Original_To:  BITNET%"ALLMUSIC@AUVM"
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Fri, 6 Nov 1992 11:53:00 CST
From:         "What a pumpkin!" <CV01@SWTEXAS.BITNET>
Subject:      [Insert catchy phrase here]

>Date:         Thu, 5 Nov 1992 09:56:48 EST
>From:         Sonia Kovitz <skovitz@MAGNUS.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
>Subject:      YOWZA
>
>
>P.S. Personal post: I was about to lose my job because of budget cuts and
>YESTERDAY I got offered another job DURING the interview (it's in my same
>office--I ask you, how could any office afford to lose a psychedelic bondage
>pinup), which
>not only saves my butt but assures continuing NET ACCESS, my main concern next
>to a paycheck.

   Congrats Sonia!  Selfishly speaking, I'm very happy that your net.access
was saved.  We need all the psychedelic bondage pinups we can get on this
list (hi Carol  ;*)

>Also hope you don't mind if I pass along a MAJOR thrill, right
>next to getting the job:  at my guitar lesson last night I was totally
>flipped out from continuing to work on my proposal at a mad, mad pace (due
>tomorrow) and I guess this improved my playing because my guitar teacher
>ACTUALLY said (and he doesn't hand out free compliments): "That's nice stuff."
>I'm still walking on air from that, and what's weird is that I play my best
>when I'm so spaced/freaked/weirded out that I just try anything... Is there a
>moral here?  Excuse this personal stuff but wanted to share with all my net
>friends.  You have to remember I'm a kindergarten guitar player trying really
>hard to get into the first grade.  YOWZA!!!!

   Speaking as a lifelong dabbler, I think there's a lot to be said for
what happens to playing when there are outside influences "interfering"
with your normal playing/practice routines.  Some of my best sessions on
the sax have come when my frame of mind could best be described as
"distracted".  Maybe it's because normal inhibitions are set aside, and the
subconscious comes to the forefront.
   It reminds me of some of the ideas put forth in _The Inner Game of
Music_ -- to wit: the critical voice is silenced, while the creative voice
is allowed to dominate.  This can even be tied into the previous discussion
about the best way to permit oneself to "get" various sorts of "free/avant
garde" musics.  If the critical voice is allowed to dominate the emotional
side, listening can deteriorate into a cold and intellectual process.
Similarly, if playing is reduced to an intellectual exercise, the result
will be reflective of that.  Of course, I could be full of shit ...


>P.P.S. Demonic Chuckotronic: my teacher had listened to the Sharrock sampler
>and his first words about it were: "Inspiring" --he really loved the stuff.  He
>said, "That guy plays from the heart to the ear."  I think we've got another
>convert.

   "From the heart to the ear" -- I can't think of a better way of putting
that, and I think it applies equally well to your practice session you
described above.  External pressures may have removed some of the obstacles
that normally fall in that path.
   P.S. -- Good work on the conversion, Fellow Minion of Sharrock.  :*)


>Date:         Thu, 5 Nov 1992 11:11:10 -0500
>From:         "(Russ Gelinas)" <R_GELINAS@UNHH.UNH.EDU>
>Subject:      stuff
>
>
>Thanks cmv for the warning on Jazz From Hell.

   You're welcome Russ.  If you ever decide you need to hear _JFH_, let me
know.  I'll dub it for you so you can save the bucks.  It's interesting,
but falls in approx 30th place of my list of FZ must-haves (right above
some of those recordings in the _Beat The Boots_ set).

>Make A Jazz Noise
>I guess will be in the next Noteworthy purchase.  Jack Johnson and
>Ask the Ages (finally!) are on their way.

   I think you'll be happy with _MAJNH_.  It's got some wonderful
arrangements of a number of FZ's standards (Black Napkins, Oh No, King
Kong, Orange County Lumbertruck, Theme From Lumpy Gravy, Strictly Genteel,
etc.).
   Good to see that you're gonna try some Sharrock.  You'll get a double
treat, because _JJ_ features Sharrock playing through an echoplex (I think)
on one cut (near the end of Yesternow, if memory serves).  _JJ_ is my
alltime favorite electric Miles (though I am getting the feeling that I
need to hear _Aghartha_ and _Pangea_), and _Ask The Ages_ is a good intro
to Sharrock's playing in a jazz quartet setting.  (BTW, I've heard Sharrock
talk about doing a recording of Coltrane tunes when the time is right --
now wouldn't that be "the shit"!! (with apologies to Da Beer  ;*))


>Date:         Fri, 6 Nov 1992 11:11:00 EST
>From:         gmgettie@THAMA1.APGEA.ARMY.MIL
>Subject:      CDs Sharrock / Pantera
>
>
>Recent CDs - Part One
>
>Sonny Sharrock  _Ask The Ages_, _Seize The Rainbow_
>
>I can safely say that _Ask The Ages_ is the only album I own where a guy
>makes a Saxaphone sound like a pig screaming in heat.

   Heh, I guess you haven't heard Peter Brotzmann, Albert Ayler or John
Zorn yet, huh?  They make Pharoah sound like a pansy.  ;*)

>Wow! I still haven't
>decided which I like better on this album, Sharrock on guitar or Pharoah
>Sanders on the sax. I am still getting used to, what seems to me, the hap
>hazard style of Sharrock's music. So, so far my fave is "Who Does She Hope
>To Be?". I can listen to guitar like that all day long.

   "Who Does She Hope To Be?" is definitely a gorgeous tune.  That and
"Little Rock" were the first two tunes on _ATA_ that really hit me.
   I understand what you're saying by "haphazard", but I think you'll find
on further listening that what seems haphazard is really very disciplined,
purposeful playing.  He intentionally avoids the crisp, scale-based
pyrotechnics of the "my-guitar-is-my-weenie" crowd in favor of phrasing
that more closely approximates a horn-player.  Besides, I think you're just
so used to hearing runs of staccato 128th-notes that it will take a while
for you to adjust.  ;*)

>I finally did find _Seize The Rainbow_ (at the same store where the guy told
>me it was out of print). I haven't listened to it that much yet. Not like
>the metal head I am, I don't like it is much as _ATA_. It's completely
>different though, no sax at all, much harder. "Dick Dogs" is actually a metal
>song in disguise on a jazz album. :-)

   I'm not so sure I would call the album a "jazz" album (certainly not in
any traditional sense).  _ATA_ is jazz, _STR_ is closer to hard
rock/fusion, with a dash of noise thrown in.  Agreed completely on "Dick
Dogs" being metal -- "n.n." mentioned that in a "best metal songs/what is
heavy metal" discussion quite a while back.
   I *am* surprised that you like _ATA_ better than _STR_.  Maybe there's
hope for you yet.  ;*)  Now, we need to get "n.n" to advise you on what
Holdsworth you should hear (right, no-nicker?  :*)


><Heavy Metal mode on>
>
>Yo, dude(tte)s!!!! Does anyone have the newest album by Pantera!?!?!? This
>album kicks some major fuckin' ass!!!!!!!!!!! It's awesome!!!! Philip Anselmo
>is the best fuckin' vocalist I have ever heard!!!! He screams the fuckin'
>vocals, mostly. "This Love" is the best motherfucking song ever!!!!!!!!!!
>
>Panterafuckinrulz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
><Heavy Metal mode off>
>
>Whew! That feels good sometimes.

   At least you don't act like that all the time.  :*)


      bye,
      cmv ("chuckrateez")
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic