KaisrSolze@aol.com
quoted 11 lines I was just discussing music with my mom, and she, not knowing what i listen> I was just discussing music with my mom, and she, not knowing what i listen
> to, told me I should get into jazz(which I like, I'm just less interested at
> this point in time). She started talkng about the whole improv thing, so I
> defended "IDM" as a live form of music. However, she got me thinking--for
> all this list's comparisons between idm and jazz, is there really a parallel?
> Is there any equivalent improvisation, especially among more than one person
> (after all, there are jazz sextets, etc., with 6 guys all playing off each
> other). Even djs are forced to play the compositions of others--they're
> limited by having an instrument not versatile in the way the sax is. What do
> the best live IDmers do--are they really able to do original improv with the
> tools they use?
Tom Jenkinson does live bass of course, but that's less IDM than
traditional jazz improv. I've also seen several reviews of Atom Heart
gigs where he seems to do a lot of live tweaking with one of those Akai
sampler/drum-machines. In general I'd say that any IDM improvisation
would have to be different from jazz improv in that everything needs to
be quantized - this means that a live gig will be more "real-time
arranging" (switching patterns and tweaking effects) rather than
"real-time playing". Even if a particular group were to play an IDM
tune totally live (without any sequencing) I don't think it would sound
very good.
Speaking of IDM/Jazz crossover, the "Hard Normal Daddy" LP has some
amazing moments. My favorite being "Papalon", which has a beautiful and
somewhat mournful melody. It's nice to hear some IDM with more
developed melodic and harmonic themes - frequently the 'melody' in IDM
is expressed in percussion or unusual sounds, but the more traditional
song-like quality of some of the tunes on this record is refreshing.
GD