"30 years ago when I was in grad school, I studied with Ed Green, who taught me this one sentence from Eli Siegel, which enabled me to understand jazz (and life in general) in a deeper and more holistic way: “Beauty is the making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are all about.” Although the 3 most obvious sets of opposites in music are loud/soft, fast/slow and high/low, in jazz heavy/light is crucial, and probably more crucial than in any other music. This has much to do with the concept of swing.
When asked what swing is, Duke Ellington replied, “Swing is when the music feels like it is getting faster, but it isn’t.” What the Maestro was talking about is forward motion. I would add that swing is the perfect relationship of tension and relaxation or as my mentor Jimmy Maxwell used to say, “It makes me want to wiggle my hands, shake my ass and holler.” "
© David Berger
(cit. from HamiltonX: Music160x Jazz: The Music, The Stories, The Players)
[link]
When asked what swing is, Duke Ellington replied, “Swing is when the music feels like it is getting faster, but it isn’t.” What the Maestro was talking about is forward motion. I would add that swing is the perfect relationship of tension and relaxation or as my mentor Jimmy Maxwell used to say, “It makes me want to wiggle my hands, shake my ass and holler.” "
© David Berger
(cit. from HamiltonX: Music160x Jazz: The Music, The Stories, The Players)
[link]
No comments:
Post a Comment