Its a clarinet world Why clarinet conspiracy .com? Because its a clarinet world, but no body understands that. Of course I'm saying that toungue in cheeck, but lets face it, since the great Benny goodman, the clarinet is a somewhat under utilized instrument in main stream culture. Not that main stream popular musical culture is anything really to get excited about any way. I mean if I were that Brit guy from American idol, I would not be too proud of the fact that I'm known as one of the people who has influenced modern popular music. In fact I'd love to be on the show just to say to the guy, "you should be ashamed of your self....you ridiculously successful multi-millionaire so and so". Can anyone here say Melisma? I mean really it is so incredibly overused in popular song, its become so trite, but every singer you hear today almost has to pass through the musical authenticy audition by syruping it up with melisma with however much of it you can add at any time. So what we have now are these vapid over produced songs with very little depth, plastic coated, covered in a sheen of melismatic tooth fary dust. Then there is the clarinet world...why are people in the clarinet community still trying to champion music that has no audience, that might have been popular over 100 years ago? I'll just leave that question open. I dont mean to be all high and mighty on my blog here (that no one is reading anyway), its just that clarinetists should not be afraid to be real musicians. Real musicians who really get out there in the real world and play things for people now in any and every situation they can. When I was walking with my son earlier today, we found a little park area where he could throw stones. I started playing my clarinet, I wasnt playing for anyone, but people did like it and told me so. That may be the only playing I do today, but it was really satisfying. It is so important to remain true to yourself, to what you originally thought you might bring to the musical table, whether it is a great interpretation of a Mozart concerto or a Theolonius Monk tune. Or better yet, your own song, yet to be written, something you just had to try and play because that is where your inspiration lies. Its almost as if today we have to apologize for who we are.. we need that recognition or that position. We need others to tell us we're great. The singers have to pass the melismatic test, the clarinetists need to play Cappriccio Espagnol. The whole time we're all just looking to be ourselves and are lost in a sea of facade. Well Im just actually speaking for myself here...this is coming from a guy with the most musically schizophrenic career of all time!! Just look at my calender of events. Its a musical blender! Here's an affirmation. This guy came up to me after one of our more creative concerts at a local art gallery here in Cambridge. He told me that he was a mechanic and he had no idea what we just did, but he sat there listening in rapture, totally into it. He asked me what we call it, its not rock, not jazz, he had never heard anything like it before. He wanted to know where he could hear more. This guy was so cool for doing that, it just made me think about the diversity that is out there in our musical community...locally and globally and what an exciting tme it is indeed for us musicians in a post modern world and a post modern clarinet world!! Constant motion
Sometimes you just cant practice enough because life encourages you to stay vigilant, meet new folks and seek out new opportunity. We live in a community where we really do depend on one another, for friendship, information, services, you name it. So I moved around a lot today,had a great rehearsal with Paul, wished my sister a happy birthday (wish I could in person), revised some advertising, met new folks, networked, helped a friend, taught a lesson. The family time at the end was the best.
The incredible Dave Maxwell show at the Vortex has happened and it is on to the next event. I just keep thinking about the next album...let's see a Vortex album? A Circadian Rhythm Kings album? I know John M was real happy about the other night's performance and thanks to our good friend recording engineer David Lee, we have a frist class audio recording of last Friday's Vortex show...now what? It was real nice that my friend Daniel Bennett plugged the Vortex in his John Garelick interview in the Phoenix the other day. You can refer to the full article here. It' time to start planning the Vortex Other Dimension Festival for July 22, Esther and I will be sitting down on Tuesday to start mapping that out. We are planning on having master classes on improvisation during the day and hopefully take advantage of some of the acitivities at the YMCA that day as well. That night, short performances, 20 minutes on, 10 minutes set up time for the next group and there you have it. News and thoughts
In January, the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council supported the Vortex Series for New and Improvised Music with a matching grant.
In March we had a fundraiser at the new Somerville Armory building which featured some great improvisational performances and the semi notated, semi improvised work "Tips" by Steve Lacy. Even though it was a cold a blistery night in Somerville, we had a wonderful time and had a great turnout. That same weekend, I played a concert with virtuoso pianist Amira Acre that was recorded live for Framingham access television and my spoken word band, Neon Juju played at the Alchemist in Jamaica Plain. In April, I’ll be joining flutist Matt Samolis, cellist Rob Bethel and soprano Sarah Bielanski at the Longy School’s Pickman Hall as part of Peter Cassino’s 70th birthday celebration. Happy Birthday Peter! The Vortex Series will feature a show called Guitars and Horns with trumpet player Tom Duprey and guitarist Tom Hawthorn, guitarist Garrison Fewell and oboist Esther Viola. Neon Juju will be doing special performance at the Democracy Center at Harvard University. In May the Vortex Series will feature the legendary Birdsongs of the Mesozoic and a duo by Katt Hernandez violin with Steve Norton on bass clarinet. Ken field will also be featuring a movie about the 60/60 festival, so that should be a wonderful evening of mixed music and media. In mid-May, I’ll be traveling to London, Milan and Switzerland with Musaner, a band that features the compositions of Ara Sarkissian with innovative arrangements of folk music from Armenia and the Balkans. 
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