Sop, if you read my words carefully you'll see that I didn't actually write "creative genius"...
/*EDIT: this may be picking words... but its not what I wanted to point out. Imo he's a musical genius and his playing is very creative. But a genius concerning musical creativity. No, you're right, that he probably isn't.*/
The effortlessness of his playing made it for me. If he's an genius or not is subjective, imo.
Enlighten me Sop, what kind of modern jazz would you consider creative genius?
Dave, thanks for that clip. Cool music. Kinda country with an eastern european flair... Does this appalachian guitar actually have eight strings? ---------- germanharpist, harpfriends on Youtube
Last Edited by on Jul 03, 2009 11:19 AM
It's a mandolin, like in Italy, only we play it differently.
There is this movement in bluegrass, and JOhnny (whom I saw yesterday driving his UPS truck) is a big part of it, that is seeing this reinfusion of Jazz into bluegrass. Bluegrass, as Bill Monroe created, borrowed a great deal from jazz.
Johnny is a pretty good friend of mine and a great guy, he lives about 30 minutes from me in Jackson COunty, West Virginia. I remember one time a couple of years ago, I was covering a concert of his for the newspaper. 10 minutes before he went on, he says "Dave, that fast song you wrote, how does it go?" So I played it on harp, went through it twice around and he says "OK, I got it" Then, during the concert, he invited me up and we played it on stage, camera slung around my shoulder and everything. It was neat.
I agree with Germanharpist on this one, and disagree with Buddha and Sopwith. Incredible musicianship that doesn't take itself too seriously. Fusing balalaika technique with classical technique AND ragtime technique shows a jazzman's originality: he's making it new, certainly, not just recycling. He's completely in control at all moments. He plays with sprezzatura--a word the Renaissance Italians used to indicate a desirable quality that fuses lightness, virtuosity, and (what we would call) balls. He throws down. Balalaika music was my very first love, actually. Nice find, GH.
The Romans used to say more concisely "Ars est celare artem" - the art is to conceal the art.
But I wish the Russian guy would decide whether he wants to be a musician or a circus clown.
At the risk of being laughed at because everyone and their grandmother has seen this clip already, I'll offer you:
Last Edited by on Jul 03, 2009 2:41 PM
GH nice find for sure. Well played, clean and clear. Excellent, not my cup of tea, but excellent indeed.
ElkRiver, DAMN !!! that was excellent for me. I love those Bluegrass bands, all these notes and runs just csacading off the stage in huge tidal waves and yet... everyone of them looks to be asleep, expescially banjo players, the real good ones just go about doing their thing and then vampin' on the backbeat. Man, That is hiding the art within the art.
Now I'll go back and listen to the Ukulele.
great video finds for sure
Thanks for sharing all of this. ---------- "Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
Three talented musicians, I find the regionalness of music interesting. Jake is from Hawaii. Alexey is from Russia. Johnny is from West Virginia.
What if Jake had been born in Russia? What if Johnny was born in Hawaii. What if Alexey was born in West Virginia? What would they sound like?
Or What if you put these three men together with a couple cases of beer? What would the three of them come up with?
Over the years, I really tried to train myself to look at music with clear glasses, such as Levy, I can be in awe, but my musical upbringing and his music don't jive. But that's OK. I respect it for the great music it is.
As a second-rate string instrument player, I notice a few nuances about Alexey's pickin' like the subtle things he does to change tone. Even when he's playing the part of class jackass, I still see it. I think Adam is right on this one.
I'll see if I can get Johnny, who has dialup to see Alexey next time he goes over to cousin Barry's house. I would be interested to hear what he thinks of ol' Alexey....
The ukulele is great : brilliant interpretation of the Beatles's song, sensitive, powerful and creative playing.
The mandolin/guitar duo is great too.
For the balalaika, I see that as a demonstration of his hability as a player, but to me he's not even making music there. I'm impressed, but not moved.
Adam - YES "Sprezzatura" thats the word I was looking for... lol. No, but for real now, that's what I was talking about.
Dave, "What if you put these three men together with a couple cases of beer? What would the three of them come up with?" thats a nice thought...
Gloth, "but to me he's not even making music there." As I see it, he is constantly changing melodies (so I see what you mean that it is more a demonstratio of his abilities), but he does it in a way that it still fits together as one song... ...well, musical tastes.
As I see it, we're lucky that everybody likes something different, otherwise the musical landscape would be boring as hell...
