White for rabbit and red for watermelon.

Herbie Hancock said when he wrote Watermelon Man in 1962 he recalled the sound of the watermelon seller’s wagon wheels beating a rhythm on Chicago street cobbles. Classic jazz.

So...

WHITE RABBIT

WHITE RABBIT

WHITE RABBIT

Add red for watermelon.

Improvisation in Jazz and Art

After reading two books on jazz…

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Gillaume: I finished two books on jazz: Ted Gioia’s How to Listen to Jazz and Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities.

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Max: Worthy works. What did you think?

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Gillaume: Ted’s was from the outside looking in, Herbie’s was from the inside looking out. I learned a lot. Especially about improvisation, about the players having to be ready to be ready to change direction at any time.

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Max: Jazz is incredibly broad. There are really uncountable ways of playing it. That’s maybe why Herbie titled his book “Possibilities.”

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Gillaume: And then there’s an album: Miles Davis - The Picasso of Jazz. And I wondered if Picasso was into jazz. I mean his paintings of the three musicians.

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Max: Maybe not so much. Picasso was very focused on visual art.

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Voice-over

That said, Picasso’s two paintings, both called The Three Musicians, representing as they did three artist friends, there is a jazz-like quality about them. Not just the instruments. Picasso was a great improviser. Maybe that’s what he had in common with jazz greats like Miles Davis.

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Reduction in Jazz and Painting

Picasso: Three Musicians

A jazz elder and an art critic compare blue notes…

Jazz Elder: Jazz is about simplifying. Play a bunch of notes, take out the ones you don’t need. Just leave the pretty ones. That’s what Miles said.

Art Critic: Like an artist simplifies all the clutter in a scene to its essentials, a few lines, a few colors. That’s what Pablo said.

Jazz Elder: And twelve basic notes can generate an infinite number of sounds.

Art Critic: A few lines can suggest an infinite number of shapes and three primary colors can generate millions of shades.
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Voice-over
A parallel conversation. Both saying the same thing. Quoting their gurus. Reaching the same conclusion. Manifestum est reductionem.
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Play it Again Sam

Two teachers on contract discuss their pedagogical approaches.

Pedagogist: Why don’t you teach more classes?
Iconoclast: Can’t. I already have six a week. Can’t do eighteen a week like you.

Pedagogist: You’d make three times as much. All you got to do is walk in, open the text to the right place and tell them to get on with it. Piece of cake.
Iconoclast: Can’t do textbooks. Have to do something edgy and new each week. Something I’ve never taught before.
Pedagogist: Stressful!
Iconoclast: Stimulating. I get input from preparing, and I get output from teaching what I just learned. You teach a lot, make a lot of money. Yes, but where’s your input time?
Pedagogist: A day a week. I relax, I read.
Iconoclast: So my reading does double duty. I read it, I teach it. Improvized Jazz vs Play it Again Sam. Louis vs. Sam.

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Voice-over
Comparing Sam to Louis Armstrong is a little misleading, yes. The misquote notwithstanding, did Sam really play the same songs every night the same way? And did Louis always play freestyle?  The pedagogist has a point; there is something to be said for having a script to depart from.

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