Has the best music already been played?

Carson Leighton · Post by **Carson Leighton** » 8 Jan 2012 2:33 pm

I am beginning to wonder if the best music hasn't already been written, recorded and played..If the best is yet to come,,I hope it comes along soon, cause I'm stating to get old.

cheers,,,Carson

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 8 Jan 2012 3:51 pm

Carson, I fully agree and wonder the same thing! I would take an old recording of John Phillip Sousa before I would listen to that computer digital new country crap that's on the radio. Corporate music. No soul.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 8 Jan 2012 4:35 pm

For all we know, the best music may have been played before recording was invented.

Carson Leighton · Post by **Carson Leighton** » 8 Jan 2012 5:56 pm

b0b,,you are absolutely right,,not necessarily recorded..There's a lot we will never know about past musicians and their performances...Carson

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 8 Jan 2012 6:54 pm

Yass, the Best music has been played, but only once or twice.

But they are getting ready to play it again, though.
~Russ

Bill Cunningham · Post by **Bill Cunningham** » 8 Jan 2012 8:18 pm

Only if your ears (or maybe it's your brain?)are more than 50 years old. I think I can say that because I am 53 and only in the past couple of years have I gotten to the point of not liking most anythng new!

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 8 Jan 2012 9:07 pm

b0b wrote:For all we know, the best music may have been played before recording was invented.

Fortunately for us, they wrote it down.

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 8 Jan 2012 9:30 pm

I'll take Bouree over Badonkadonk anyday.

Best is subjective, but Im with b0b on this one. J. S. Bach wrote some of the best music ever, beside inventing a tuning system the Western world has largely used ever since, long before recording ever came to pass, IMO. How many modern compositions will stand the test of time over hundreds of years? A few maybe, but most modern music really does appear fairly infantile compared to the beauty, complexity and mathematical perfection of his compositions. Luckily, it was all written down for mankind to enjoy, and play again, throughout the ages.

(You beat me to it Earnest).

Clete

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 9 Jan 2012 6:01 am

For me the best music was recorded between 1965 and 1975. It may not be the most important thing in life, but I'm grateful that I was able to experience this aera in music first hand.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 9 Jan 2012 6:23 am

While maybe the best compositions have already been composed, I think it's possible that the best improvisation has yet to come. Jazz improvisation is still developing, so I believe the best is yet to come, in that respect.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 9 Jan 2012 9:13 am

It's a very broad statement, but overall I would agree with it.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 9 Jan 2012 9:38 am

To paraphrase Earnest Bovine, the best music is what you listened to before you were married.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 9 Jan 2012 9:42 am

I hear new music that blows my mind regularly. Many current musicians/composers coming up are standing on some big shoulders that they fully understand. They are taking the ball and running with it. There are some whole new forms evolving that couldn't have been imagined 20 years ago. And some beautiful songs !

Saying music stopped at whoever it is you like is like saying that math stopped with Pythagoras.

Keep in mind that unchecked nostalgia can be fatal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 9 Jan 2012 9:54 am

Bob Hoffnar wrote:I hear new music that blows my mind regularly. Many current musicians/composers coming up are standing on some big shoulders that they fully understand. They are taking the ball and running with it. There are some whole new forms evolving that couldn't have been imagined 20 years ago. And some beautiful songs !

Saying music stopped at whoever it is you like is like saying that math stopped with Pythagoras.

Keep in mind that unchecked nostalgia can be fatal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia

Exactly. There's more musical diversity and experimentation now than there ever was. The internet represents a massive modern global Renaissance. There's a lot of fluff that you have to wade through, but there are several factors that make today THE largest blip in musical creativity.

It's the new printing press. Learn how to use it and enjoy.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 9 Jan 2012 10:08 am

James Mayer wrote: Exactly. There's more musical diversity and experimentation now than there ever was. The internet represents a massive modern global Renaissance. There's a lot of fluff that you have to wade through, but there are several factors that make today THE largest blip in musical creativity.

It's the new printing press. Learn how to use it and enjoy.

