go, dog. gone.

Frequent and long-time be.jazz commenter Godoggo has lately been very active on his own blog. I like his style.

I saw a second-hand copy of John Carter's Dauwhe a few weeks ago and rushed to pick it up, even though I wasn't sure if it was part of his famed Roots And Folklore series. I've heard a lot about the series and Castles of Ghana in particular, but Dauwhe is the first one I've come across. It's still unlistened-to, as the first time I put it on was while laying down the new floors and the music quickly proved unsuitable to such a task. It was replaced with either 3121, T.I. or Arcade Fire, so my discovery of that appetising "seamless melding of composition and free improvisation... rooted so deeply in the blues and swing" will have to wait a little while longer.

Speaking of the composition-free improvisation continuum, G. links to Steuart Liebig's "Goals in Composition/A Riposte to Critics," which is a worthy addition to the "Artists Should Be Writing" file.

[Some people] have been disappointed that the improvised material did not have the same intent and fervor that they are used to hearing from other people who work in a similar vein. To them I would say that they are used to people improvising with disregard for the written material, which is an anathema to me.

Too often I have heard concerts or recordings where written material is played and then the improvised material starts . . . and there is little or no connection between them. I find this lack of connection tiresome - - I often question the need for the written material if the players do not tie their improvisation into the piece at hand.