MP3s Gone - A Lament

Hey Will

I also have many more music interests, than just prog. There are so many different music subjects, and aspects, I want to talk about. That I'm having the sensation of wanting to have multiple conversations all at one time. It reminds me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In which Data was sitting in a room listening to music. And he wasn't just listening to one thing, he was listening to multiple tunes all at the same time. And to an outside listener, it just sounded like a mass of noise. But being Data, because of his processing ability, he could appreciate each separate piece of music. Even though he was listening to multiple pieces of music, all at the same time.

I also have some interest in different types of jazz music. But one of the problems that I have with some jazz, is that it is so generic sounding. The tunes are just in a generic jazz style, without having any distinctive quality about them. No distinctive melody, harmony or rhythm that clearly identifies it as a specific tune. I've been a musician for most of my life. And one of the things that I expect in a tune, is that it be clearly identifiable. A really clear example for me, would be hearing the Beatles "Penny Lane". That tune is almost instantly recognizable. And within the first seconds of hearing it, you immediately know what you're hearing. You couldn't mistake it for something else. And there is some jazz like that, which I prefer over the common generic-sounding jazz. As for the jazz musicians that you mentioned, I'm familiar with their names. But I'm not really familiar with any of their music.

Throughout my life, I've gone through many different phases of listening to different types of music. And I'm almost constantly evolving through some musical phase or other. One of the more interesting phases that I went through, was with a Native American flute player, R.Carlos Nakai. At that time I was in the habit of going to a local record store called Tower Records. They were franchised, so you may have had one there, in Kansas City, too. And they always had listening stations, where you could listen to new music. And I got the chance to listen to Nakai's latest release called "Ancestral Voices". This started a long phase of listening to and buying his music. And he usually worked with an acoustic guitar player, which added a lot of ethereal beauty to this music. The guitarist was William Eaton. William taught at some university, and was a professional guitar builder. He made and played some of the most beautiful stringed instruments I've ever seen. I encourage you to do a search with his name, because I think you'll really appreciate the beauty of the instruments he made. After some time I came to a decision about the type of flute Nakai played; I wanted one of my own. These aren't the metal flutes that are commonly seen in some bands, like the one Ian Anderson plays. These are hand made from wood by a person that's trained in building them in the Native American style. I did some research and found contact information for the person that made these flutes for Nakai. His name was Ken Light. So I contacted Ken and picked out the flute I wanted. And a few months later, the flute arrived. It's a really beautiful instrument. Ken is the type of person, that goes over all the details of the instrument. And makes sure that he's creating a high-quality instrument. Because this is how he makes a living, so he wants to create a really strong reputation for himself.

Well, there are many other things that I could talk about. But I'll end off here. And I'm going to suggest something. I've made a note of the frustration that you have, in trying to discuss the different types of music and bands. And this conversation we're having could go on for quite a while. I'm willing to continue doing this discussion with you, and see where it goes. And I'm going to suggest that we take this discussion to our own personal email, if you like. Then we can pursue this in a more casual environment and we could exchange MP3s every once in a while. But the choice is yours. My email is [email protected]. Talk with you later.