Tag: Linkedin

We’re getting ready to send out a big mailing of my new Solo CD to press and radio. I once again find myself in the bizzarre position of having to mutiliate my CD packaging, because if I don’t, a small percentage of the CDs will end up being sold as new on Ebay for about two dollars.

A colleague of mine commented that he’s not bothered by this issue, because he doesn’t make the CDs to make a profit, but more to get gigs. It’s not that I expect to make a lot of money selling the CDs online. However, it’s degrading to see the brand new product of my blood and sweat practically given away on Ebay like a soon-to-expire bag of frozen peas on sale at Walmart.

I understand financial need, having been a professional musician most of my life. Some jazz writers get hundreds of free CDs every month. I understand they can’t listen to all of them. But selling them as new is greedy and wrong. It undermines the artist who trusted you to treat his/her music with respect, it undermines what’s left of the record business, and it undermines the music by cheapening it to the point where people think a song is worth, not even the lousy 99 cents itunes charges, but perhaps 20 or 30 cents.

So it comes down to this: Should I clip the corner? Write on the CD with a sharpie? Or just take the plastic off? (In the latter case it will have to be sold as “like new” or “almost new”.) I haven’t made up my mind yet.

If a critic or listener doesn’t like my treatment of a particular standard, that in itself is not a problem for me. Maybe it’s too inside for his/her tastes, maybe it too outside for someone else’s taste. What disturbs me is the preconception that if the material is based on a standard, then by definition it cannot be used in a way that is creative or worthwhile musically.

It’s equally absurd to argue that, because the material is drawn from a particular time and place, that the art created from that material is limited to the aesthetic of that time and place.

The idea that the raw material one uses to create art automatically creates bad art is as absurd as the idea that one’s choice of raw material automatically creates good art.

If you don’t like the music, that’s fine. But don’t blame melodies that people still listen to after 60, 70, 80 or more years.

All of the above was all on my mind even before I played at University of the Streets the other night with Hilliard Greene’s In and Out Ensemble, a trio which that night included Gerald Cleaver on drums. Hill’s concept of the trio is to play standards in a way in which there are no preconceptions, no rules. We have two more dates this month (with Newman Taylor Baker on drums), and if anyone really believes that standards are too stilted or limiting an archtype, I strongly encourage you to come hear this trio.

Billy and I are looking forward to our west coast tour in October. We have several dates in place already and are working on more.