Music

    Ethan Iverson:

    Jazz is improvised, but jazz is also a language. Every phrase by every major stylist is in conversation with a lineage.

    Miles played with Charlie Parker, the avatar of bebop. As a generic term, “bebop” can cover a lot of terrain, but Parker himself created a specific melodic language, a specificity only matched by Bud Powell. Bird and Bud do not play the same phrases, but they share some mysterious higher ideal when it comes to the improvised line. I don’t know what it is, and I have never seen an accurate description of it, either … for myself, I call it “high bebop” or “true bebop.” 

    I would love to know what Iverson means by this. It would be fun to hear him play a few phrases illustrative of this “mysterious higher ideal.” ♫ 

    Damon Krukowski:

    The story of Pandora’s box isn’t about closing it. AI music is already a part of the technological landscape we live in; however, it won’t dominate that landscape forever. In fact, I would suggest its dominance may be very brief indeed.

    Why? Cause it sucks.

    I’m not going to link to the fully generative AI “country” song that supposedly topped a Billboard chart recently, cause I don’t want to give it any more clicks. Let’s just assume it’s as bad as you imagine, cause in fact it’s worse. As is most everything that AI churns out. It’s beyond imagination because it doesn’t come from one. 

    ♫ 

    Can AI tell us anything meaningful about Bob Dylan’s songs? | Aeon Essays:

    One theme steadily rises over the entire course [of Dylan’s career as a songwriter]: time. Its persistent ascent through the decades aligns intuitively with Dylan’s own aging and increasing preoccupation with legacy, and the passage of years. 

    ♫