I think we're in a very weird time musically. I'm still not sure what to make of it. As long as I still have a pulse, I'll endeavor to make the best music I can.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 9 Jan 2012 10:33 am

You may go to the internet for good music, I go back to my record collection or ad someting that I found on the net indeed. But the radio or supermarket is bad. It's not in the air anymore or in people's life. It's become a niche.

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 9 Jan 2012 10:38 am

Joachim Kettner wrote:You may go to the internet for good music, I go back to my record collection or ad someting that I found on the net indeed. But the radio or supermarket is bad. It's not in the air anymore or in people's life. It's become a niche.

The television has been replaced by the internet in many homes. The radio as well. It's the same thing, different medium, but with far more channels.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 9 Jan 2012 10:44 am

You maybe right James, but how I mis the times when a new release ws played on the radio, not by Christine Aguilera but by Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, the Beatles .....

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 9 Jan 2012 10:48 am

Mike,

While maybe the best compositions have already been composed,...

New Music composition is absolutely blowing up these days in the jazz/improv world. Genre is becoming a meaningless word in that scene.

I will just mention a few guys that I know that you gotta look into:

John Hollenbeck
Morten Qvenild
Denman Marony
Butch Morris
Henry Threadgil
David First (Drone composer stuff)
Phillip Johnston ( Microscopic septet guy)
Elivind Opsvik

I could keep going. In NYC go check out what Dave Binney is up to. What his drummer Dan Weiss and bass player can do is ridiculous. Find out where Jacob Sacks is playing in town. Whole different world.

Keep in mind that these are currently living and working musicians. They have not had the benefit of time to filter there musical output.

BTW: I didn't find any of this music on the internet and I don't think that this era is particularly more interesting than any other. But I do think there is great new stuff happening. What I do is go out to concerts and gigs and say yes to every chance to play something I never heard of before. I think it is important to get out of the internet world and go squish your toes in the mud when it comes to new music.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 9 Jan 2012 11:35 am

I'm hip to a lot of those artists (in fact, one of my office mates and good friends is an original and current Microscopic Septet member, Dave Sewelson, who you might know), particularly David Binney, who's records I enjoy. I'm not sure if I love the compositions, though--same with Steve Lehman, who is also very good. There is a lot of new ground being broken, but I think the music is not as memorable, at least to me. My jury is still out.

I consider 20th century French composition as the pinnacle.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 9 Jan 2012 1:55 pm

b0b wrote:For all we know, the best music may have been played before recording was invented.

Only if there were prior civilizations before our's that were better. In our's, Satchmo and Fats were the beginning of truly listenable music. And with electric guitars came really good music, then we hit the late '70s with corporates, overbearing tech, and cocaine homoginizing it back to nothing.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 9 Jan 2012 2:06 pm

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 9 Jan 2012 2:09 pm

Just keep digging folks It's there and I continue to do my part to expose real country and bluegrass

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 9 Jan 2012 3:30 pm

Mike,
The 20th century French composition scene is amazing. The whole epoch with the left bank and all that was wild.

I think you might really like what is going on in Norway's jazz scene. They have dropped the whole swing ball and chain and are coming up with some beautiful new music. Morten Qvenild's band "In The Country" is a great place to start.

I know what you mean about Binney's writing. The thing to listen for in his stuff for me is the spontaneous rhythmic modulations. Those guys are astonishing on the bandstand. Youtubes and recordings do not do it justice. I have heard some not to be believed playing down at the 55 Bar. On that note I was at a concert of Henry Threadgil's at the Knitting Factory one time where half the audience was actually weeping because of the sound coming off the stage. It was this beautiful wave of grief and sadness he created with his own brand of musical pointillism. I have never heard anything remotely like what Henry does when he gets it right. I was with some composition majors and when the music stopped we were wiping tears from our faces. We looked at each other and and said "what the heck just happened ?" Threadgil taps into some deep stuff.

Say Hey to Dave S for me !

Janice,
Have you checked out "The Carper Family" ? Whatever it is those girls got it !

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 9 Jan 2012 7:17 pm

I'm reminded of the story,perhaps apocryphal,of the clerk in the U.S. Patent Office who resigned his post in the 1830's,saying that everything that could possibly be invented had already been.