Re: live or memorex

[jim palmer <jimp@pobox.com>]

> ...
> i think charlie parker told a story once: he had a fellow musician stand
> beside him as he practiced.  parker's instructions were for his friend to
> hit him everytime they heard him recylce an idea.  if he played a 
>"lick", he
> got whacked.  this is the idea, so far as i'm concerned.  don't allow
> yourself to get away with anything less than 100% of your creativity.
> anything less is simply a cop-out...a sort of getting-by in the music.
> 
>...
 
hey, charlie parker was just breathing my air in a different way.
good thing he didn't realize that and quit...

no, really. 
if  music were only about doing "something new," it wouldn't be music 
anymore either...

interestingly, music is a ancient greek word and for them it included
a much wider universe than it does for us (for example math and physics)

>...
> my point: sampling other folks music is just a little more effortless and
> therefore a little less legitimate (maybe legitimate isn't the right 
>word).
> you didn't have to try quite as hard because you found a riff that you 
>liked
> on a record somewhere, created by somebody else, already employed in
> somebody else's jam.
> 
> i get the sneaking suspicion that i'm a one-man minority on this subject.
> 
> -jim
> 

you are not alone.
i have held this position myself in the past.
i suggest that you try to do what you are claiming is 
"more effortless" and see what comes out.

i actually prefer to be effortless in my playing.
(this ironically turns out to be quite difficult)
check out kenny werner's excellent book "effortless mastery"
i consider it essential reading for any musician.