...(Ok its 4am. Yes I am on myspace posting a blog at 4 in the AM. Go figure. I dont do much blogging, though I am thinking about doing more often, cuz, brotha be thinking...)

Anyways to the subject...
So I was hanging out with some friends at a club on Saturday nite (no, not a jazz club, but a club,club). Jazz musician at a club. Go figure. (I actually do hang out with people that are NOT musicians, you know...like normal people :).
Anyway, as I'm enjoying myself in a slightly drunken haze (slightly), I start paying very close attention to the music being played, mostly top 40 hip hop stuff...

I have to remind myself to never do that again.

This BS "music" nowadays sounds a lot better, strangely, when you're not paying very close attention to it. But I'm a musician, so I can't help myself sometimes.

Garbage.
The majority of popular songs are garbage. I hate to say it, but as catchy as some of them may be, they're really really bad. I mean, if you really check them out, artistically, they suck.
I am in no way one of these jazz musicians with an elitist view about pop music. I actually am very much into what is going on in pop music today and even know the words to a lot of songs on the radio. But there are people making a LOT of money making some pretty BAD music these days.

I thought I wasn't supposed to feel this way til I'm at least 30. I'm 23 and I very much consider myself to be in the category of "young people." I also know that our grandparents probably said the same about our parents' music, but I feel even the popular music of my parents' generation had sooo much more substance. They were catchy, but with substance... So what the hell happened? Is music degenerating?

Maybe society as a whole has become increasingly less organic which has reflected in the music. Maybe artists and listeners alike have become just plain lazy. I don't know what happened, but most music nowadays sucks.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great artists out there that are still making great music, but they see little or no airplay. I blame this largely on the music business (which I believe is comprised of 90% business, 10% music). I'm getting sick of all these "Lil" and "Young" rappers. (What will they call themselves when they get "big" and "old"?).


I'm supposed to be proud of my generation's music the same way my parents are proud of their's, but I find it very hard to do so. I'd like to pull some out some old dusty CD's for my kids someday (while they look at them with intrigue, wondering what the hell a CD is), but what will I have to show them?...
Maybe I'll pleased with the fact that their music will be even MORE terrible than ours, and Lil' Wayne will sound like Marvin Gaye to their ears...

...Meanwhile all this thinking is seriously killing my buzz, so I get another drink and continue snappin my fingers and doing my two-step...

Sometimes as musicians I think we forget (or underestimate) the power that music has over people. Through our melodies, rhythms, and harmonies, we have the power the affect people in the most personal way. Music is the one common thread that binds us all. I don't think you can find one human being on this planet that does not enjoy some type of music. Sometimes as musicians, I think we "we miss the forest for the trees." In other words, we get so involved with techniques and theories (music theory?...people, the theory comes from the music; the music does NOT come from the theory), that we miss the greater picture. Music moves us. How is it that EVERYONE understands the blues? How come James Brown makes you wanna dance, no matter where you are? Why does that one chord at the right spot make you feel warm? Why do people faint at Micheal Jackson concerts? Why does Donny Hathaway singing "For All We Know" make you wanna hug somebody you love? I think it is safe to say that John Coltrane was NOT thinking about the "right" notes to play. Everyone has their own story; musicians, next time you take a solo, instead of just playing changes, try telling people where you grew up, what your name means, what your favorite movie is, how you feel about your wife/girlfriend (or your ex-wife/ex-girlfriend for that matter), what the weather is outside, etc...through your instrument.
Cats...Lets move people