This month's Keyboard Magazine has a quote I thought I'd pass along. It
pertains to a band that I haven't heard yet. But the comments by the
interviewer at the top of the article were quite apt.
--Wheat
Keyboard magazine
Meaning, music, and connections
Eric Levy and Garaj Mahal at the musical frontier
By Carl Lumma
May 2005
Is prog really dead? Have heavy metal artists completely appropriated
the term, which was once synonymous with breakaway experimentalism? Not
at all. The booming jam band scene currently enjoys a breadth and depth
of musicianship not seen in modern music since the ’70s. If you can
stand the occasional cloud of pot smoke and the uninvited affections of
gentle people, you might be able to learn a thing or two from a band
like Garaj Mahal.
The first thing I learned is that it is possible to sell avant-garde
music to young listeners, and they will try to dance to it for at least
the first half hour, even if none of the beats being played are
divisible by two or are left unchanged for more than a measure. Bass in
five over drums in four? No problem. Extended jazz harmonies and
scales? Done. Treating any sound your instrument can make as fair game?
Check.