Fried Chicken Drum Machine .

Sorry this a long post .

At about age 21 I heard Herbie Hancock's "Actual Proof" and it really knocked me off my feet . I was studying Electrical Engineering at the time ( well to be fair I was doing as much surfing as "studying" in those days ) . That music had such a profound effect on me that I decided to pursue a career as a musician . I have always loved all types of music . I am still equally as passionate about Allan Holdsworth , Gerald Finzi , Midnight Oil , Willie Nelson and Kenny Kirkland .

Allan Holdsworth is probably my greatest musical influence but he doesn't play piano . I love Keith Jarrett especially "Facing You" but most of my jazz piano idols are African American musicians . Louis Armstrong and Ellington are great but it was Art Tatum who "invented" improvising as a musically sophisticated virtuoso art form I think . Charlie Parker and John Coltrane and eventually Allan Holdsworth come out of Tatum in my opinion . He's the guy who invented "shredding" and made it a cool thing to do . Words like mofo , "killing" , " bad dude " in the musical sense can all be traced back to Tatum . Tatum's legacy was passed down mostly through the black community in America ( with a few hip white pianists like Tristano , Bill Evans and George Shearing ) . From a pianists perspective if you go back to James P Johnson , Tatum , Bud Powell , Oscar Peterson , Phineas Newborn , Wynton Kelly , McCoy Tyner , Herbie Hancock and up to Kenny Kirkland it's a pretty formidable piece of music history in relation to a grand piano . Gyorgy Ligetti , Bela Bartok , Claude Debussy and Olivier Messaien all wrote music in the 20th century that I enjoyed and learnt from but the jazz stuff means more to me . Since music can be recorded today , purely notated music is going to have a hard time competing with the grease of in the moment placement , timbre and articulation in front of a tape machine . It's theoretically possible but the post-African concept of "groove" is hard to notate with a treble and bass clef and for me "the groove" defines the best of the 20th century in music . The Beatles ( especially the early stuff ) grooves IMHO . Oz-rock ( Australian rock music from 1975 till 1985 ) grooves . ACDC grooves its backside off . That's ACDC they are so successful I think . Its not the note choices its the way the band plays time together .

In 1992 I went to jazz school in Sydney . I left after 1993 with a diploma . Getting a "degree" in music didn't make much sense at the time and it still doesn't although I have a masters degree these days . After school for the next 7 0r 8 years I pursued a career in Australia as a jazz musician . Sydney being what it was I played a lot of "funk" music as well as jazz . In those days the funk Rhythm sections in Sydney could really groove and lay it down . With my younger generation of friends in Sydney we tried to figure out how to play "bebop" . In the 90's the big record companies where pushing the young black guys in the suits playing swinging jazz so in our little prismic view of the world to many of us it seemed like you had to learn to "swing" in order to become a jazz musician . There was a growing movement in Sydney and Australia which "rejected the American model of jazz music " but not me at that point . I was naive at the time and not understanding how deep ACDC really is I disagreed with many of my friends in those days about what a "groove" was . Australia was pretty isolated at the time ( it still is although the internet and a strong Aussie dollar has changed things a great deal ) . It was very rare to see an international jazz band perform in Sydney at that stage . In 1992 I saw Wynton Marsalis with Tain and Marcus Roberts at the Opera house but I was a long way back from the band and the acoustics there are dreadful for a drum kit. I was too inexperienced to realize what was going on but still I knew that it was pretty heavy . Around 1996 or so a bunch of bands came to Sydney that really had a huge influence on me . First of all Kenny Kirkland came out with Sting and I managed to stalk him and hang with him around a piano for a couple of nights at his hotel in Kings Cross . At that point I realized he could play stride , Left Hand bass lines and tap the beat through everything he played . Up until that point I thought that jazz swing rhythms where blurry and inexact and the beat wasn't important . The same year Herbie Hancock took a quartet to Sydney with Gene Jackson . I also realized that Herbie could tap his foot through everything he played . I also saw that on fast tempos he tapped on 1 and 3 . I realized that the way he felt up tempo swing was similar to the same way that I felt "funk" music . It was a great lesson . I always tapped my foot playing funk music but not "jazz" . My friends and I always played that music aiming to get it to "groove" . Everything else was secondary . Playing swing music at that time I was "swimming" not really sure where the beat was at all . These days I don't see a difference between funk and jazz from my perspective its mostly something the drummer does with accents .

