Author Archive: mmelinger
In Praise of Z
One of the best things about this profession is the opportunity to work with people who are great at what they do. There have been scores of them, and I learn from every single one. Quite often, it’s somebody from the rhythm section, because they have the greatest need to ‘roll with it’ and make …
Does Jazz Belong in Nightclubs?
Just asking the question makes me feel queasy. I mean, on the one hand–of course it does! Jazz was born in nightclubs. And speakeasies. And whorehouses. (Sorry, Mom…) But that was over a hundred years ago. Is it still a good fit? I’ve been thinking about it lately because of recent efforts in Portland, Oregon …
Snowpiercer and your Smart Phone
I finally got around to seeing Snowpiercer, a near-future dystopian tale of claustrophobic chaos. I had high hopes, because I really enjoyed the director’s previous feature called The Host. The director is South Korean Bong Joon-Ho, and Snowpiercer is his first English-language film. The Host was essentially a creature feature, but with some nice twists. I …
The Death of Poker Night
Around 1975 or so, I lived at the Ark. Not the ‘two by two’ kind, but the housing cooperative of a hundred residents that was at 2000 Pearl here in Austin. The building is still there, and it’s still a housing co-op, but it’s no longer called the Ark. I hope to high heaven that none …
Thank You, Robert Fripp
Musical paths are meandering. The point is never the arrival, always the journey. And every musician can point to at least one event, and frequently several events, that spurred that journey onward. My first big push came from Robert Fripp. Or more accurately, his band King Crimson–whose first album I bought just because the cover looked interesting. …
Why should anyone pay anything for music ever?
Oh Lord, not this again. Speaking as someone whose sole income has been derived from performing/arranging/recording/teaching music for the past thirty years, I’m hardly impartial on the issue. It seems like a no-brainer, right? Commerce is based on the exchange of money for goods and services. But the onslaught of technology has now brought every …
My Fitzcarraldo Season
Actually, it’s the Count Basie season. But the parallels are there. In case you missed the 1980’s (and who could blame you, really?), Fitzcarraldo is an epic motion picture by the great director Werner Herzog, who insisted on living firsthand the madness he put on film. In this case, he insisted on moving a 320-ton steamship …
2014–A Bad Year for Jazz
And it’s not even September yet. I don’t know why, but this is shaping up to be the year that popular culture decided to take a dump on jazz. Everyone from the normally sympathetic New Yorker to the Washington Post decided it was a slow news month, so time to let ‘er rip. But even …
Are we not men? You be the judge.
I went to a DEVO concert last night. I had seen them once before, but it was 35 years ago. Gee, I wonder if they had changed. Sure. A couple of their guys had died. And the loss of Bob2 was a particularly heavy blow. But aside from all that, how was it? First of all, …
Everything I know about morality came from Shelley Berman.
When I was ten years old, I chanced upon this book in the bottom drawer of the vanity in my big sister’s room. The room itself had been unoccupied for four years, since she had left home to attend college at UT. So how this book ended up there is anyone’s guess. But there it …
saxsalon 