[NewMusic] Booking / 'Usual Suspects'

[Matthew Goodheart]

> well, i am promiscuous only to a degree. i also had at least 2  
> regular "working" free improvisation groups at a time as well as a  
> handful of favorite core people that i work with regularly.

I should have mentioned that I am not talking about absolutes, things  
are obviously more complicated than that- we are all, it seems,  
working in more than one thread of musical/philosophical tradition.

> 1) am i interested in the combination of instruments? 2) am i  
> interested in the combination of personalities?
> 3) does there seem like a potential to make good or interesting  
> music with the combination of personalities and instruments?
>
> "what do i bring to this particular group of individuals" has  
> almost nothing to do with it whatsoever. "what is the potential for  
> this
> particular group of individuals" to make something interesting and,  
> god forbid, entertaining (to ourselves as well as the audience) is  
> more
> crucial to my motivations.

Well, perhaps this has to do with the way I phrased it. It seems to  
me that "what is the potential for this group of individuals" is not  
far off from "what do I bring to this particular group" - I did not  
mean to imply that it was a purely selfish approach. On the other  
hand, as you state, it IS a personality-based approach, rather than,  
say, an abstract aesthetic one: the personality (as expressed through  
the instrument) is the primary. That's not a criticism, it's just  
pointing out an important focus of the music.

>  of course, most of the people criticizing improvisational  
> promiscuity haven't seen hardly any of
> my gigs (if any), so posit they wouldn't really be in a position to  
> decide if the paradigm i'm perpetuating is a success or failure.

Who is criticizing promiscuity? Who said anything about success or  
failure? I was pointing out an interesting shift in thinking, and how  
that was reflected in musical organization, specifically as expressed  
by folks on this list. For the record, I have seen you play (both  
live and online), and I have enjoyed it. Also for the record, whether  
I personally enjoy something, or think it was "successful," is  
irrelevant.

> intellectual communism of somebody like matthew goodheart!

Funny! I'll leave the communism to Bill Dixon and Archie Shepp, though.

mg