Eventually around 1996-7 "the basement" in Sydney and various promoters including SIMA started to bring out bands from New York . I was fortunate enough in a short space of time to see

1) Roy Haynes' group with Kikowski , Ed Howard and Don Braden .

2) John Scofield's band with Dennis Irwin , Adam Nussbaum , Larry Goldings and Seamus Blake

3) Ulf Wakenius with Neil's Henning and Adam Nussbuam .

All those bands really knocked me out . I had never heard " swinging" music like that up close that felt so good . By the time the Nussbaum gig came I watched about 2 tunes and just went home to practice . I realized that my efforts with my friends at playing "swinging" music would be much better informed if I spent some time in New York . It was pretty obvious that those Rhythm Sections could play swinging music on another level and It would be great fully beneficial to me as a musician to go and play with musicians in New York .

I travelled to New York in 1997 for a brief trip . It was intimidating but further cemented my view that I should spend some time over there . In 1997 in NY I spent my last dollars recording a trio with Dennis Irwin and Adam Nussbuam and for the first time I felt a jazz rhythm section which felt as "solid" as Hamish Stuart and Jackie Orsascky playing funk . I wasn't up to the task but I really learnt a lot . I have always placed myself in situations that where above my head as a bandleader and it has always helped . I applied for various grants and luckily in 1999 I got the money for an airfare to come over and study with Barry Harris and Kevin Hayes .

What's all this got to do with Fried Chicken and drum machines ? Well that's the next part of the story .

I was still listening to all types of music at that point but when I got to New York in 1999 I had a pretty enormous respect for "Black" Music . In my estimation it was "the groove" that drew me to a life as a musician in the first place and most of my jazz piano idols had been African American . In 1999 there where very few people of African descent living in Australia . My only contact with Black people and music had been through Michael Jackson , Stevie Wonder , James Brown , Jeff Watts , Elvin etc ... It wasn't hard at that point for me to believe that African American's some sort of super race of people in the musical sense .

Straight "off the boat" I moved to the southside of Williamsburg . The neighborhood was largely Peurto Rican but every block had a black drug dealer living on it . The drug dealer would get shot and a new one would take his place . This was a level of horror that made "Superfly" look like a silly joke . After a year of living there I moved uptown to 106th st in Manhattan on the west side . A couple of blocks north of me was a black neighborhood that was also beyond comprehension . It's hard to describe the feeling of seeing a bunch of young men obviously with a sense of hopelessness sitting on a street corner in a group messing themselves up with drugs . It was quite a stark contrast between the polite and well educated black musicians at Barry Harris' workshop which I attended weekly . 2 blocks from my house folks would literally throw full bottles of beer while Barry's class represented a welcoming "family" of all colors . Barry and his fellow musicians like the late Wade Barnes where very kind and warm and keen to pass on their knowledge and wisdom . Barry's lessons where very deep and I still can't think of a better "educator" .

Also at that time I somehow got invited to join a black funk band . I was the only white guy and If my memory serves me correctly they where some of the worst musicians I have ever come across . The band was semi amateur . They all lived in East New York . I used to travel out there to rehearse on the subway . It was also a pretty terrifying neighborhood . Late at night ( like 2am) young kids ages 6 and up roamed the streets in packs . I assume that their parents where either incarcerated or stoned . The musicians in that band where a bit older . They told me they had worn capes in the 1970's Parliament style . They where also very sweet kind cats and very welcoming to me . It was an eye opener for me to realize that Black people weren't "born funky " . Stevie Wonder etc had obviously arrived at where they had musically through hours of practice and study . I also at that time met the young German Drummer Jochen Rueckert who as far as I was concerned could and still can swing as hard as anyone . I realized that it didn't matter what color you where that it was up to you to put in the work and that your skin color or DNA didn't have much to do with how good your "groove" was . I believe if Jochen was a Black American he would be much more world famous as a drummer . Unfortunately I suspect that promoters outside of the USA are more prepared to back a band with an unknown Black drummer than a lesser known guy like Jochen who is amazing and sometimes he misses out ... . It's a reality of the business these days that without the support of the big record companies someone even as good as Bill Stewart might not be very well known if he had been born a bit later .

