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Re: Popularity/influence/etc.



At 10:09 PM 8/26/2002, ernesto schnack wrote:
> > With all due respect, I absolutely cannot understand this idea at all.
> > Jam Bands play improvised music, and Phish is playing Madison Square
> > Garden on New Year's Eve.
>
>Well Phish is an exception to everything.  They play stadiums despite
>no radio airplay or MTV.  In a way, they's still not mainstream despite
>being so huge.  To me, the average non-musician likes written songs
>with words that he can sing along to, both on the radio, and when he
>goes to a concert.  That is the impression I've gotten from the people
>I've met and what i hear and see on the radio and mtv.  Of course many
>people listen to improvised music, but i wouldn't call it mainstream.
>But that depends what one considers to be "mainstream."  I know improv
>doesn't automatically equal experimental, but i don't see an
>improv-based piece going #1 anytime soon either.

A lot of rappers improvise their raps. Many of them really take pride in 
that skill. I think it follows the same social-historical arc that jazz 
comes from, with the same improvisational traditions in a new form. The dj 
scratching in hip-hop is almost always improvised. Listening to Q-bert 
reminds me more of listening to Charlie Parker than anything else.

kim


______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
kflint@loopers-delight.com    | http://www.loopers-delight.com