Friday, July 16, 2004

Freedom-ish Suite

There are some very basic things i don't understand about the Freedom Suite by Sonny Rollins.  Why did he write such an awful melody for the first movement?  Why do he and Oscar Pettiford feel like the need to end every damn line on the tonic?  Why does Pettiford try so hard not to swing at all on the second movement?  Overall, I would say the first movement sits at about the same failure level as the fusion movement in general.  They're trying to do something they aren't prepared to do.  They're trying to play really hip without trully adopting any of the 'really hip' vocabulary.  Every once in a while Max Roach shows some attitude, but then he'll go back and do the 'swing on the hi-hat' thing that was popularized around 1870 or so and ruin the whole deal.  There are, course, some high points throughout.  Sonny plays some interesting and typically melodic ideas.  Somehow, though, his playing loses impact when you take away one of his biggest weapons: harmony.  Not that it's gone completely, just played very differently.  I want to hear this Sonny and Don Cherry i hear tell of.
     Anyway, that's where i am now with it.  Maybe someday i'll find the answers to my questions(like "No shit the melody sucks, you moron, thats the point."  I guess I just don't get the point). 

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