Back in 1999 through my roommate who was an organ player I was lucky enough to be introduced to the "chitin circuit" in New york . Subbing for my friend I ended up playing organ with a bunch of Black jazz groups in bars in the black community . Most of these places where in Bedford Stuyvesent or Harlem . The gigs where usually an organ trio led by a horn player . After the first set musicians would sit in . If you where lucky you could get $50 a couple of beers and a plate of fried chicken . I used to affectionately refer to these gigs as " chicken gigs " . Usually at the end of each night a chicken feast would ensue . Some of the musicians I worked with then where Bill Saxton , Brad Leali , Gerald Hayes ( brother of Louis ) , Eric Wyatt , Arlee Leonard and later Jason Marshall . The drummers playing where a who's who of great young jazz drummers like , Ali Jackson , Mark Kolenburg , Rodney Green , E J Strickland , Montez Coleman , Geoff Clap and Sylvia Cuenca . I didn't have my organ playing together and was learning on the job . I copped my fair share of criticism and at times felt like the "whipping boy" . For a middle class Australian it was pretty intimidating sometimes frightening to be in an all black club . After my plate of Chicken I had some very memorable trips home on the subway occasionally fearing for my safety . For the most part the musicians where very kind and welcoming and often generally happy that an Australian had ventured into their terrain . Many of them had memories of Joe Zawinul venturing into the black community and also some Australians like Dave Addes and Dale Barlow who had made similar inroads previously .

Coming face to face with some of the poorer parts of Harlem and Bed Sty is pretty confronting for any person with a sense of social justice . It's just SHOCKING to travel from a nice neighborhood like the upper west side and in just a few blocks you get from John Lennon's mansion on the Park to a scene of squalor and degradation that just shouldn't exist in a "3rd world country " . I have seen rural communities on the outskirts of big cities in china which have no electricity but still a sense of dignity .

I myself was struggling to pay the bills at that time . I had my organ and amplifier in a shopping cart and despite seemingly dragging that thing to a gig EVERY NIGHT a month of $50 gigs doesn't really pay the bills in NYC . You needed at least $2000 to survive . Below that really is poverty desperation stuff . I had trouble finding students . I posted notices on bus stops . I would walk around all afternoon but the next day the city had pulled them all down or someone had posted their own on top of mine . I tried accompanying Ballet Classes but learnt that Waltzing Matilda isn't an appropriate accompaniment for Plies and was quickly fired . I decided to look in the New York Times job classifieds under music in desperation . It seemed like a long shot but I found an advertisement for a job as a music therapist . I travelled out to the last almost the last stop on the F train to a mental institution for teenagers to audition . I was terrified of mental illness at that time . The first time I tried Marijuana in my teens made me pretty loopy . For a month after I thought people where trying to poison me in my family home . Throughout my 20's had waited in fear of becoming Schizophrenic . I had a couple of pretty serious bouts of depression in my early 20's which I can trace back to trying pot again foolishly . At the interview the black guy in charge of hiring me introduced me to a room full of mostly black and Hispanic kids . They where all "dual diagnosis" which meant that they where Low IQ and mentally I'll . I suspect some of them had been classed as low IQ because they had told whoever tried to test them to get fucked . In the interview I played drums , guitar and piano and the kids sang a few gospel type songs with me like Natural Woman and Amazing Grace . A lot of them had obviously only had exposure to live music in a church . Most of the kids where very friendly and tried to make friends with me during the interview . Apparently the other people who had applied where all from a classical music background and even though some of them had music therapy degrees the kids had latched on to me probably because through my musical upbringing I could relate to them in some way .

I have enough stories form the 2-3 years that I worked there to fill a book and I won't tell them all as it would take too long . Some of them where pretty terrifying and violent but for the most part they where very beautiful souls in horrible circumstances . The institution was underfunded and many of the workers who looked after them got paid $6 an hour or something . Slightly more than Starbucks . I saw kids being physically abused and ill treated at the hands of the staff on more than one occasion . The kids where fed a cocktail of drugs many of which altered the brain chemistry . Up until that time I didn't know that it was legal to give those sorts of pills to 12 year old children . The drugs made the kids fat and many walked around in a state a bit above a stupor . I had the feeling that the staff kept them heavily medicated so that they where easy to handle . I read the stories of some of these kids and many came from unbelievable horror . Parents who had murdered their brother or a girl whose mother had stabbed her in an argument. Many of the kids had ADHD which apparently is a symptom of having a parent taking crack cocaine during pregnancy . It was a job I didn't want to stay at . I needed to earn the money but also having met the kids I felt compelled to stay . It was just too heartbreaking a situation to walk away from . Seeing a youngster effectively in "prison" with many other young disturbed kids as "playmates" was a life changing experience . Often I felt that a little time listening to music with me or singing or writing a song or rap was the only brightness they had in their life . The food was horrible and their living quarters smelt of at best detergent and at worst human excrement . One young child was so disturbed that he was refused access to a ghetto blaster in case he used a the power cord to hang himself . The only time he had access to music was when he came to music therapy . I formed a very deep attachment to those kids . After the terrorist attacks and the gigs had totally dried up I took a gig in Japan for 10 weeks to make some money . I was still financially only barely afloat despite working 3 days a week in the institution while still dragging my keyboard to chicken gigs every night . Occasionally I would work at the living room with a singer songwriter but for the most part the music I played at the time was in the black community and during the day I worked in the mental institution . I remember thinking " so boy you want to swing we'll now you have to pay the price " .

