hmm...was hamilton bohanan disco or funk?
it was very electro funk
probably disco
he wasn't a white guy
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From: "Dr. Axel Barcelo Aspeitia -- Investigador"
<abarcelo@minerva.filosoficas.unam.mx>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 15:34:21 -0500 (CDT)
To: Steven Catanzaro <stevencatanzaro@sprintmail.com>
Cc: ACIDJAZZ <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: Jazz V. Disco; the showdown
Steve, you are soooo right. I remember reading once Jane Child (remember
her?) saying that Disco was what happened when white guys tried making
funk, and I do not think she was way off the mark. Disco is different from
Funk in many ways, one of them being the huge difference mentioned by
Steve. I would gice the credit (or put the blame) on Girogio Moroder who
was such a control freak but made beautiful 'compositions'. He was also
one of the first using sequencer to get that super-controlled vibe on his
productions. Kudos to the man, in the name of one of those guys in front
of computers Steve mentions in his post!
Dr. Axel Arturo Barcelo Aspeitia
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On Tue, 14 May 2002, Steven Catanzaro wrote:
> Personally, I see a major line that can be applied to most developments in
music for the last 75 or 80 years or so.
>
> The demarcation point that I'll stress is *improvisation* vs. *composition.*
>
> In improvised music, the structure of the piece, if any, exists only to
support what the performers are going to make up on the spot. This leads to
alot of spontaneity, as well as many "mistakes" being made in the music,
i.e., phrases, rhythms, and harmonies that a person might not have come up
with if they sat down and thought better about it.
>
> In composed music, all such "mistakes" are ironed out in advance. An
arrangement is thought up, it is rehearsed or perfected until it is fully
realized, and then it is recorded and/or performed. (Alternately, an idea
that is initially improvised is then refined and polished ad nauseum, until
the finished product is released to the public.)
>
> So, on the one hand, you've got the albums made by Thelonious Monk for
Prestige in the 50's, and they're all sloppy and fabulous.
>
> On the other, you've got the disco of the Brothers Johnson, or Donna Summer,
in which, as one AJ contributer notes, each *drum* of the drum kit was
tracked seperately. Now THAT takes planning. Meticulous and perfect (and
fabulous too!)
>
> Acid Jazz, or Soul Jazz, is firmly in the first tradition. Much of disco,
pop, album rock, as well as classical music etc. is in the second tradition,
and I would say that a LOT of the music talked about on this list in the
last 4 or 5 years falls firmly in the second tradition.
>
> After all, the vast majority of it is made by anal males sitting in front of
computers or various other bits of late 20th century electro-technology
created to micromanage audio files. Similarly, you're not going to hear alot
of the first tradition in B. Spears, N.E.R.D., or the rap of Lil' Kim and
etc. (And in fact, the demarcation line in em-ceeing is whether you can
"freestyle" it or not.)
>
> But do we say the one tradition is "dead" because the other is a bit more
prominent at the moment? No. The great thing about it is even though jazz
has always been about improvisation, the 2 traditions co-exist,
cross-polinate, and oft-times intermingle.
>
> I find myself attracted to artists who are able to blend both traditions, or
at least if they're firmly in tradition 2, they are creative enough to
convey the sense of spontanaeity found in tradition 1.
>
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