Monday, April 28, 2025

Musicians: What is Deconstruction? What is Resistance? What is the System?



The Facebook posting above by Sebastien Ammann really opened my ears and mind. Right now, while the US is enduring the Neo-Fascist Trump 2 Administration, I don't really feel like making beautiful music.

My approach, so far, to making music is to take conventional jazz standards, deconstruct them, given them a new name and just improvise over the deconstruction. For me, musical deconstruction is tearing the song (chords and melody) apart and reassembling it in some other, updated form. For example, the jazz standard Our Love is Here to Stay becomes Fascism is Here to Stay.

Sebastiene Ammann points out that this type of improvisation is a form of resistance. Here's what I think he is saying. If you are a musician trying to become part of the current Music System (Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classical, whatever) you are involved in a very rigid even authoritarian endeavor. Even Jazz has become Academic and Classical with rigidly proscribed forms (Play the Head, Improvise, Play the Head, Out). If this is what you want to do, Great! I'm not criticizing** just saying that you are part of the System (just try playing like Eric Dolphy in your High School Jazz band, even though Dolphy is an established Jazz musician).

Let's also point out that The System is what brought us the Neo-Fascist Trump 2 Administration. Being part of it makes you complicit and Complicity is Painless. A more painful route is to Deconstruct and Resist. Can You Dig It CUDI? 


Notes

** I love listening to all kinds of music; it is great escapism. There is plenty of escapist music available. Making music is a different matter. I have to have some feelings and connection with what I'm playing, not just playing notes on a page. If you decide to resist the current music system and the SocioPolitical System it is embedded in, you will: (1) not make a lot of new friends, (2) hear your songs played on the radio or on Spotify, or (3) get much work as a professional musician. The only way to deal with the repercussions of resistance is develop a philosophy of not giving a fuck (DGAF). Figure out was it important to you and DGAF about the rest of it. Musicians who have been very successful at NGAF are (1) Time Berne, a DIY New York Jazz musician and (2) Mary Halvorson. Give them a listen.