Most of those kids only listened to music with drum machines . I used to try and play them James Brown etc but anything with a live drummer sound "whack " to them . Most of them where really into there drum machine music though . They loved to dance to it . They also mostly loved to eat Fried Chicken .

In many of those neighborhoods like parts of Bed Stuy and East New York it is very hard to find a shop selling fresh fruit or vegetables . Often Kentucky Fried Chicken or the equivalent is the only choice that tastes any good . If you can find fruit its going to be rotten and has probably been refrigerated at some point and looks and tastes lousy . Mcdonald's advertisements on US TV are often blatantly aimed at Black people . You would think that in a situation like that that the government would step in and attempt to provide fresh produce or subsidize it in some way to make it available . Considering how much it costs the government/society to care for the epidemic of Diabetes and Heart Disease you would think that even giving away fresh fruit and vegetables would make good financial sense .

Similarly you have to question the morality of ( white owned ) American record companies that stopped marketing Earth Wind and Fire , Stevie Wonder , Jazz etc and replaced it with Rap music with lyrics like " Nigger's gonna break your motherfucking neck " or disgusting filth like Snoop Doggy Dogg which denigrates women and promotes drug use and gang violence as "cool " .

Similarly it's pretty sad that Jazz and other ethnic music have been put to the back row of the Grammy Awards by the ( white ) powers that be .

It was deeply sad to me to see a collection of African American kids at the mental institution who "didn't like the drums" . It looked to me like the cultural genocide of probably the oldest musical traditions on planet the African drums . Ditto it was profoundly depressing to see kids with horrible food put in front of them which made Mcdonalds taste like 3 stars in the Michelin guide . Knowing that the combination of the anti-psycotic drugs and the fried chicken was certainly going to give those kids heart disease and diabetes was just soul destroying . This was happening in a place which was supposed to be making young kids healthy .

The worst thing I saw occurred one day when a sweet young black 12 year old mentally retarded child whose name happened to be Shaun decided to sneak off with a profoundly retarded girl to have sex behind the fish fryer in the kitchen . I doubt they actually managed to get anything done before they where caught by one of the staff members . At that point the staff member who should have been working at starbucks asked the girl if she had been "raped " ten times . After saying "No" 10 times she said "Yes" probably to put the matter to rest and because she felt ashamed . The staff member called the police and 4 white policemen showed up . They referred to the young guy as "Barry White" to his face and took him off to Rikers Island and charged him with Rape . The poor kid spent a week in there with hardened criminals before getting before a judge who threw the case out .

At this time in the USA 3 out of 4 young black males will spend time in Prison and when they get out they are unable to vote and "criminalized" which makes it very difficult for them to find work , housing etc .

When you put it all together it's a pretty disgusting state of affairs . Sure Black people have a share of the "blame" for the situation but when you see how they where treated in an institution for mentally ill people you can't help feeling that the system is stacked against them to say the least .

As a result of the great sadness I felt and sense of hopelessness I ended up writing the song " fried chicken , drum machine " which to me symbolized the "cultural , spiritual and physical death" that was witnessing . Some have described this as "cultural genocide" which is fair when you consider marketing unhealthy food , music etc to a racial minority and then locking them up often for drug offenses . If I grew black in the United States and was aware of its musical history Heroin , Cocaine etc would look pretty tempting as an escape .

