2/21/99
This is a new section of the website in which I spout off lots of opinionated stuff about music and life in general. I hope you'll come back and see some new and updated rants and such.
I am for all music. I feel that music is what the world needs the most right now. It is the only truly universal language on this planet and I believe it will play a crucial role in the future survival of our global culture. The world has gotten too populated to continue on with the old ways of separating into tribes and distrusting outsiders. Soon we will all be considered "insiders". The only other direction to go in would surely lead to fragmentation and war, this has been proven time and time again over the centuries. Music can be appreciated by all people, whether they be Democrats or Republicans, Christians or Moslems, whites or blacks, etc. It is quite clear that the latest generations of people coming of age have an unparallelled open-mindedness toward the so-called "world" music. I prefer to say that all music is world music, and the best part of the new acceptance of folk music from other countries is that levels of legitimacy in music are now being torn down. What this means is that it will soon be considered just as legitimate to witness a Wagner opera as it will be to listen to tribal music from Aboriginal Australia. I am also very happy that popular American music has relinquished some of it's haughtiness in an effort to be more "world" oriented.
I in no way consider myself a "jazz musician". I could not possibly believe that I could be satisfied by being stuck in one kind of music (jazz, classical, rock, etc) and not be able to FULLY experience the others. I think we are finally entering a phase in our collecive life where a musician can be accepted for just making GOOD music, whether it be one kind or another. Ask a musician sometime about what it means to really experience music, great music, no matter what the style. I think you'll find that not all of them know, but the ones who do will be able to tell you a story I'm sure.
Andrew Williams