Taste

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 23 Sep 2012 9:39 pm

From Twitter:
"I always listen for notes I can leave out"—Miles Davis.

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 24 Sep 2012 3:41 am

Where's my "Like" button?????????

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 24 Sep 2012 5:46 am

My favorite is an incident where the late, great Bob Berg was playing with Miles and took a solo out of turn in a tune where he didn't get a solo, and Miles asked him, "Why did you play there?"
Bob said, "Man, it sounded so good, I had to come in."
Miles responded, "The reason it sounded so good is because you weren't playing."

In fairness to Bob, he was a monster. I saw him with Miles about 1/2 dozen times and he killed.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 24 Sep 2012 8:16 am

From my mentor, Merl Lindsay and his Oklahoma Night Riders, "Play the melody or something close to it so that the audience can recognize the song."

His take was that the band should not play to the two or three unemployed musicians at the back of the dance floor who got in without paying, but should play to the audience who paid to listen to your band.

Was he wrong?

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 24 Sep 2012 8:28 am

"Was he wrong?"

He wasn't wrong for what he was playing. He'd be wrong if we are talking bout Miles and his playing.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Oct 2012 8:09 pm

If "the less you play, the better it sounds", then the logical extension of that premise is that it probably sounds best when you're not playing at all.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 6 Oct 2012 11:22 am

Take your hands off the steel. Give it a rest!

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 6 Oct 2012 12:01 pm

It always looks sort of arrogant to me when a musician isn't playing.

Bob Watson · Post by **Bob Watson** » 6 Oct 2012 1:36 pm

Here's a great Jazz quote, but I can't recall who said it, I think it was either Thelonious Monk or Miles Davis.

"Its not what you play, its what you don't play"

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 8 Oct 2012 9:26 am

On matters of taste, the operational aphorism is "De gustibus non disputandum est." Even Miles or Monk can't trump that, as much as I personally am in that camp, but which sense came to me only as I got older. I'm not sure how much of that is a result of being 'more experienced' and how much of that is just a result of being 'older'.

It always looks sort of arrogant to me when a musician isn't playing.

Yes, that view can be something to overcome, I think some people feel that way about it. I think a lot of this is style and musical-culture dependent. I have worked with musicians who complained if I wasn't playing all the time, almost as if I was somehow shirking by laying out. And no, I'm not making this up.

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 8 Oct 2012 9:45 am

It always looks sort of arrogant to me when a musician isn't playing.

. . . and how's it look to ya when a vocalist isn't singing?
~Rw

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 8 Oct 2012 9:46 am

It always looks sort of arrogant to me when a musician isn't playing.

Russ Wever wrote:. . . and how's it look to ya when a vocalist isn't singing?
~Rw

They never stop in today's music.

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 8 Oct 2012 10:03 am

Dang, I wish our lead guitarist and keybord player could see this! As far as looking arrogant for not playing, there are a lot of times the volume pedal is backed all the way off while I give the impression I'm playing!

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 8 Oct 2012 1:02 pm

To me one of the greatest jazz sessions was the 1954 Christmas eve recording session featuring Miles Davis and Monk.

Miles and Monk were clearly at odds with each other which came out in Monk's playing. During one of the songs (I think it was The Man I Love) Monk just stops playing during his solo and he has to be encouraged to come back in by Miles playing a few notes to egg him on: Monk comes in perfectly on top of Miles as if it was planned. The whole session is one of the masterpieces of jazz.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 8 Oct 2012 5:35 pm

Lee Konitz said that were times playing with Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh that when it came time for him to solo, he just didn't play anything, thinking he had nothing to add to what they already said. Of course, he was also probably stoned, as he stated he used to smoke a little grass....

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 8 Oct 2012 6:17 pm

as Eddie Condon once said, "Ted Lewis made the clarinet talk and it usually said please put me back in my case."

William Lake · Post by **William Lake** » 9 Oct 2012 8:23 pm

Another Miles quote that I like
"Don't play the notes, play the music".

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 10 Oct 2012 2:08 am

Jeff Newman's saying was "show me what you can't play", referring to not playing all the time.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 13 Oct 2012 8:54 am

Bob Watson wrote:Here's a great Jazz quote, but I can't recall who said it, I think it was either Thelonious Monk or Miles Davis.

"Its not what you play, its what you don't play"

I view (interpret) that quote differently than most. To most musicians, it seems to just say "play less". To me, it says "Don't play what doesn't fit, what's out of style, and don't play anything that detracts from the song". I can't think of many players, jazz or otherwise, who achieved fame and notoriety from laying out, playing in an understated manner, or just playing very little. Very often, in the context of a local band, I think the "you're playing too much" comment is heard when a player is simply playing very badly..it's a politically correct way of saying "Whatever you're doing doesn't sound good".