Peter Bernstein-lack of gear doesn't make you an old timer

[AlsoRan]

A buddy of mine has a saying:

A Jazz Guitarist can play anyway he/she wants, and can use any effect he wants.

And the public can say that Jazz Guitarist sucks any time they want.

Probably applies to everything we call "music."

[Klatu]

A buddy of mine has a saying:

A Jazz Guitarist can play anyway he/she wants, and can use any effect he wants.

And the public can say that Jazz Guitarist sucks any time they want.

Probably applies to everything we call "music."

Your friend is wise.

Frank Zappa once said something that touches on the topic. I paraphrase: What constitutes art? A frame.

[Keira Witherkay]

interesting debate for sure


however no matter what the tools, or what effects or what tone "old school/new /fussion.... the music coming out of that setup .... be it simple or complex must "touch" the listener or evoke some kind of feeling or emotion ...and if thats successful then it's "mission accomplished" however it is achieved

[Phil in London]

just 5c: while there is a genuine piano tone, there hardly is such a thing for a ES175 or L5. Put it through a valve amp, and it will produce a very different result than played through a high qual solid state. Amplification makes the old jazz boxes alive and electric, and there is automatically a certain synthetic quality in the process. I guess thats why the tendency to expand this into pedals etc is more pervasive in the guitar world than for the grand piano.

[NSJ]

Joe Zawinul speaking about Weather Report and the relationship between musicians and instruments:

"We started playing using electronic instruments in a way they had never been used. It’s just fine music played with different instruments. Also, the compositional quality of Wayne Shorter and myself, frankly speaking, is unique. The way we put together quartets and quintets—there was nothing missing. Weather Report sounds as fresh today as it did then. We always had great musicians and I still do. I’ve always had great musicians. They’re the only ones who can even approach this music. I’d never have a guy play bebop in my band—it would not fit. I don’t play bebop, I play another type of music. Dizzy Gillespie once called me to say “Man, I just heard one of your records. That’s music, man.” That really made me feel good because we had some funny backlash from people who said we were selling out because we were using electronic instruments. It’s such idiocy. It’s ridiculous that someone could place that much importance on the instrument to be that great. An instrument is not important. It is the way one plays that is important. Instruments don’t play by themselves. A piano is certainly not a better instrument than a synthesizer, but if a synthesizer is played like a piano, it becomes a very bad instrument. It doesn’t work. You can’t play a trumpet like a violin—it doesn’t go. That’s the problem—the players, not the instrument. Any instrument is a wonderful thing."