As time wore on I ended up writing a whole suite of songs which contained only the words " Fried Chicken Drum Machine " . It is something that I have become well known for by people who have been to my shows . Recently I hired the great Saxophonist Mark Shim for a gig . He didn't know me or the story and was pretty shocked at the Fried Chicken song . He contacted me later and told me that he was pretty uncomfortable performing it . While I have never on gigs explained the derivation of the words Mark made me realize that I may have offended many people who do not wish to see Black people portrayed in a stereotypical fashion . I wish to thank Mark for making me realize that my well intended song may have had some unintended consequences . From this day forward if I perform the song it will have the Australianised lyrics " Surf Music , Chiko Roll " which won't offend anyone .

That being said I will never forget my time working with disadvantaged kids . As long as I live I hope that the "powers that be" can do more to try and change things . I would advocate at least a different approach to dealing with drug offenders which didn't involve prisons and then a life sentence "criminal record" afterwards . I would also advocate music education in the poorest communities and fresh fruit and vegetable provided by the government .

Peace

google / SOPA / PIPA

Google's motto is " Do no evil "

Consider this hypothetical situation

Let's say your old school opens a market in the school playground on the weekends .

For the sake of argument assume that a large number of people in the marketplace are selling stolen goods .

At the same time the school is allowing advertisers to put up posters on the stalls . The school makes a huge profit from from the advertising and gives a cut to the stall owners .

Would that be wrong ?

Let's say the school knew that people where selling or giving away stolen goods at many stalls and did nothing about it and it's defense was " we don't have time to check every stall whether every stall owner is selling stolen goods " . I don't think that should be legal , acceptable or moral in a just society .

This is what goes on in google's world of blogspot.com , youtube.com ....

The argument I hear from many people is " you can't stop crime so why bother " ... " you will never stop piracy on the internet " . People arguing this point includes many musicians who are in theory being hurt by the value of recorded music going down to zero .

My point is that you will never stop people stealing but that doesn't mean it should be a crime .

Imagine if someone said " let's make rape legal as you will never stamp out people getting raped altogether " .

Here is one example of an unlimited number of google's users profiting out of free music .

http://dlrapidshare.blogspot.com/

Note the advertisements on the site which I assume google is profiting from . How hard would it be for google to stick " rapidshare mp3 " into it's own search engine and attempt to get rid of the thieves and pirates by deleting their blogs or youtube channels ...

The reason why it doesn't is because it has turned theft into an extremely profitable business .

How can that be possible and for google to continue to use the motto " Do no Evil "

Black Music

This typeface is white .

Black Musicians created Black Music . I would consider concepts created by Charlie Parker , John Coltrane , Herbie Hancock , Miles Davis , James Brown , Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder CENTRAL to the way I create music . That's black music . Black people should be allowed to be VERY PROUD of that . A piece of music or an improvisation by a Black American musician is Black American music . That is a fact as far as I am concerned .

I used to teach a piano class at a school in Bedford Styvesant . 10 - 15 little black faces and keyboards . They couldn't afford private piano lessons . Their parents obviously didn't have much . After each lesson I would get in my car and 5 minutes later I was in park slope brooklyn surrounded by white wealth and privilege . You couldn't be faced with a situation like that and to want to tell those kids that a black man inspired you to become a musician . Otherwise what have they got apart from their humanity and poverty .

I am very proud to be an Australian musician who was inspired to play music by the Black American Herbie Hancock .

Jazz , Fusion , Blues , Funk , Classical are just words which are often used as an excuse to discriminate against musicians .

It's hard to get rid of words unfortunately . Black American's even seem to want to keep the word "nigger" alive so what chance has "jazz" got of being killed off ?

I doubt inventing another word is going to make things get better . Let's just call it music . There is always going to be music created by Black Americans and Australians hopefully . That would be enough labeling as far as I am concerned but those words are going to creep into the conversation . I would love to see "classical" and "jazz" musicians perform together more often and for Australian musicians to perform more " Australian works " . I hope America can get to a point where the wealth is distributed more evenly and race becomes an issue of the past .. more of a historical fact than an important issue in music .

Music Funding in Australia .

Imagine an Australia where scientists teaching selected "important" scientific historical texts received the lions share of the funding .

Lets say the works of "freud" , " einstein " , "euclid " , " plato " and a few others where deemed worthy of publication and discussion . New research was given little emphasis . Universities mostly taught the classics and the computer science department made do with a couple of Atari computers in the basement .

Similarly very little television or film could be given support , but the works of "shakespeare" and a few other playwrights had large companies with large numbers of administrative personell funding them .

