Darcy James Argue wrote:
Are you basing your opinion of Don's playing entirely on this one gig?
And recordings I heard of him at about that time.
In light of Andrew's comment about a concert he heard Don Cherry and
another comment of a more recent recording, I can easily admit that my
dismissal of Cherry may be unfair.
But with all the fine musicians there are in the world, I don't have
time to spend pursuing musicians who treat me with disdain as an
audience member or who play in a manner that I find distasteful. Life's
too short and there are just too many musicians to try to hear them all,
so if I don't like someone I move on to others. I don't listen to
Marion Brown for the same reason. And he even taught a jazz history
course at my college. He treated us as students with great disdain,
too, very much with a "just give me the money" attitude. He didn't
bother to show up to several classes and didn't bother to call the
school so we just sat there waiting. I had signed up for the course
thinking "At last, I can learn about jazz history from someone who is
helping make it!" I learned more from the books I read on my own than I
ever learned from that class. People with bad attitudes, I don't care
who they are, I won't waste my time with them.
And I don't expect them to waste their time with me if they find that I
have a bad attitude, either.
Burn me once and I may never give a listen again.
And for all I know Don Cherry may cringe when he hears recordings he
made in the late 60s and early 70s, as he has moved beyond that stage.
Or he may still be proud of them. That's fine.
But I've found other musicians to listen to whose music resonates with
me much more.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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