I’m only now beginning to appreciate the music & musicianship of Anthony Braxton. I have listened to him in the past, I have seen him perform live a few times, but his music never “arrived”, so to say, in my heart nor head. Yes, I loved him on Dave Hollands Conference of the Birds, I have a record with Ray Anderson, John Lindbergh and Thurman Barker from I think 1979 or 1984, I pushed record on the taperecorder whenever some Braxton would come on the radio. But when I was frantically discovering all the jazz, going from Parker to Dolphy to Coltrane and Ornette, and then on to David Murray, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Henry Threadgill — I somehow skipped Braxton. I knew that he was considered a major voice and For Alto sort of a defining moment of seventies jazz/impro. I knew that I should try to get hold of his work with Barry Altschull. But his tone seemed so thin, he looked so rationally, unpassionately professorlike, that I never did.

But now look at his 1980 performance of Coltrane’s Impressions — at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o0AYFRFX7g.

My discovery of Braxton is triggered partly by the discussion on 1970s jazz that travelled through various music-blogs last week — after Dave Douglas asked if someone could come up with a list of what is most worthwile from that era of jazz. See a.o. the wonderful http://destination-out.com/ & http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2006/08/ethan_iversons_.html. A difficult era — if you ask me –. Jazz lost it’s place in the hierarchy of music to rock, and after freejazz there seemed to to be no way ‘onwards’. Looking back in retrospect at the legacy of seventies jazz — even if one leaves out the European free improv-scene and some spaced-out jazzrock — this seems unbelievable: so many great new sounds evolved. I tried to make my list: Henry Threadgill (hardly mentioned, strangely), Lawrence Butch Morris (his conductions are, well, awesome — they move me deeply), Anthony Braxton, David Murray, Richard Muhal Abrams, John Carter, Gerry Hemingway (also hardly ever mentioned — his early trio with Ray Anderson & Mark Helias is wonderful), Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewis… And that’s just a few of the persons who came up with new conceptions, mixtures and radical sounds. See, I don’t even mention New York downtown scene (some of the best Zorn-stuff is late seventies).

When you are there. But I won’t be there. Thursday evening (– when I wrote this entry –) James Becket & the N-Ensemble at STEIM: http://www.steim.nl.

I’m becoming aware of what I’m missing while enjoying the wonderful cycling possibilities in the Belgian province of Liège.

Like, another example: a Mediamatic Salon on monday night, 20.30: http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-12249-en.html.

Or I should’ve gone again to Enschede (sort of really far away, trainwise, from Maastricht), for the GOGBOT-festival, where it seems they have the same kind of incredible, wonderful summer weather as last year, although we’re halfway september… http://www.gogbot.nl. Wonderful line-up of participating artists.

Of course I’ll miss this too: What is Positive? Why?, exhibition at De Appel, Amsterdam, with work inspired by Buckminster Fuller. Until October 15th. Well, I’ve missed the opening — on saturday. http://www.deappel.

Here’s a bit from the Encyclopedie, entry on ‘Newspapers’, probably penned by Diderot “[Newspapers were invented] for the comfort of those who are either too busy or too lazy to read entire books. It is a means of satisfying one’s curiosity, and of becoming a savant on the cheap”.

(Quote here from Mattelart, The Invention of Communication, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1996 (French org. 1994), p. 34.)

Catching up on 18th century literature (if one can catch up with a century of literature…): finished Diderot’s Le neveu de Rameau and Jacques le fataliste. Both in a Dutch translation.

I don’t know. Some people consider these 2 books by Diderot as favorites — because of the humour, the richness of ideas, hopping from one subject to another, because of the investigative attitude, the rationalism (not in a pejorative sense) for which nothing is holy. For the total negation of all ‘fundamentalism’ & dogmatism. But I don’t know. I admire these books, I read them with full interest — but sometimes I began to long for more thoroughness, less humourful wit. A theme or idea that is more fully represented, and not just dismissed after a while with a funny remark. Hmm, more, euhh, seriousness?

Just a personal remark re Diderot. As if it matters.

Could one draw a parallel between Diderot’s age (full of changes, also in the ‘writing industry’) & this internet age? A parallel between Diderot’s way of writing & style and the sort of wittyness that works in blogs? Writing in a conversational manner about anything that comes to mind — new music, theatre, acting, sincerity, politics, earning one’s living, metaphors, philosophers…

Hmm, maybe not.

(Maybe it’s just that Diderot doesn’t fit my sense of humour. My sense of humour tends to the banal — hence my love for Joyce?)

Useful start — for a more or less academic bibliography:
http://jilltxt.net/?p=1726#comments.

Currently reading: Armand Mattelart, The Invention of Communication. For background, but very interesting. Fills a lot of gaps in my knowledge wrt for instance late 18th & 19th century French philosophy, Saint-Simeonism, the development of traffic, railways, trade, the use of the figures of circulation & network in 18th & 19th century discourse (trade, politics, ‘communication…).

http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/M/mattelart_invention.html

Review here (that is, if you or yr library has a subscription…):
http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/technology_and_culture/v040/40.3br_mattelart.html.

And at google-books:
http://books.google.com/books?=armand+mattelart+invention+of+communication.

If you’re in Amsterdam today or tomorrow, go hear the N-Event at the Muziekgebouw: http://www.n-event.net/, friday, 22.30 & the opening-concert of DNK-Amsterdam, saturday 22.30, also at the Muziekgebouw.

It’s my favorite music…

http://www.muziekgebouw.nl/
http://www.n-collective.com/
http://www.dnk-amsterdam.com/
http://www.n-event.net/

Next thing to do here is listen to Steven Shaviro’s lecture at the Thinking Through Affect-conference http://affect.janvaneyck.nl. Shaviro blogs here: http://www.shaviro.com/Blog/.

Rob van Kranenburg is back to blogging: http://robvankranenburgs.wordpress.com/