Lately, I have been finding myself missing playing songs. Now, if you follow my blog, you know that I do play jazz gigs from time to time, so I am already sometimes playing composed music. But I guess I consider those pieces "tunes" rather than "songs," probably because we rarely use a singer, and we are so far removed from the
songness of the piece since we are generally not considering the lyrics, or referring to any classic vocal-based versions of the song. We are more concerned with playing the right-sounding thing over the changes, playing things that amuse each other -- playing tunes and blowing over changes. Besides, I find playing jazz to be stressful at times. There are so many factors you have to consider when playing jazz -- timing, intonation, technique, form, chords, melody, swing -- that I'm never completely relaxed.
For me, playing a song involves making a tasteful creative contribution to a piece of music that has much more to do with a singer and words than it does blowing over 2-5-1 progressions.
The thing is, people who are not familiar with free improvisation or the conventions of avant garde composition will often ask me after a gig why I play this way. I think they expect me to be some Nietzchean character who has made it his life's work to destroy all conventional music. If I spend an hour playing nothing more than scrapes, feedback, and insect sounds, then it obviously stands to reason that I must hate music, and I am trying to insult you for liking the bourgeoisie conventions of harmony, melody, and tonality. If I play this way, I must think that mine is the only music that matters and Bach, Brahms, Brubeck, Beatles, and Bono should be relegated to the cat box of history.
A lot of us musicians have contributed to this either/or conception: that I improvise, make noise, or play dissonantly because I am trying undo the evils of a conservatory education, or distance myself from the mediocrity of top 40 pop. I have worked with people who refuse to play one of the 12 diatonic pitches on their instruments, or people who deliberately avoid listening to the radio so it doesn't corrupt their musical choices in some way.
For me, this thinking is personally limiting. I find I can express myself in all sorts of styles. While I sincerely believe that there are certain emotions and abstract ideas that are more easily expressed within free improvisation, I find I can express myself sincerely playing jazz, blues, surf, rock, folk -- even things with pretty melodies. So I am not out to destroy anything, really. I don't want to decide. I see no reason to decide. I am musically bisexual.
So, that being said, I love playing a song with an interesting singer, and making him or her sound good. I love, and I always have loved, playing other people's songs. In fact, I entered free improvisation through listening to Eugene Chadbourne. What I liked and continue to like about him is that he seems to like playing songs, too, and bringing out other aspects of them informed by his knowledge of people like Derek Bailey.
After all these years, I find I can still say a lot of things within the system of tonality. Or sometimes outside of it. I say, give me both.