In this imaginary world the CSIRO would be operating on a shoestring budget at the back of a pub . Collecting tips , competing with poker machines for revenue . The Garvan institute would receive little financial support and would be housed in a disused factory in Tempe . The staff at the Garvan would have to clean the building themselves and take out the trash after completing their research .

For a bar or club to be given a license to serve alcohol or have poker machines they would have to serve " Classic English food " . Any other restaurant could only sell coca cola . Sitting on Bennelong point where the Opera house now stands there would be a giant RSL club with Shakespeare playing 24/7 , selling only meat pies and beer . It would be the only place in town with poker machines . Imagine Government funded Television stations played only "classic" European TV shows like Dr Who or Minder ( perhaps the Paul Hogan show for Australian content ) . New shows where had one hour on the weekends and where only played after 2am … American crap like Tyra Banks was on all the other stations . Imagine if Austrade only supported car companies building and exporting "classic model " cars like Ford Falcon or Holden Sandman Ute .

This is my analogy to how music performance and education is funded Australia .

These 2 documents give a fair example of funding levels , and what Australian's pay for outside of the Opera Houses …

http://www.marcuswestbury.net/wp-content/uploads/Australia-Council-09-10-Financial-Year-Grants1.png

http://www.liveperformance.com.au/site/_content/document/00000184-source.pdf

I believe if it was science , food , plays , TV or any other endeavor it would be seen to be an absurd situation .

Those of you reading this would think that I might want our musical cultural institutions to be torn down . Nothing could be further from the truth . I am a strong supporter of the music of Bach , Brahms etc etc and I think it is important that this history be preserved in universities , taught , studied , and funded to perform . I believe that the performance of these works should be funded within Universities . As well as funding the performance of "classic" musical texts in Universities , money should be provided in the same institutions for the performance of "classic" Australian musical works by say Peter Sculthorpe , Mike Nock , Graeme Bell , Miriam Hyde etc … Australian musical history is still young relatively speaking but this will change .

Within Universities and outside a great deal more support should be given by the government for newly written music , and for the preservation of our own cultural history . Places like the National Film and Sound archive should be making our history available to Australians and the world for a reasonable price not locking it up in a basement somewhere .

Venues should be being built , with accommodation in them for touring artists , which have the best audio and visual recording/broadcast facilities .

These could be used to allow Australian musicians and composers to present both new and old music to Australia and the world . Access to these venues would be on the basis of firstly that someone's tax return proves them to be a musician . If the government doesn't have the resources to build enough venues to provide for it's musicians (across all genres) then time should be allotted based on a method of peer review and popularity . I would be happy for musicians to perform a few "covers" in this venue from time to time . It would be good for business , and Australia's elite musicians should be able to showcase their abilities playing the standard repertoire . My opinion is that this activity should be viewed similarly to the "Australian Institute of Sport" which is really seen as a learning institution .

At the moment the majority of musicians in Australia presenting new music of any genre do so at considerable financial risk often loosing money for the privilege of presenting their works . There are exceptions of course like Silverchair and Missy Higgins but these are the very few .

I believe if the music industry could be supported in a more sensible manner it could generate much more money for local musicians and create jobs around it .

It would also be of great pride to Australian's if our best and brightest musicians from all genre's could be marketed to the world .

It would help our exports and Australian image .

I imagine a great deal of terrific new Australian music written and performed by Australia's greatest musicians from every genre .

I imagine works written by Joseph Tawadros , Jim Moginie , Paul Grabowsky , Mike Nock , Ross Edwards and host of other talented composers being performed by our best symphony orchestra , augmented by a jazz big band of brilliant improvisors and Australia's best rock and funk session musicians … The night might start with a "repertoire" piece followed by some music celebrating to Australia's rich musical history culminating in the latest new Australian music . It would be happening every night and telecast on the internet to the world . Imagine what that would do for Australian music and its place in the world ..

Surely that is a better world than " lets play the great oldies one more time " …..

selling music in the digital age / spotify

It's been a while , and this is a long post ...

