America is not swinging. Wynton knows it, and now I know it. I have given this
issue the benefit of the doubt for about a year now. As time passes it becomes more and more apparent, America is not swinging. The funny thing is I feel like the bad guy, and I have been treated like the bad guy. It seems there is a huge conspiracy in music circles to keep it concealed that America is not swinging. Who could ever think that producing true feeling in music ever could be considered bad? I have to know who is responsible for this movement, this movement of no swinging. Was Louis Armstrong bad? Of course not, and we have a sizeable history that proves Louis Armstrong was swinging. Maybe he was the first swinger, because in jazz circles often he is given that title. The First Swinger. It was not Bix Biderbeck. Louis not only loosened up the rhythm of American popular music, but he constructed the first viable improvised solos. These two things directly are related to the expression of true personal feeling. I am not talking about any of the hype we see on television today that passes as music. We see pantomiming puppets pulling strings of guitars with absolutely not one drop of talent. Talent. That must be the defining word. No talent, and America is not swinging. I guess it is my sole responsibility to define talent and swinging so there will be a remote possibility that America could again begin to swing. Will he have to wait for an end to the depression? Glenn Miller swung his ass off all through World War ll. It seems then America wanted good feeling music. It seems America has been duped to believe the music that is being performed today falsely in “pop” style has good feeling. That only could be if there were no feeling. Stravinsky or Schoenberg said music was incapable of producing feeling of itself. Of course not. Do you hear a tree fall in the woods if you are not there? For a feeling to be created, there must be a human being present to synthesize the stimulus and create the appropriate or desired feeling. Can feeling be transmitted via music? I believe non-swinging America will agree that most of us would not listen to music if it did not MOVE us. That means moving our emotions, or creating and/or manipulating our feelings. The first time I heard true sadness personified in music, it was in a G.F. Handel concerto grosso slow movement. I asked myself how anyone could not perceive this music was meant to produce or purge human sadness? While visual art, especially Abstract Expressionism, can produce emotional responses the musical aesthetic has the most potential. That is because emotions are waves of varying frequency, and sound is waves of varying frequency. While only now is it becoming known that electromagnetic waves affect both our thinking and our emotions, even non-swinging America would admit the reason why we go to concerts is to have our emotions moved. Music can do it. Why then is non-swinging America replete to the core with non-swinging music? I have been asking myself this for a few years now. After watching a PBS fundraiser showcasing the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I had to blog and expose their music for what it is not. It is NOT rock, yet non-swinging America seems not to notice. Rock music swings. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones proved that, and their great successes came from their swing. Today swing seems not necessary for some reason. It must be because America has become so self-centered or rather spiritually needed, that we cannot bare the notion of a band that knows more about music than us. Enter the worst idea ever in non-swinging America, Karioke. This is where the movement must have begun. Forget the band. Forget Louis Armstrong. I want to get up on stage drunk and try to sing. Let’s in one fell swoop demolish the successful and lucrative history of American popular music. Let’s create the MP3 and demand music be free to the listening public. Let’s emasculate the record companies that shaped our adolescence and allow music to be traded online instead. It all became about us, not the music and its musicians. Musicians are a dying breed. All one has to do is turn on the tube to see music is a dying craft. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra was the worst possible example of a hypocritical musical ensemble. Hiding behind the guise simply of playing some traditional classic music, this ensemble concocted a cinema-like live stage show that had zero musical content. Yes, they were playing the notes of Mozart, but it was not Mozart. Does non-swinging America need a Mozartian to explain why the music was shallow and empty? It was because either by neglect, sheer ignorance, or conscious misguided choice these musicians were playing mechanical, metronomic, sterile notes devoid absolutely of the elements that create feeling. I assume that they did not really want feeling music. They wanted a stage spectacle glorifying the self-centered listener. If one wanted actually to hear music, he would go to an orchestra or chamber music concert. Should this orchestra be allowed to rape Mozart for their own personal gain. I think Mozart, if he could rise from his early unmerited grave, would protest if he were rich. Then again if her were poor and was receiving royalties for the performance, he probably reluctantly would agree to the performance. What is it exactly of which I am writing? Phrasing, dynamics, tempi, and rhythmic feel. Playing the way the Trans-Siberian orchestra plays is easy. It takes no talent. It takes very little musical technique to play “their” way. All one has to do is watch and see if there is a kinesthetic connection between the musician and his/her instrument. Is there a connection? Is there a connection? Like Charlie Haden, the illustrious Ornette Coleman’s bassist, are they making love to their instrument? Are they even getting to first base? Are they trying, or are they just raping their instruments with insincere, unfeeling, disdain? Usually human beings become musicians because they feel a need to express themselves individually. They want to speak through their instruments. Why would anyone take the time to learn musical technique on an instrument, and then stop at the most crucial part of music production? I asked the three questions previously. Without phrasing, there are no sentences. With no sentences there can be no paragraphs. While the words seem to exist (notes) they are displayed in a jumbled barrage of unfeeling misunderstanding. This is the definition of “pop” style. It is a stagnant line of repeated notes. The elements that bring life to the notes are absent. Instead of the inherent quintessential expression possessed in the mind and soul of the composer and the piece, a bullshit theatrical circle jerk is concocted attempting to masturbate the crowd with jive attitude. The true nature of the music is ignored or worse not even recognized. Why play Mozart at all? Is this to what America has evolved in its musical community? The mass public demands Musica Reservata, the antique practice where the groups’ needs outweigh the importance of the composer’s music. There was a time when America appreciated Louis Armstrong. Is it that there is not in existence currently a musical artist that exhibits true talent, a deep philosophical understanding of music history, vast personal experience, and an ability to synthesize these elements into a moving musical performance? That is the requirement of a collegiate music program, and they are failing. Because the record companies have declined and personal glorification devices are fueling our weak economy, quality live and recorded music is at an American low. America is not swinging.
