Jazz

Today I had the opportunity to go to a jazz concert and it wasn't just any jazz that was being played! One of the musicians is a guy that came up from Portland to play with some guys from the Jazz Project and he has this electric guitar that has been modified to sound like an electric organ. I am not kidding, honestly it's really not very describable but very interesting. I closed my eyes and listened and quite often during the songs if you couldn't see the guy with the guitar in his hand you wouldn't have been able to tell that he wasn't playing an electric organ. He had done something to it so had different foot pedals, etc. that enabled him to change the sound alone the way.
I haven't ever really listened to jazz, much less seen it live so I didn't really know what to expect. It was fastinating. I was completely intrigued by the interplay of the instruments and musicians in what seemed to be rather unscripted cooperation. I suppose it's totally possible that these pieces were so familiar to them that they don't need any music and that that have all have played together so much that they just know what the other person is going to do, but regardless it was unlike anything I have ever seen before and I found it totally fascinating. The time just flew by, just when I was beginning to get a feel for it it was over. Honestly I hardly remember the "music" because I was so focused on watching the guys work together that in many respects the music actually just flowed over me and I took it in but it didn't stick with me as much as the actual making of it. I wasn't able to quite make up my mind how complicated the music actually was but it really felt more like music that you had to feel to play rather than music that anyone could just read off a page and play reasonably well. In all the years I took piano lessons I have sat through a lot of the same songs and while there is some variations in the skill level with which they are played the general songs remained the same. Unlike the music that I am so used to which is very measured and clear cut, all written down on paper and very predictable, this was much more free formed, or so it seemed. The musicians faded in and out to give each other moments in the spotlight as it were and very often played with their eyes closed. This felt very different, like the same song could sound very different depending on the mood of the musician and how much the musicians were playing off of each other. I could be totally wrong but that was the impression that I was left with upon first hearing.
I was so intrigued watching the interplay of the instruments and the musicians that the time flew by. I was a little unsure about going to a concert that was going to be at least an 1 1/2-2 hrs. long in a genre of music I haven't ever really heard but I was so interested that it seemed like I had hardly sat down and started to get into it a little and it was over. Definetly out of the realm of my usual music fare but something I would for sure sample again.
It didn't hurt that the few people I talked to were very friendly and the lady that sat next to me needed a little help with her crocheting so I jumped in and gave her a little crocheting advice and a lesson in making tassles! Through my connection with the wife of the Jazz project director I had become aware of the organization and so on one of my forays into local events on the internet had stopped by and seen this concert on the calender. It caught my interest, I asked some more questions and the answers only intrigued me more. I just had to go and I am so glad I did. Thanks Monique and Jud for your encouragement and assistance to make my attendence at this event possible. Definetly an enjoyable and educational experience! Then I went down the hill in Fairhaven and took in the Ski to Sea festival and a little country music to finish off the evening before heading home to do more chemisty! Yeah!