I grew up in an age of recorded music . My parents realized how much I loved music and for my third birthday I got a very basic turntable and a Beatles LP . I can remember dancing around the room listening to that thing . It's probably my earliest memory . I also remember convincing one of my sisters friends to dance with me to it ( my sister was jealous but it was hard for her to compete with the fab four ) . I also remember hearing Michael Jackson's " Don't stop till you get enough " at a friend's 8 year birthday party . We all danced to "off the wall" at that party with great relish until one kid danced through a glass window and had to go get himself stitched up by a doctor . He's fine now but probably still has the scars on his butt proving how funky MJ is . He literally danced his butt off . Much later after hearing a fender rhodes being played by Ray Charles , Herbie Hancock , Steely Dan and Pink Floyd I knew that I had to become a musician . Since then I have devoured most of the albums by many great artists like Miles Davis , Allan Holdsworth , XTC , Stevie Wonder , John Coltrane etc etc . Most of those albums I either paid for a second hand LP or purchased a CD . A made a few cassettes of friends LPs when I lived in share houses , I have burned a few CDs and even downloaded a few hard to find albums off the internet . Itunes was pretty cool and I have spent a great deal of money there too .

I love to go see live music in NY like Dr Lonnie Smith or Wayne Krantz or Roy Haynes or whoever is playing at smalls or the 55 bar .. That's an important part of life . Today I went to Lincoln Centre to see a free jazz music concert. Unfortunately Barry Harris didn't show as advertised but Eric Reed and Christian Sands played some great jazz piano ....

Even though I love to perform live , I am still a big believer in "studio " music . To me this is a seperate artform to live playing which really came into it's own with the advent of overdubbing ...

In my opinion Allan Holdsworth is the supreme master of this method of communication which probably started with the Beatles Sgt Pepper . Steely Dan , XTC , Weather Report , Miles Davis have made pretty significant contributions to the ART of recorded music , designed to be listened to through a good pair of speakers or headphones .

Roy Haynes is probably best heard with a drink a few feet away from the drums , but some of those other artists mentioned are just as good driving in your car ... I can't afford to spend my money on concerts every day but for $30 a month on itunes I can listen to plenty of great music all the time ...

Part of me thinks flying around the world to make a living is a bit crazy and I always liked the idea of recording music and selling it . My experiences of touring have been pretty poor from a musical perspective . Usually the piano , keyboards , PA system are less than adequate . Often the bass player is playing a borrowed bass , or you are dealing with musicians that are playing your music for the first time because you can't afford to bring a band around the world .

At least in the studio a lot of those problems can be solved . You can choose your piano , have it tuned , find a great sounding room to play in , pay the musicians you want who have been playing with you often . You can bring a whole house of keyboards with you if you want and even spend hours editing and overdubbing and mixing afterwards getting the music just right .

I still think live performance has it's place in fact I think it is equally as valid as performing " in the studio " . It's just a different medium . I play regularly in New York and occasionally overseas and it's always a pleasure . I think the pressure and communal nature of live music essential .

I also believe the renaissance that improvisation has had since the jazz age is in part a result of the fact that it can be recorded . For me it's a game changer that music doesn't need to be notated for it to live forever .

For that reason since I started playing and composing I have gone to great efforts to document my music . The process has been my greatest teacher . Making a CD that anyone would bother to listen too is a pretty huge challenge considering the amount of recorded music already out there . More recently with the help of some of the world's best musicians like Keith Carlock , James Muller etc I have managed to turn my recordings into something that generates a small but regular income . The income doesn't offset the dollars I have spent on musicians and studio fees , but if I stopped making any more CDs at the current income eventually I would start to get a small return on my investment . I haven't lost a great deal of money at this stage but it has been worth it to have my music documented as I would like it to be heard . I have always considered myself a better composer than performer and I would much rather people could LISTEN to my compositions than just look at dots on a page and try and figure out how it is supposed to go . I have been lucky that the tunes I have written have resonated and some of them have been recorded and other's are performed by other musicians fairly regularly , mostly in Australia by jazz musicians . I think Australia needs a body of original jazz compositions which can be reinterpreted so I am proud to be able to make a small contribution to the growing body of music written by folks like Mike Nock , Dale Barlow , Bernie Mcgann and Paul Grabowsky . The Australian general public is not greatly aware of this resource but I believe in the future it will be cherished as part of the Australian identity and soul ( perhaps when those who think Alcohol alone is entertainment enough are in the minority ) .

Why have I written so many words on this blog . Because I believe recorded music HAS VALUE .

