If Only (The History of Modern Jazz In A Nutshell)
Sometimes, he wonders how things might have been if he had insisted on playing the saxophone that day in Form 1. Maybe he even wishes that he had started out in the school band playing saxophone. In his country, very few people outside of classical music circles know about the clarinet, and the rest couldn't care less. Even his college lecturer, a former clarinetist, went as far as to call it a 'weird instrument'.
People ask him, "Clarinet can play jazz? Never heard of it la..."
That's because we're living in bloody Malaysia. Ever heard of Paquito D'Rivera, Eddie Daniels, even Benny Goodman?
Of course, he never says that. They would just call him arrogant. Not that they would give a damn either if they knew.
***
That just sadly reflects on the state of jazz in Malaysia. People think R&B is jazz. People think commercial pop-funk is jazz. People think Kenny G is jazz (that applies to the whole music industry, for that matter). His Arranging lecturer uses the same drum pattern for Funk, Hip-Hop and R&B. What happened to straight-ahead, mainstream jazz? Oh wait, it would never sell here in KL, what more to say the rest of the country. "Boring la," people would say. "Can't they just stick to the melody? I don't understand what they're playing." At the end of the day, it's the money that matters.
Jazz as popular music died when bebop emerged and the big bands went out business. Sadly, so did the clarinet. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Co elevated jazz to an art form, something that lay people could never understand. Unfortunately they didn't have many clarinetists jamming with them at Minton's Playhouse. People gradually forgot what the clarinet sounded like in a jazz context, maybe even the jazzers themselves. The words 'jazz clarinet' conjured images of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw in their 1930's Swing heyday, very traditional and old-school. Tony Scott once told Eddie Daniels to stick to the tenor sax. He didn't listen, and now Eddie Daniels is one of the world's most respected jazz clarinetists. He plays bebop, too.
***
How he wishes he could be like Eddie Daniels. But this is Malaysia. "You want to play clarinet? Fine, no-one will call you for gigs. You can play the most complicated bebop lines, impress everyone at jam sessions, but that's where your clarinet will stay: at jam sessions."
"You should play sax more man, nobody knows what a clarinet is."
"I like the sound of your sax more la."
"Hey man, how's your tenor coming along?"
He wants to give up. Deep inside, he always wanted to play the saxophone. He was devastated when the band instructor said "NO, you play clarinet" in such a stern voice that he dared not challenge the decision.
Maybe he should have asked again. Instead of starting in Form 4. He would have been able to concentrate on the saxophone from day one, and play the instrument like how saxophonists are meant to play it. It was really galling to hear people say that his sax sounded better that his clarinet. He knew he was just an average sax player, only playing because hardly anybody wanted his clarinet. Of course he would like to tell them but then they'd just call him arrogant and stubborn.
But then again, if he had ditched the clarinet and started out on sax...
1. He would never have started going for the clarinet lessons that introduced him to the world of jazz.
2. He would never have had an interest in jazz that led him to study jazz piano under his Berklee-graduate band instructor.
3. He would never have sat at the piano for hours figuring out why a flat 9 works over a Dominant 7 chord but not a minor or major chord (Thus making his life much easier when he entered music college three years later).
4. He would never have bought all those Jamey Aebersold books and DVDs and studied jazz theory while sitting at the piano making sure he understood what he read.
5. He would never have auditioned for the MPYO in the hope that it would improve his technique and reading (Thus making his life much easier when he entered music college the next year).
6. He wouldn't have discovered the beauty of the clarinet in the context of classical music (even though he realises that he would never become a full-time classical musician).
He could go on and on, but the point is, if it were not for that day in Form 1, if it were not for the clarinet, he wouldn't be where he is right now.
Jamey Aebersold: "There are no such thing as wrong notes, only poor choices."
