Musical Assumptions

adorshki

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I have a pretty good collection of Terje Rypdal, Keith Jarrett, and Ralph Towner on ECM vinyl, and there is something magical about playing that stuff at 3 in the morning (adult distilled beverages optional), and contemplating everything.
Ol' Manfred didn't limit himself to the higher latitudes, either:
Egberto Gismonti:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vobUqH3OLvI

Tommy Emmanuel could take lessons from this guy.
:friendly_wink:
 

Nuuska

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I have a pretty good collection of Terje Rypdal, Keith Jarrett, and Ralph Towner on ECM vinyl, and there is something magical about playing that stuff at 3 in the morning (adult distilled beverages optional), and contemplating everything.


What a pity this forum does not support "likes" - I would have given about a dozen for this . . .

BUT - past midnight here and alarm clock at 7.05 - so time to hit hay - nite to each and all.
 

mike1100

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I was told just as dinner was served we were in for a treat --- Your host, with good intentions, made a misstep. Most people wouldn't surprise their guests by playing a specific movie (The Notebook, The Exorcist, Hamburger Hill) that wasn't agreed upon beforehand. Same should go if the focus is to listen to music. In my opinion, background music, if desired, should be pretty unobtrusive. Now if my old buddies are coming over to hear tunes and drink beer, well we all know what to expect and new music is typically introduced via a single song, not an entire album.

another friend and his wife invited us out tonight to go to an Irish pub and listen to some music tonight. --- At least you can politely say, thanks but I'll pass. I'd make a memorable joke about it so as to not get invited to that sort of venue again, "Thanks but cabbage and Irish music gives me gas. I'm more of a blues and BBQ guy." etc...

(Side Rant) While we're talking about being a captive audience to music, I enjoy eating at restaurant patios, but hate that most of them play (often blast) music outside. Many shopping parking lots now have speakers blaring music as you walk to a store.

While Rock And Roll Aint Noise Pollution, all this "background music" sure is......
 

walrus

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I was told just as dinner was served we were in for a treat --- Your host, with good intentions, made a misstep. Most people wouldn't surprise their guests by playing a specific movie (The Notebook, The Exorcist, Hamburger Hill) that wasn't agreed upon beforehand. Same should go if the focus is to listen to music. In my opinion, background music, if desired, should be pretty unobtrusive. Now if my old buddies are coming over to hear tunes and drink beer, well we all know what to expect and new music is typically introduced via a single song, not an entire album.

another friend and his wife invited us out tonight to go to an Irish pub and listen to some music tonight. --- At least you can politely say, thanks but I'll pass. I'd make a memorable joke about it so as to not get invited to that sort of venue again, "Thanks but cabbage and Irish music gives me gas. I'm more of a blues and BBQ guy." etc...

(Side Rant) While we're talking about being a captive audience to music, I enjoy eating at restaurant patios, but hate that most of them play (often blast) music outside. Many shopping parking lots now have speakers blaring music as you walk to a store.

While Rock And Roll Aint Noise Pollution, all this "background music" sure is......

+1 on disliking loud "background" music...

walrus
 

fronobulax

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(Side Rant) While we're talking about being a captive audience to music, I enjoy eating at restaurant patios, but hate that most of them play (often blast) music outside. Many shopping parking lots now have speakers blaring music as you walk to a store.

(Response to Side Rant) There are studies that suggest benefits business owners reap based upon the music they play, or don't. My favorite is a convenience store in an urban neighborhood that got rid of its loitering problem by playing classical music outside. Says a lot about the neighborhood because I tend to linger to hear classical music. But the patio and parking lot music are almost certainly because someone believes it solves a problem or increases revenue, even if it drives off some of us.
 

mellowgerman

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(Response to Side Rant) There are studies that suggest benefits business owners reap based upon the music they play, or don't. My favorite is a convenience store in an urban neighborhood that got rid of its loitering problem by playing classical music outside. Says a lot about the neighborhood because I tend to linger to hear classical music. But the patio and parking lot music are almost certainly because someone believes it solves a problem or increases revenue, even if it drives off some of us.

Ha that's brilliant and pretty funny. I should recommend it to the owner of the corner store near me.
 

The Guilds of Grot

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I find it interesting that your friend had no idea as to what kind of music you enjoy. How close of friends are you? It seems music might be a discussion topic that might arise during an previous evenings conversation. My friends certainly know what kind of music i like. (Of course there is the possibility this could be because my friends are also my band mates.)
 

adorshki

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Ha that's brilliant and pretty funny. I should recommend it to the owner of the corner store near me.
Music hath powers to drive consumers to buy.
Especially when played at barely audible levels in indoor malls.
Just loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to be identifiable.
Causes irritation and anxiety which unwary consumers attempt to quell by buying stuff.
I am not joking.
MUZAK was originally a subscription service for employment environments that deliberately altered tempos over the course of the day to regulate productivity:
"Stimulus progression[edit]
The company began customizing the pace and style of the music provided throughout the workday in an effort to maintain productivity.[16] The music was programmed in 15-minute blocks, gradually getting faster in tempo and louder and brassier in instrumentation, to encourage workers to speed up their pace. Following the completion of a 15-minute segment, the music would fall silent for 15 minutes. This was partly done for technical reasons, but company-funded research also showed that alternating music with silence limited listener fatigue, and made the "stimulus" effect of Stimulus Progression more effective.
This was the time when Muzak began recording their own orchestra—actually a number of orchestras in studios around the country, indeed around the world—composed of top local studio musicians. This allowed them to strictly control all aspects of the music for insertion into specific slots in the Stimulus Progression programs.
"
There are even Biblical as well as modern examples of weaponizing music:
Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho with trumpets (perhaps foreshadowing jazz's popularity with WWII era GI's?);
And of course, the saturation of Vatican diplomatic mission in Panama City with thrash metal sound pressure during the US invasion of Panama in 2000:

"Operation Nifty Package was an operation launched by Navy SEALs to prevent Noriega's escape. They sank Noriega's boat and destroyed his jet, at a cost of four killed and nine wounded. Military operations continued for several weeks, mainly against military units of the Panamanian army. Noriega remained at large for several days, but realizing he had few options in the face of a massive manhunt and a $1 million reward for his capture, he obtained refuge in the Vatican diplomatic mission in Panama City. The U.S. military's psychological pressure on him and diplomatic pressure on the Vatican mission, however, was relentless, as was the playing of loud rock-and-roll music day and night in a densely populated area.[33] The report of the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed that the music was used principally to prevent parabolic microphones from being used to eavesdrop on negotiations, and not as a psychological weapon based around Noriega's supposed loathing of rock music.[29] Noriega finally surrendered to the U.S. military on 3 January 1990."

"just sayin'"
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The Guilds of Grot

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You know, AL's co-workers must think he sends out a awful lot of long emails with all that typing that comes from his office/cubical!
 
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dougdnh

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I 'kinda like' Tommy Emanuel, folk music, some country, some pop rock, but I wouldn't want to hear it all night. The music I can listen to for hours would include 50's & 60's jazz, bossa nova, Beatles, roots r&b and classical. There are some amazing artists like Emanuel, Hendrix, Satrioni, etc that I can be awed by, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are something I want to hear for hours on end. When ever I host a dinner part or such, I try to put on an innocuous mix of things like James Taylor, Kenny Burrell, Stacey Kent, Gilberto, Joni Mitchell, etc.
 

adorshki

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You know, AL's co-workers must think he sends out a awful lot of long emails with all that typing that comes from his office/cubical!
In fact a lot of my business is conducted via email; and a lot of it is repeat orders of standard product selections and over the years I've developed a fairly loyal customer base.
But truthfully the industry's changing and a fair amount do fall off the vine, and new customers do need to be found.
 

gjmalcyon

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I find it interesting that your friend had no idea as to what kind of music you enjoy.

Sometimes it is easier to be a musical chameleon, particularly if you are a musical omnivore. I have friends that would not sit for 30 seconds ofThe Köln Concert and other friends who would run screaming from the room at the first hint of Kendrick Lamar or Rautavaara or Ralph Stanley or Horace Silver (all of whom I listen to).

The nice thing is I will probably like what you like.
 

Nuuska

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Sometimes it is easier to be a musical chameleon, particularly if you are a musical omnivore. I have friends that would not sit for 30 seconds ofThe Köln Concert and other friends who would run screaming from the room at the first hint of Kendrick Lamar or Rautavaara or Ralph Stanley or Horace Silver (all of whom I listen to).

The nice thing is I will probably like what you like.


I suppose you are not talking about Tapio, but Eino Juhani.

But it as been the story of my life, that some people looking at my record collection are desperate : Don´t you have anything good! And some others go : Where did you find all these gems?

Musical - and other - tastes vary - viva la difference . . .



P.S. you were right - it was Don McLean - and it was super evening - even that he did not play any songs from second album. But he had good mood - voice was fine - band was good - technically nothing to bicker about - so all in all very pleasant evening with my wife, who also thought it was great.
 
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gjmalcyon

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I suppose you are not talking about Tapio, but Eino Juhani.

Joo.

It started with Cantus Arcticus. I heard that piece several years ago sitting in my office (I have Philly's daytime classical station, WRTI, playing at all times), and I was floored by what I was hearing.
 
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adorshki

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Joo.

It started with Cantus Arcticus. I heard that piece several years ago sitting in my office (I have Philly's daytime classical station, WRTI, playing at all times), and I was floored by what I was hearing.
I know the feeling, I get it from KCSM.org (PBS commercial free jazz 24/7) pretty regularly.
Which reminds me:
Did you catch my reference for one of ECM's artists from more southerly latitudes in post #21?
:smile:
 

Charlie Bernstein

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One of my nieces showed up for a three-day Thanksgiving visit once with an iPod that she'd generously loaded up with, I swear to God, "music old people like" - stuff along the lines of "Reunited and it feels so good" and "Love lifts us up where we belong."

I think there were two tolerable tunes - an Aretha and a Beatles.

As if the music itself weren't enough to push us off the ledge, she ran it through these cheezy little iPod accessory speakers that sounded like - uh - an iPod running through cheezy speakers. Whew!
 
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davismanLV

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If they're not playing personally, then it's background music and keep it at a level (low) so people can talk and socialize. This is not a concert or anything else..... it's a social occasion!! Not for other people to ENDURE your taste in music. I haven't read all the responses but that's my opinion, and that's what I think!! :stupid:
 
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