The digital age and the internet have changed the way that music can be delivered . It is now no longer necessary to have a collection of your own music . It's possible for a central database to have all the music and we can listen to whatever we wish to whenever we wish . I think this is a great thing and I am all for it . Unfortunately at the time that the internet was created most of the music recorded at a time was owned by non-musicians . Sadly at this point the interests of musicians and the "value" of recorded music has been ERODED to the point where in the USA on Spotify you can listen to 10 hours of music FREE of CHARGE and for $5 you can listen to any music you like at any time ...

It is my opinion that $5 a month for as much recorded music as you can listen too (including most of the great music recorded in the last 100 years) is a DISGRACE and quite frankly and offence to music and musicians . It is so far below the minimum wage it is a joke .

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music-artists-earn-online/

At this point I ask my fellow musicians to take control of their own destiny . We need to set up our own distribution systems for music owned by musicians , with fair pricing and PROPER ACCOUNTABILITY . I believe that this will happen in the future and that the sooner the better ...

I am convinced there are a lot of people in the world who want to continue to support new music to be created and recorded and that they would be prepared to pay a lot more than $5 a month in order to support the latest product being produced . It is my sincere hope that musicians worldwide wake up at this moment and realise that we must take the "business" into our own hands . Let's hope that "Spotify" is actually the beginning of a new age of recorded music where the next Allan Holdsworth can record his/her compositions and be paid properly by the world's music lovers to listen to it . It could be a beautiful future where the creativity and talent of musicians can shine without being told what to play by "businessmen" and anyone with a decent idea can hope to get fair renumeration for it by music lovers .

Let's hope !

Letter to Peter Garrett . MP

The Hon Peter Garrett AM, MPThank you for your time. Your comments have been successfully submitted via http://www.aph.gov.au You have sent the following details: Name: Sean Wayland Address: 571 6th ave apartment 1 City: Brooklyn State or Territory: N.S.W Postcode: 11215 Country: United States Telephone Number: +1 347 5231455 Email Address: seanwayland@gmail.com Comments: Hi Peter, I am an Australian musician living in New York. I studied jazz piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of music in 1992. I am well known amongst the jazz community in Sydney. I was a founding member of the Jazzgroove Association in Sydney. I left for New York and a bigger pool of musicians and opportunities about 5 years ago. I live in Brooklyn with my wife. I am a big midnight oil fan. Jim Moginie is an online acquaintance. One time I had a lengthy conversation with Rob Hirst when we got stuck in a performers van together en-route to the Wangaratta jazz festival. I am writing to ask for your political not musical help. Australia's recorded jazz history is disappearing fast. Most recordings that still exist on LP are fading. Older musicians and independent record company owner's are dying before their copyright can be passed on. If something isn't done this valuable history will be lost for good. A solution would be to create an online database of titles with reference to their locations in various libraries. I have contacted the National Film and Sound archive about this. They are willing to give some help but jazz is a small part of their large program and the law limits what they can do. A legal solution needs to be sought that would allow out of print music to be rereleased. Perhaps if an album was out of print for 20 years the copyright in the masters would automatically refer back to the musicians or their families. If it was legal and encouraged for musicians to digitize their collections and leave them at the music school libraries (like the one at the Sydney Con) this music could be saved. With the internet an online wikipedia style database of recordings could be set up cheaply. The Australian people could edit it and take care of their own history so to speak. I also believe that a valuable business could be created if the law would allow it. My piano teacher at the Conservatorium Roger Frampton died in 2000 aged 52. He created music in the 1970's which I have never been able to hear despite quite a lot of searching. I am told it is very good. I believe that his music should be heard by Australian's and the world. It should be taught in schools. The producer of some of those old Frampton LP's is approaching 90 years of age. It is time for action. I have set up a facebook group in an attempt to gain some momentum on this issue. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_188182267891758&ap=1 Please email me thank you. I hope all is well and that you still get a chance to get into the ocean in the 2035 postcode. Yours Sincerely Sean Wayland

synths/samplers

What makes Synthesizers and sample based instruments sound " thin " up in the high registers ? For really low notes I think sometimes they are better than real instruments if you have a decent sized speaker . Not so for for synths and especially samplers . I wonder if the sampling rates wen't up really high would that help ? I also wonder that when a person tunes a real instrument that something happens when they go higher . My synths sound more out of tune up high too to my ears . It would be an interesting project to build a synth or sampler with a really high sampling rate and then to tune every note and see if it would then compare to a "real" instrument . With "real" instruments the "string tension" or "embouchure" pressure gets much higher is you get really high which changes the sound and makes it "scream" . How would you imitate that with a synthesizer ?