*********************************
*********************************
(Fermata)
On a side note, I learned much more from my Jamey Aebersold collection that I have learned from a certain 'Bostonian' in college. Other than 'hantu', 'chicken feet', and vomiting sharp 11's on the floor after lectures. If I wanted to learn from a Berklee grad I would have stayed in Kuching.
People ask him, "Clarinet can play jazz? Never heard of it la..."
That's because we're living in bloody Malaysia. Ever heard of Paquito D'Rivera, Eddie Daniels, even Benny Goodman?
Of course, he never says that. They would just call him arrogant. Not that they would give a damn either if they knew.
***
That just sadly reflects on the state of jazz in Malaysia. People think R&B is jazz. People think commercial pop-funk is jazz. People think Kenny G is jazz (that applies to the whole music industry, for that matter). His Arranging lecturer uses the same drum pattern for Funk, Hip-Hop and R&B. What happened to straight-ahead, mainstream jazz? Oh wait, it would never sell here in KL, what more to say the rest of the country. "Boring la," people would say. "Can't they just stick to the melody? I don't understand what they're playing." At the end of the day, it's the money that matters.
Jazz as popular music died when bebop emerged and the big bands went out business. Sadly, so did the clarinet. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Co elevated jazz to an art form, something that lay people could never understand. Unfortunately they didn't have many clarinetists jamming with them at Minton's Playhouse. People gradually forgot what the clarinet sounded like in a jazz context, maybe even the jazzers themselves. The words 'jazz clarinet' conjured images of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw in their 1930's Swing heyday, very traditional and old-school. Tony Scott once told Eddie Daniels to stick to the tenor sax. He didn't listen, and now Eddie Daniels is one of the world's most respected jazz clarinetists. He plays bebop, too.
***
How he wishes he could be like Eddie Daniels. But this is Malaysia. "You want to play clarinet? Fine, no-one will call you for gigs. You can play the most complicated bebop lines, impress everyone at jam sessions, but that's where your clarinet will stay: at jam sessions."
"You should play sax more man, nobody knows what a clarinet is."
"I like the sound of your sax more la."
"Hey man, how's your tenor coming along?"
He wants to give up. Deep inside, he always wanted to play the saxophone. He was devastated when the band instructor said "NO, you play clarinet" in such a stern voice that he dared not challenge the decision.
Maybe he should have asked again. Instead of starting in Form 4. He would have been able to concentrate on the saxophone from day one, and play the instrument like how saxophonists are meant to play it. It was really galling to hear people say that his sax sounded better that his clarinet. He knew he was just an average sax player, only playing because hardly anybody wanted his clarinet. Of course he would like to tell them but then they'd just call him arrogant and stubborn.
But then again, if he had ditched the clarinet and started out on sax...
1. He would never have started going for the clarinet lessons that introduced him to the world of jazz.
2. He would never have had an interest in jazz that led him to study jazz piano under his Berklee-graduate band instructor.
3. He would never have sat at the piano for hours figuring out why a flat 9 works over a Dominant 7 chord but not a minor or major chord (Thus making his life much easier when he entered music college three years later).
4. He would never have bought all those Jamey Aebersold books and DVDs and studied jazz theory while sitting at the piano making sure he understood what he read.
5. He would never have auditioned for the MPYO in the hope that it would improve his technique and reading (Thus making his life much easier when he entered music college the next year).
6. He wouldn't have discovered the beauty of the clarinet in the context of classical music (even though he realises that he would never become a full-time classical musician).
He could go on and on, but the point is, if it were not for that day in Form 1, if it were not for the clarinet, he wouldn't be where he is right now.
Jamey Aebersold: "There are no such thing as wrong notes, only poor choices."
*********************************
*********************************
(Fermata)
On a side note, I learned much more from my Jamey Aebersold collection that I have learned from a certain 'Bostonian' in college. Other than 'hantu', 'chicken feet', and vomiting sharp 11's on the floor after lectures. If I wanted to learn from a Berklee grad I would have stayed in Kuching.
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