2009.110: Beauty from chaos
"I hate jazz." said one of the girls we were able to lure backstage in
some town on some road in some state some year in the 1970's.
"Why?" I asked, having to try to keep the party going and get it got to
the conclusion we were hoping for, Victor and I.
"Because it's so repetitive." said Bambi.
We always had stuff playing and at that time it was a tape of Ron Carter with
Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter and Tony WIlliams. The baddest of the
bad, together. They played some kind of crazy stuff so creative it
scared me. As the above exchange was taking place, Ron and the boys
launched into the head of a tune, played it twice, and then took off on
15 minutes of improvised solos. Although improvised, at this level there
is structure and if you listen you can hear it. It's the best kind of
structure, not contrived but perceived and shared on the fly.
So after 15 minutes of beauty from chaos, the band played the head of
the tune again. Bambi said: "See what I mean? Too much repetition!"
Ironic that she actually was able to recognize the melody (thanks to
repetition through the changes of the head) and yet couldn't hear the
music.
Imposing order on chaos doesn't guarantee quality, but at the worst, at
least it's a sign of good workmanship.
Turning chaos into beauty is a miraculous thing, like a spider web. It
takes a human being to perceive the structure and with it the beauty of
the creation of great art, great music, great food and great wine.
