Jazz’s Not Dead

I just put on Gretchen Parlato’s ‘Holding Back the Years’. It is so soulful. It takes me to that place, that place where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is such a thing as beauty, and that there is something inside of me that calls back to it.

I’ve listened to that song several times since hearing about it a few years ago, but this time I decided to buy the album. Had a quick preview on iTunes and it all sounds pretty good, so why not? I’m always up for more good music in my possession. I don’t want to make purchasing music into a comfort drug, something I do when I’m trying to run away from some other problem, but I do want to be surrounded by jazz.

Listening to jazz reassures me that everything will in fact be okay; that everything in fact is okay. It’s easy to get caught up in worries without jazz, it’s possible to get caught up in worries even with jazz, but then I’m not really listening. This type of jazz especially – vocal, summery yet soulful – reassures me, perhaps because it takes me back. It reminds me of when I taught English in Japan, at one of two places I worked, the one that always had a summery, jazzy kind of music playing. At the time I found it slightly annoying, and of course this that I’m listening to now is far better than that was, and it’s not like that was the best time of my life either – I had to be older than I felt and I missed university and friends my age. But in nostalgia you tend to remember the good things, and just the fact that you remember a time when things were different, and you got through that time, so you’ll get through this time too, is encouraging.

(I’m listening to the album right now, so this which I’m writing might not make complete sense.)

Maybe that’s part of the reason I want to do a jazz radio show next year. University is in part a place to do things you won’t get to do again, like lots of sports and musical stuff. I’ve never had anything to do with radio, and I don’t think many people listen to the university station, but I think it would be fun to do it even if no one listened. Ideally, I could play the music I like, and maybe someone else out there would like it and start listening to it, and then a few years from that point they would listen to it again or still be listening to it and be reminded of past times.

I don’t just want people to listen to jazz for the potential nostalgia, that can happen with any type of music regardless of quality. Thanks to a single night I now have a slightly positive association with songs as awful as ‘In My Head’ by Jason Derulo and ‘Tik Tok’ by Kesha. I want people to listen to jazz for a greater musical appreciation. It pains me so much to hear people say things like ‘jazz is dead’, like a friend once did. So they don’t hear jazz in their everyday lives. Jazz doesn’t come crawling to you begging to be listened to, like some other forms of music. It has more dignity than that. But a special friend could possibly make an introduction.

Or they have a very narrow definition of jazz. Big band is great, but there’s so much more than just that. And elevator music? Well…I enjoy it, but it’s a shame it’s become such a derogation. I think it’s fair to say that elevator music has been for jazz what greeting cards have been for poetry. Propagation, sure, but a diminution.

That’s all I can think of to say about that right now. To be honest, I just went and watched some YouTube videos, and that kinda killed the jazz and writing moment. Oops. I make those kinds of mistakes often, and not obliviously. Oh dear.

Day 14: Inspiration and Production

Would you believe it, it’s already the middle of December. Sure, time flies when you’re having fun, but it absolutely rockets when you desperately need more of it. However, slowly but surely things are getting done and coming together and shaping up for…I have no idea what.

Haven’t heard anything more about the Star Wars marathon that was supposed to happen sometime this weekend.

This evening I spent a bit of time reflecting on art through words. When you think about it, it’s just as legit as other forms of art such as painting or sculpting, because essentially all of these things involve taking a medium and shaping it to express something. Music does the same thing with sounds, and cooking with ingredients. How many more can you think of that fit this description but aren’t traditionally thought of as art?

What makes this concept even neater is the sheer vastness of possible combinations and shapes to express nearly limitless messages, and with new technology it’s not just about discovering new ways to design mediums but finding new ways to present the messsage utilising those mediums, and even searching out new mediums. We really should be using existing technology to its fullest potential; it’s about the only thing consistently improving in this world.

There’s a sure-fire way to be inspired, and it can be expressed in the form of an equation:

intake of high-quality art + pressure of imminent deadlines = output of inspired material

A mark of high-quality art is its ability to inspire the same in others, but often that internal stirring is lost to laziness, complacency, or fear. Deadlines deal with the hesitancy, believe me, I know; I’ve experienced it countless times, always swear to do better the next, am experiencing it right now, and will doubtless face it many more times in my hopefully much-inspired life. So that’s why so often the times that we plan to be the most productive – vacation – is when we are, in fact, the least productive, because we let ourselves veg out. A little of that is okay, and I’ll certainly be doing some on…well, as soon as I can afford to, but five weeks (yep, no exams, hehe) is way too long to keep that up.

Fortunately I’ve been introduced to some very high-quality art in my life thus far, and as for the deadlines, well, I’ll have to figure something out on that count.

But I’ll be figuring it out in London, that’s what matters. Keeping the eyes on the prize.

Day 12: Finding Connections And Winning Beans

Today I learned that capitalism emerged from the growth of the merchant class within the European feudal system. While nearly everyone else was stuck in their social class positions, due to the relative autonomy of city-states and the need for mobile merchants, a money economy began to develop and the businessmen began their slow but sure climb towards the top. Seeing as the emphasis on individuality also grew out of the collapse of the feudal system and people no longer based their identity on the aforementioned hierarchy, I don’t think it’s unfounded to suppose that consumerism, or expression of identity through material things, grew out of these two shifts.

When people asked me why I chose international relations, or peace studies, both before and after coming to England, though I usually tried to give some semi-standard response, really the most honest answer I could ever give was ‘to find out how the world works’. That could mean so many things, and I mean it in every sense of the phrase. So the book I began today which included that bit of historical insight was fantastic for me. Exactly what I came here to find out – how everything is connected, not just in the present but spanning over centuries.

Everything, everything is connected, and my whole purpose for studying is to find out exactly how it’s connected, whether it be through history, geography, politics, philosophy, psychology, science, social science, sport, or art. Logic would point to the impossibility of learning everything about everything, but I’m going to put off narrowing choices for as long as possible.

That’s probably the main reason I didn’t pursue one of my more explicit loves as a major. I love music, but I never really considered going for it as a career. I love writing, and maybe someday I’ll even put something proper out, and though I’d absolutely love to study it full-time, that’s not been a serious consideration for me at this stage of my life. I guess that’s because if I love something I know I’ll continue to do it even if it’s not what all my deadlines consist of. This way, I’ll have a day job and plenty of hobbies, and won’t turn myself off what I love by overdoing it. Oh, yes, many would question the availability of post-graduation employment for scholars of a field as vague as peace studies, but being as broad as it is, if I do it right, I’ll have no problem securing work. Not worried about that. Just trying to read/take in/learn as much as possible.

Pity I have to skip over so much interesting reading to pick out relevant information for my uber-short 1500 word essay, er, both of them.

What does all this have to do with Christmas in London? Well, my dear, as I believe I’ve quoted before, all shall be revealed in Chapter 33. Or as Ryan Higa (a.k.a. nigahiga) would say, “All shall be revealed in about thirty minutes (you do realise we’ll have to edit that part, right?)”.

Oh, we won beans at Pub Quiz tonight for having the best name, so we partied late with eggs, bacon, and beans. English breakfast. First time we won anything at Pub Quiz. I think the MC likes us, and feels sorry for us.

He’s cool.

You’re cool.

G’night.