“That
is not what I expected,” remarked a previous Myopic Books music series
participant after the set ended. I had the same reaction. Saxophonist Danny
Kamins, guitarist Alex Cohen and drummer Ryan Packard called their trio Paul
Mitchell. Yep – Paul Mitchell. You know, that hair products guy. Maybe it’s a
coincidence. Or maybe not: That name seems more suited to an ironic punk band
than an improvised/creative free jazz group. And much of Paul Mitchell’s vibe
came closer to late 60s period, pure psychedelic freak-out “rock” jams than most
relatively developed free jazz; though I sensed the intent was to be seen as closer
to the latter. Pure musical freak-outs are always welcome in my book (well,
almost always), so that’s not necessarily either good or bad. Unexpected is
all.
The
beginning of Paul Mitchell’s last piece felt a bit more like they were following the
music instead of leading or forcing (not that that always has to be the goal…).
It’s, of course, always originating in the players. But sometimes players are
aware, sensitive, and practiced enough to create a feeling of near total
organicness; an illusion of “channeling.” This illusion was not so present
here. Still, I salute Paul Mitchell. Any person/group that has the stones to
name their band after an icon of hair care/styling products deserves some
props.
What
they may have lacked in technique or subtlety, Paul Mitchell made up for in
enthusiasm and energy – in spades; Particularly drummer Ryan Packard. In a Celebrity
Drummer Deathmatch, Packard would easily TKO Muppet drummer Animal early in the
first round; or any other drummer for that matter. Well… maybe not Keith Moon.
But
whether or not pure energy and enthusiasm make up for a perceived lack of
technique, cohesiveness, or subtlety will depend on the individual. And even
then, the listener’s perception in this regard may vary depending upon that individual’s
particular mood on that particular evening. Endless variables. But I’ll leave
that type of “music appreciation and
ideation as effected by subjects’ mood variants, coupled with personal
background/history analysis” research to the pharmaceutical industry; or
maybe some starry-eyed, hippie wannabe psychology grad student. Maybe Big Pharma
– based on extensively documented, scientific journal confirmed, double-blind
3-yearlong studies - will eventually market a new line of drugs that will allow
the “patient” to better enjoy and “understand” musical styles heretofore beyond
their ability to appreciate. I can see it now: It will be found that stimulation
of the blah blah enzyme in the blah blah portion of the anterior blah blah
section of the posterior lobe will be discovered to trigger its synaptic
serotonin bridge, which has been found to become nominally active whenever a
subject listens to more than 3 minutes of late period Coltrane. Relatedly,
pharmaceutical researchers will discover that their newly synthesized chemical
compound, Stylopraxanol, has been shown to be effective in triggering the
posterior lobe’s synaptic serotonin bridge function (now referred to as the “Coltrane
Bridge”) in 50.1% of the study’s subjects. Stylopraxanol and its variants will
be marketed toward specific stylistic demographics, heightening the user’s pleasure
while concurrently broadening his/her “musical cultural affinity”: A black pill
for blues/jazz, a white pill for heavy metal/bubblegum pop, a brown pill for
Indian/Middle Eastern musics, etc… The possibilities are limitless. I smell fat
year-end bonuses and lawsuits! Congress will pass legislation banning the
marketing of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Hip-Hop/Rap pill for “public security”
reasons. This legislation will be buoyed by Tipper Gore’s independent study
group’s findings showing that the marketing of such a pill could increase the
level of political/social unrest by 3%; upping the trace amount of true
revolutionary impulse throughout the population to an “unhealthy” level.
Historically, FDA regulations will be narrowly written and strictly enforced on
this issue. Additionally, these new regulations will make the Debbie Boone pill
(clear gel in its meds script form) a required ingredient in all breakfast
cereals in its undetectable form, and will appear on the side of the box listed with the other ingredients as “artificial and natural flavors.”
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