[silence] Evangelisti misconception?

[Rob Haskins]

Interesting discussion! May I recommend (for those who may not know it) George Lewis's thoughtful essay on Cage and improvisation:


Lewis, George E.  “Improvised Music After 1950: Afrological and Eurological
Perspectives.”  Black Music Research Journal 16 (1996): 91–122. 
 
Rob Haskins
Assistant Professor of Music
University of New Hampshire
rob_haskins@yahoo.com
http://robhaskins.net
http://musicandmiscellaneous.blogspot.com/

"Heroism doesn't consist in brilliantly combatting someone else. . . .  What is heroic is to accept the situation in which you find yourself."  -- John Cage



----- Original Message ----
From: "heimbecker, sara" <sara.heimbecker@unco.edu>
To: silence@list.mail.virginia.edu
Sent: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 12:41:17 PM
Subject: Re: [silence] Evangelisti misconception?

Re: [silence] Evangelisti misconception? Dear Silencers,

We have to keep in mind that Cage in the 1930s is not the same Cage in the 1960s nor in the 1980s.

Michael Zwerin’s interview with Cage published in the Village Voice in 1966 gives us a good indication of what Cage thought of jazz at that time.  The focus of the interview, however, is not improvisation, but rather rhythmic structures and simultaneity.  (I think Zac is correct about Cage’s mistrust of improv.)

Cage suggested in the interview that Ives was much more important than jazz.  The important thing about Ives was the complexity of the music and that “everything is happening at the same time.”  He said that he could enjoy jazz if there was “a great deal of it [happening] at one time,” and gave the example of twelve different records playing simultaneously.

Zwerin played “A Love Supreme” for Cage during the interview and Cage says “Well, that music doesn’t interest me at all.  Why should it?”

This interview is reprinted in Kostelanetz, John Cage, 1970.

Sara

Sara Heimbecker, instructor
University of Northern Colorado
sara.heimbecker@unco.edu


On 10/7/08 5:15 AM, "Lê Quan Ninh" <lq_ninh@yahoo.fr> wrote:


Le 7 oct. 08 à 07:33, Zac Bond a écrit :


I don't know if it's the cause of Cage's dislike of jazz, but I recall 
he rejected the idea of improvisation because the performers are 
necessarily reacting to each other and making use of their own tastes 
and preferences, whereas his music was attempting to remove those 
aspects and improvisation as used in jazz didn't meet that goal.

But it seems that this statement was not so solid, see the interview here : 
http://www.eleguarecords.com/cage.htm

 
Ninh

-------------------------------
Lê Quan Ninh
La Blanchette
F-23140 St-Silvain-sous-Toulx
Tél : +33 (0)5 55 62 49 55
http://www.lequanninh.net
http://www.ensemble-hiatus.eu



 


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