soundhole

live jazz. m likes how the guitar player's hands, in this particular duo at least, only move as fast as they need to. so many musicians are more frantic than they need to be....more misplaced energy which bleeds out peripherally and lessens the committed sound of the music. and this isn't laziness we are talking about here; it is somewhat the path of least resistance, and somewhat not. it would be a mistake to think that a musician wants to create their peculiar blend of styles with as little effort as possible...no, musicians are of that class which fully appropriates and enjoys infusing melody lines with as much mental velocity as possible. music is, by definition, not inert; it must have motion, and great musicians are the ones who can focus that motion into all the intricate channels that they are conscious of, and perhaps even some channels which they cannot yet definitively cognize but which, when they hear, causes an 'oooo' to issue from their lips along with a look of rapt bewilderment, or depending on the player, of flow and groove.

this path of least resistance is a little bit different than mere laziness. this path is carefully-whittled economization; it is realizing that, in relation to music, the hands may be the agent of creation, but the brain and the soul are the agents of inspiration, of catharsis. this economization bows to them - respects the instrument as more than a tool, rather a channel for these things to cord into existence through. matches will end a sentence with a preposition when he damn well feels like it, thanks. no, the hands are the cause of the reverberations streaming through the air, but they are dumb...they cannot unify with feeling and direct a chorus of subtle mathematics and chromatics; this is the territory of other faculties, more intangible and interpretive things. a masterful player can silence the static of the body, of his hands; the fumbling, the courseness and slip and explorative, driving sensation....this player can silence these sentences spoken by the body and command them to deal with a different authority. this player can redefine rules. then, once the mind of the hands has been emptied, they can accept instruction from the higher source, the music~ they are vessels, poured into and emptied accordingly, all liquids passing through them being energy, being light, being warmth, and perhaps this is why the melodic minor can stir a shiver, curling cat-like up your spine. it is cascading from sources known deep, deep within another body; even ones potentially inspired by something completely transcendental but which your body cannot help but wordlessly comprehend. zen art, instrumental bushido; there can only be one mind which calls forth the spirit of music; only one indelible focus deep within, one door to be opened and all others to be shut.

laptops run out of juice at just the worst times.

matches would insert a quote from saul williams here to end on, but he hasn't one handy. use your imagination; burn his poetics into the sensibilites of rhythm, of melody, of humanity, or spirituality. there you are.