This blog begins and ends with music. The music and vibrations have provided a consistent flow of inspiration and creative ideas in my life as an artist. I am drawn to the idea that musicality in a person largely comes from understanding the language and honoring the traditions of the musicians that one listens to in their lifetime.
For the second assignment for this class I was tasked with creating an outdoor audio/walking piece. I never walk around outside without my music. I first had the idea to take the listener into my shoes. . . literally - have the listener do my everyday walk down the sidewalk (site specific), but after going on the first days round of tours, I thought it could be powerful to a wider rage of people if I could make the tour site unspecific.
This post may be jumping around a lot in terms of topics but you all know me well enough to know that is just how I am. I'm sorry. Anyways -- I decided to go though my little orange external hard drive of bootlegs and physical music and find a few tracks that I know note-for-note and compile them into a little podcast radio show for the listener to enjoy and explore.
I chose to take a little journey in time and jazz history starting with Charlie Parker and ending with Emmet Cohen. The aural experience of my project, for me, brough a fresh light and a creative twist to my daily life. Though I may walk around everywhere listening intensely to my music, I have never really taken a walk and focused on taking in the sights and sounds around me and comparing or contrasting that with the sounds of the Black American musicans who shaped this music that we all know as "Jazz" today.