebop - empty and bombastic displays of virtuosity. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06457579114086270034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-13153349738907985432015-06-05T13:14:11.172+01:002015-06-05T13:14:11.172+01:00John Coltrane - Song Of The Underground Railroad
N...John Coltrane - Song Of The Underground Railroad<br />Not much music like that anymore :(Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16164053384445728616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-63839251533259299952013-04-10T22:36:54.080+01:002013-04-10T22:36:54.080+01:00I have been thinking a lot about this topic too. T...I have been thinking a lot about this topic too. The bpm range is quite limited in most music these days.<br /><br />When it comes to electronic music we've got hardcore techno, speedcore and breakcore since the 1990's and these styles are basically free from any speed limits. Especially speedcore which can go up to ridiculously inhuman tempos of tens of thousands of bpm's (a beat of about 1000-1200 bpm is still recognisable by human ear before it becomes a tone though). These are more and less underground styles of music, so they are not known by most people.<br /><br />As for traditional music I would like to note that traditional shaman music in northern countries like Finland has been quite uptempo. It's present or has been present in many countries around the world, this is just from my own experience.<br /><br />And when we go even further back, Stonehenge is also quite fascinating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUUfeQ3nVu8Tuomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13779461948657462387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-54769607570485718102010-10-01T11:43:32.833+01:002010-10-01T11:43:32.833+01:00I don't see anyone suggesting that playing at ...I don't see anyone suggesting that playing at those fast tempos is just plain harder and requires a lot of practice. Are today's teens willing to do that?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856744399100886246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-65658605690697411042010-06-16T17:29:05.278+01:002010-06-16T17:29:05.278+01:00I've long had this notion derived from ancient...I've long had this notion derived from ancient times of the sun people and the fog/northern mist with Eire as the northernmost sun people.<br /><br />As I understand it it has a maritime climate like Seattle where the truly cold places are the continental climates, Fargo ND, for example with its extremes.<br /><br />I'm aware the Pogues were built on the traditional and I couldn't do justice to the Gaelic spellings of that brother/sister couple, Michael and Triona or the many other children of O'Carolan for a better citation but the penny whistle and fiddle at full tilt are zippy things.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18394197995097602185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-61276882557645841642010-06-16T07:43:14.562+01:002010-06-16T07:43:14.562+01:00Interesting theory Chris, but as you alluded to, I...Interesting theory Chris, but as you alluded to, Irish traditional music (not that the Pogues are anything close to traditional music) can get pretty speedy, and Ireland is not a warm place - at least climactically..........Ronan Guilfoylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02668316692753726447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-8012664833071037242010-06-15T20:20:53.329+01:002010-06-15T20:20:53.329+01:00I've been musing on this lucid bit of work sin...I've been musing on this lucid bit of work since I noticed it and wonder about correlations with various world folkloric musics and what draws us humans to fast.<br /><br />Is it an exhilaration metaphor..ecstatic catharsis. Sufi Asiks like Ali Akbar Cicek can get pretty fast on a Saz. Magyar Tanchaz ensembles love fast as to tamburitzen groups.<br /><br />In the Andean Altiplano Charangas can play like machine guns and then there is the layered fast of Soukous in Eastern Nigeria and Cameroon. The penny whistle guy in the Pogues was pretty breakneck too.<br /><br />Are there climate correlations, cultural temperament correlations? <br /><br />Music from cold places seems more subdued.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18394197995097602185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-88176551884604403302010-06-14T11:35:40.677+01:002010-06-14T11:35:40.677+01:00One of the fastest is this here:
Ko-Ko
Kenny Dor...One of the fastest is this here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.divshare.com/download/10950136-97a" rel="nofollow">Ko-Ko</a><br /><br />Kenny Dorham, tp; George Coleman, ts; Nelson Boyd, b; Max Roach, d; - Nola's Penthouse Sound Studios, NYC, April 11, 1958<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Max-Roach-Plays-Charlie-Parker/dp/B000001DVM" rel="nofollow">Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker</a><br /><br />The early real books show Sonny's "The Song Is You" noted in quavers (eighths notes) because they thought the half notes would be the crotchets (quarter notes).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-14296711488905315492010-06-11T12:42:37.166+01:002010-06-11T12:42:37.166+01:00Chris,
