by Peter Saltzman | Jul 31, 2019 | Aesthetic Scholarship, IOTL, Music, Words
In which I do battle with the almost perfect symmetry in John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” to try to create something a little messy and asymmetrical. Have you ever listened to a piece of music that impressed you on its technical merits but left you cold? This happens to...
by Peter Saltzman | Jul 22, 2019 | IOTL, Uncategorized
Are free will and free improvisation truly free, or am I deluding myself? And is deluding myself a necessary condition for free will/improvisation? Free improvisation is a primary theme of my podcast, Improvisations on the Ledge, so it’s probably about time to...
by Peter Saltzman | Jul 15, 2019 | IOTL, Music, Stateless Art, Words
In an era when musical context has been subsumed in a sea of listener playlists, on-demand streaming and the general obsolescence of the album, who creates the larger context for a single piece of music? You do! Until I do. Composers, songwriters, and performers of a...
by Peter Saltzman | Jul 11, 2019 | Music, One Human Minute
One Human Minute by Peter Saltzman Seven Days Seven Days in 7/8 Time. Counting, counting, forever counting and counting… Seven Days Counting like a fool Trying to keep it cool Another seven days Winding up the clock Going tick tick tock Another seven days...
by Peter Saltzman | Jul 8, 2019 | Aesthetic Scholarship, IOTL, Piano
The episode in which anything can happen but mostly doesn’t… In episodic television (Seinfeld, Friends, etc.), a bottle episode is one in which the writers mostly take leave of the regular format, opting for a cheaply produced, one-set show that often...
by Peter Saltzman | Jul 3, 2019 | IOTL
Left-leaning Improvisations on Patriotic Tunes for (what’s left of) Independence Day I had a whole rant planned for this episode—a musical/verbal elegy on the disaster our country has become under the regime of he-who-shall-not-be-named. But let’s face it,...
by Peter Saltzman | Jul 1, 2019 | Appreciation/Depreciation, IOTL
I’ll never dive fully into the avant-garde, but dipping my feet in that pool can be quite exhilarating! (transcription below) In episode #13, Avant-Garde Jazz for Dummies, I spoke about how avant-garde music plays a behind-the-scenes, supporting role in much of...