Jazz Musicians as Not Refle

[Rolf Olsson]

>Jazz Musicians as Not Reflective?
>To pynchon-l at sfu.ca
>
>
>I know this is getting far afield, but I have to jump in on
>the jazz sub-thread that's developing here.  To say, as
>Chris Stolz did, that "Coltrane, Monk, Parker -- these men
>made brilliant, beautiful music . . . . They just did it, no
>self-reflection necessary" is, I think, to perpetuate an
>unpleasant clich=E9 about jazz (and other blues-based
>American) musicians.  These guys didn't just wake up one day
>and start "naturally" blowing bebop.  They were serious and
>thoughtful musicians with a keen awareness not only of
>musical theory and history but also of their culture and
>time.  When Coltrane titled a seething but meditative
>composition "Alabama" in early sixties, he wasn't just
>yearning for home, foax.  While this comment applies also to
>many earlier jazz musicians (Ellington and Armstrong most
>notably), the boppers and their descendants (who appear most
>frequently in Pynchon's texts) are particularly
>"self-conscious."  I'd say that a guy who named one of his
>tunes "Ornithology" because his nickname was "bird" had some
>self-consciousness, for better or worse.
>
>I think its easy to make the mistake of thinking that the
>great jazz musicians were "naturals" because their music is
>so seamless and flowing and, of course, improvised.  I'd say
>this is good way to sum up TRP's writing too; it comes
>across (at times) as Kerouac-ian in its flow, but we all
>know that is one of Pynchon's great skills:  to look
>spontaneous while being really very studied.
>
>On the rock note:  if TRP were me (which is, we've now
>concluded, what this is all about, right?) he'd find the
>Beach Boys to be the worst kind of style over substance.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Will Layman (formerly WKLJAZZ at aol.com - now receiving
>pynchon-l at school)

I totally agree with you. Nothing demands more preparation then a good
piece of improvised music.

Rolf O.