Mr. Bruno and Dr. Groves have each sent me very cordial email,
privately. I would call both aesthetically pleasing. While neither
agreed with my remarks 100%, for the most part, we're all on the same
page. The air has been completely cleared from my viewpoint, so I
thought I'd take a few minutes and share some of the insight I've gained
from this recent life experience. :)
First, Randy Groves hit something on the nose with an idea that perhaps
Jimmy Bruno was "just clumsy, or more likely, a fast email writer."
Well, according to the email from Jimmy, he's right on both counts. I
had a glimmer of that idea, which is why I didn't jump on the bandwagon
until after the "lessons" quip. I suspected, as I suggested might be
but didn't think so at the time, that it was a joke from Jimmy. After
reading his email to me, I'm now convinced it was definitely a joke,
albeit a bit of a clumsy one. I made a mistake in attempting to "read
between the lines" and psychoanalyze, and for that, I apologize.
Quarter tones never appealed much to me, anyway. ;)
Second, Randy suggested Jimmy might be "a bit loose" in regard to
controlling the output of "his people." Well, yeah. Jimmy says he
doesn't have any "people," other than booking agents, and knowing the
biz as well as I do, I believe him. So, when stuff IS written about
him, I doubt he even sees much of it at all. Thus, attributing
something to him, unless it's propounded as an exact quote, is complete
hearsay. Now, as Randy said to me, it would be nice to find the exact
Downbeat article wherein Jimmy is supposed to have ripped on Metheny.
If Jimmy didn't say what was written in this forum verbatim, I'd say he
has pretty good grounds for a lawsuit against Downbeat, should he have
the time and resources to pursue it. If he did say it verbatim, he blew
it; but, as Randy suggested, he may have been tired, 'cause it was too
late or too early, or whatever. I'm now convinced that *if* Jimmy said
that, he wishes he could take it back and is sincerely sorry things got
this far afield. He got painted into a corner, and it wasn't all his
doing, either. Time to let all THAT, just drop in this heah forum,
y'all...
Third, there was a mention of not practicing anymore and my take on
that. Well, I stand by what I said, but I also know that there are
times in life when one is gigging so much that once off stage, the last
thing you want to do is pick up an ax even for fun, let alone to
practice and/or learn something new. Jimmy says that's where he's at
right now, and I can dig it; been there, done that. I will say as an
aside to JB, that it took a refrigerator to fall on me to break me out
of a rut I had been in for about 15-20 years. I hope he steps back and
takes time to "smell the flowers" before something like that happens to
him; or like Tal Farlow, he just quits. I think JB might say, "that'll
never happen," and all I'll say is "keep an eye on your surroundings for
sh*t coming at you." I was nearly killed. I'll grant that *if* JB is
in a rut, it's one helluva lot better rut than the stinking dance band
rut *I* was in. I got God really pissed at me... :\
Jimmy started out by saying he'd like to meet me sometime, and invited
us to his gig if and when he's in my area, gratis. In fact, that was
the subject line of his email. My wife and I be there. