Not mean but be

Haven't done one of these in awhile.

There are various wrap-ups of the IAJE jazz blog panel featuring Darcy and Ryshpen, among others of interest to us who do and read these. In reading the posts about it, I'm struck by the position that the moderator took (as I read it), of initial skeptical derision. First, why doeas anyone need to justify a creative endeavor, be it a band or a painting or a blog. ee cummings said "a poem should not mean, but be". I'll defend blogs in that category

Second, anyone who reads any of the bloggers on the panel, or the other "major" jazz blogs (my big three are Darcy, Do the Math and be-jazz, both in terms of eyeballs and content) doesn't read them because the creators are self-promoting, they read them because they're worth reading. For the same reason political junkies read Woodward or Friedman or whoever, or football fans read Peter King. They're knowledgeable, well-connected, and have strong, informed opinions. And if there's promotion, especially of a quality product on top, what's wrong with that. But why would anyone read a blog that only self-promotes? And finally, what's wrong with self-promoting, anyway? It's not like the papers and the radio and the labels are going out of their way to help us out... Anyhooow, more links:

D-Out has a phenomenally warped version of Chameleon this week- yes! My middle schoolers are doing a big-band version of that old, overplayed chestnut for their upcoming concert, so anything i can give them to keep it from turning into an unwitting porn-groove is a good thing. (On the plus side, having to teach Chameleon does give me an excuse to teach them to learn the basslines and the rhythm parts as part of learning to improvise on a tune.)

YogaHope is featured today in the New York Times! I've done a little teaching at the Hello House, which is the facility they highlight, and it's a remarkable experience. The article doesn't overstate anything, believe it or not.

More as I see 'em.