The first thing that came to my head was L...Chris,<br /><br />The first thing that came to my head was Lund's take on 'You Do Something To Me'. Rather than being a coincidence, it more likely underlines Ronan's point about how rare it is to find such up tempo performances in recent jazz recordings.Paul Mitchell Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03170752690861255559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-56863905112999724662010-06-11T11:00:20.930+01:002010-06-11T11:00:20.930+01:00Great blog, Ronan. I agree with your observation a...Great blog, Ronan. I agree with your observation and lament (well, of course as I put that Miles clip up on YouTube) but I suspect the source of the shift lies outside music altogether. Fast tempos reek of intensity and commitment, qualities that are perhaps anathema to a 'chilled' generation weaned on post-modern irony.Paul Mitchell Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03170752690861255559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-20780926358905194332010-06-11T02:35:01.751+01:002010-06-11T02:35:01.751+01:00There are a few people who will still play up temp...There are a few people who will still play up tempo. I think the interesting thing here is the fact that with the exception of Goldberg, all these tunes are standards and not original tunes.<br /><br /><br />Aaron Goldberg- OAP's Blues<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nB0KNCieE<br /><br />Danny Grissett- Moment's Notice<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XJ9lM8JIDg<br /><br />Lage Lund- You Do Something to Me from Early Songs. (This one is right on 280)<br /><br />Gilad Hekselman- Yo Mama's Blues from Words Unspoken (Also just on 280)<br /><br />Adam Rogers- Night and Day from Time and The Infinite (280 again)Chris Guilfoylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04424984605098389698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-60863484547065887262010-06-10T23:56:40.167+01:002010-06-10T23:56:40.167+01:00I'm gonna have to disagree with you about the ...I'm gonna have to disagree with you about the influence of metal on young musicians. I work at an after-school music place called zumix and I have seen the influence of this music at work. As musicians, these kids seek out more than what is popular in the mainstream culture and get excited about music that displays more virtuosity. <br /><br />I see jazz having an attraction too, but since it's pretty far out of the sphere of their peers, the 'payback' is far greater in showing off shredding chops than shedding Bird licks.Steve Provizerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06970532291417480963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-84528164359087573892010-06-10T19:04:49.135+01:002010-06-10T19:04:49.135+01:00Tricky one, I would say I play slower as it's ...Tricky one, I would say I play slower as it's more suitable to the jazz/funk crossover that I like to play. But, Django had some killer tempos too and I love that stuff too. Fast takes practice and patience, maybe people just don't have the time or the energy? Fast is also an attitude that requires a bit of confidence to pull off.Stephen McFarlanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09500766691531855873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-56989634023729513462010-06-10T17:37:12.687+01:002010-06-10T17:37:12.687+01:00Hello Ronan, nice blog! The tricky thing about pla...Hello Ronan, nice blog! The tricky thing about playing these standards is obviously to be able to keep up with the chords and come up with fast creative lines at blazing speeds, which requires an enormous amount of work and virtuosity. Another reason why fast tempos have become scarce could be that people sometimes prefer to play semi quavers at 200 over 4 chords that last 8 bars each which gives a sense of security and speed. That may be a way around playing fast. <br />CyrilleUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01972862300789514848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-58795902457658347132010-06-10T09:10:47.357+01:002010-06-10T09:10:47.357+01:00Well it’s true that there are genres like Speed Me...Well it’s true that there are genres like Speed Metal and various punk bands whose raison d’etre is the playing of fast tempos (my son used to play in one) – but these bands are not really mainstream, and don’t form the bulk of the non-jazz music that young jazz musicians are listening to. Across the wide spectrum of rock and pop music, whether it’s Indie Rock, REM, Grunge, Heavy Metal (most underlying tempos of mainstream Metal music are not actually that fast), Smashing Pumpkins, U2, White Stripes, Sting, Oasis, Nirvana etc. etc fast tempos are not common. Drum and Bass (a very popular genre among young jazz musicians), is based on a feeling of speed, but again the underlying pulse is not very fast, its the double-time feel overlaid on the ground pulse that gives it the feeling of speed. In fact, when you think about it jazz is one of the few musics that has prominently featured the playing of fast tempos as an integral part of its ethos over the years. I do think that the combination of the medium tempo music, (of all genres, jazz and non-jazz alike), being listened to by young musicians, combined by the lack of current role models for the playing of fast tempos, has had a direct effect on the tempo compression we’re hearing these days.<br /><br />Thanks for taking the time to writeRonan Guilfoylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02668316692753726447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5526704657739088406.post-63986616378880917702010-06-10T01:56:24.728+01:002010-06-10T01:56:24.728+01:00I think your observation about slowing tempos in j...I think your observation about slowing tempos in jazz is valid, but I think your explanation is awry. Young people have had metal, post-metal, screemo, etc. available to hear. <br /><br />You might turn the explanation on its side and say that musicians craving up-tempos (and acceptance by peers) would go toward metal, etc. Much of this music, btw, requires virtuosity.Steve Provizerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06970532291417480963noreply@blogger.com