Writing Sample
Adina Glick
July 29, 2011
Place: Greenwich Village, New York. Venues: Garage. Fat Cat.
Time: Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the Garage, 11pm-12.30pm. March 2010 at the Fat Cat. 12am-3am.
Just like love, music is something we do not fully experience at each moment that we invite it. Much of the time, all we have is a memory. We hear music, but circumstances prevent us from fully experiencing it. At these times, what is happening is that we recognize the things that comprise a to-the-essence experience of music, and remember the types of feelings we have felt at that time. This occurs for two reasons. Firstly, it is difficult for us to be fully immersed in one particular thing. Instead we are constantly distracted by what goes on around us. Secondly, music requires certain conditions, such as acoustics, or a person's physical distance from the origin of the sound, in order for it to penetrate into the listener's being, resulting in a real experience of music listening. It is impossible to view music as a detached abstract entity, unaffected by the reality in which it is made. Place, time, ambiance, and of course the listener's directness to the sound, depict the level, since various levels do exist, at which the music is experienced.
John Perez along with his quartet is a curiously interesting bunch. While he appears to be well into his fifties, the others are explicitly young. That contrast immediately gives the impression of being hip and up to date. As I walked in to the Garage, the first thing to catch my eye was the drum player; his eyes closed, his body bewitched; favoring soft, minimalistic beats, rather than a full loud sound. Next, the female piano player; she gave off skillfulness but also lacked the ability to capture. The bass player, a young fellow as well, was non-descript. John, on the saxophone, looked like an old timer performer, somewhat of a teacher to them all. They were playing mostly classic jazz. All in all, it was difficult to exchange vibes with the musicians. One could come up and stand right by the stage, yet still there wasn't a feeling of close dialogue. The place was not packed to capacity, but a bunch of people were gathered around the bar facing the stage, and most of the tables spread around the empty space were occupied. The crowd varied between young, older, hip, more conservative, all kinds; eating, talking and only a fraction fully concentrating on the music. It felt like, perhaps half-purposely, the music was there for background, which is not said as an advantage. A full, exhilarating, feeling of the music was missing.
Just a corner away from the Garage, there is the Fat Cat. I went there several months ago along with a few of my musician friends. We got there around midnight; the stage was just being set up with equipment. Sometime around 12.30 am, the first batch of players came on stage. They were fantastic. After an hour or so, some of the players were exchanged by new ones. By this point, a whole lot of musicians were gathered around with their instruments in hand, waiting for their turn to join in. Several of my friends eventually joined the stage too; and it was perhaps this personal connection to the music making, which made it such an incredible experience. As at the Garage, so too here not all of the audience was devoting their attention to the music. People were playing pool, drinking or simply socializing with their friends. But up front by the stage, a true momentum of music was being experienced. The listeners' eyes and ears kept switching from one point of action to the other, their full attention trying to keep up with the creation in action. Although some surrounding noise existed, the sound of the music and the whole musical being created surrounded you powerfully, bringing on pure pleasure. That was a true experience of music, one to remember as music in the future, whether listening to a recording or a live concert. I took advantage of the opportunity, standing just a short distance from the musicians, to dive into the voice waves and to let them dive into me.
In our day, it seems to get more and more difficult to experience music in a way which enables a full grasp of it. The performance spaces are expanding, and the technology which transmits the music to us more advanced and is used more often and with more innovation. Also, why bother go to a concert, when records are so prevalent? The jazz world might be one in which intimacy is preserved more than with other genres since it is based on live spontaneous interactions between the performers and is customarily set in smaller venues. Still, in jazz or other musical genres, obstacles such as huge performance halls in pursuit of revenue and mass production, where one cannot have a full impression of the music being presented, are given priority over the listener's enjoyment and ability to appreciate the music. It is no wonder that many have developed insensitivity to qualities in music and have lost the enlightenment a musical experience can offer. |
