BtZ42/10: Cherokee

[Keith Davis]

Another small bit. The "channel" to Cherokee means the bridge. It's challenging, especially at a fast tempo, because it modulates first to the key of B, then A, two not so easy keys to play in. 
One of my compatriots from cruise ship days, upon imbibing a few more than absolutely necessary pulls from the bottle, liked to intone, "Yeah, but can he play the fuckin' bridge to Cherokee?!"....

Www.innergroovemusic.com

> On May 22, 2016, at 5:44 PM, Keith Davis <kbob42 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This is a great observation Mark. Pynchon's writing is very "jazz-like", in the stream of consciousness, following up tangents, tying things in together, or not, being willing to give any idea the opportunity of development. I would say that that's an ideal, it doesn't mean it always works in practice. It's interesting to me that Pynchon and Keith Jarrett share the same birthday, two of the great followers of tangents in their respective arts.
> 
> Www.innergroovemusic.com
> 
>> On May 22, 2016, at 5:13 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Janos wites: Meanwhile, in 1939, Charlie Parker did find out, playing "Cherokee" at a jam session, how to use the top notes of the chords "to break up the melody" - an act of musical deconstruction, and, considering "the lie" of the song, political. (And the very inception of modern jazz.) 
>> 
>> And trying again to understand given my tin ear: 
>> According to an interview Parker gave in the 1950s, one night in 1939 he was playing "Cherokee" in a jam session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing.
>> 
>> I know nothing about music but these descriptive words sure sound like they might be used about Pynchon's writing in Gravity's Rainbow. ....I mean, musicians and appreciators..."breaking up the melody"...&..."can lead melodically
>> to any key"........sound like how some of the flashbacks and side bits work within all the 'semitones' of the whole chromatic scale that is GR. 
>> 
>>> On Sun, May 22, 2016 at 10:44 AM, János Széky <miksaapja at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 63 (Viking)
>>> 
>>> "Cherokee" (the song) was written by English expat Ray Noble in 1938. 
>>> 
>>> The lyrics go:
>>> 
>>> "Sweet Indian maiden, since first I met you, 
>>> I can't forget you, Cherokee sweetheart. 
>>> 
>>> Child of the prairie, your love keeps calling, 
>>> My heart enthralling, Cherokee. 
>>> 
>>> Dreams of summertime, of lovertime gone by, 
>>> Throng my memory so tenderly, and sigh. My 
>>> 
>>> Sweet Indian maiden, one day I'll hold you, 
>>> In my arms fold you, Cherokee."
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Charlie Barnet's uptempo, high-spirited instrumental version, which seems to be the same that "comes wailing in from the dance floor below," reached #15 in the charts in September 1939.
>>> 
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnNUd7NzTMo
>>> 
>>> The narrator calls it "one more lie about white crimes", referring, of course, to the Trail of Tears, arguably the closest thing to genocide in American history.
>>> 
>>> Meanwhile, in 1939, Charlie Parker did find out, playing "Cherokee" at a jam session, how to use the top notes of the chords "to break up the melody" - an act of musical deconstruction, and, considering "the lie" of the song, political. (And the very inception of modern jazz.) 
>>> 
>>> "/His/ trip by'39, well begun" - he was an addict by then.
>>> 
>>> So 64 (Viking): "the saxes downstair getting into some, oh really weird shit. . . ." That's shit in all three senses. 
>> 
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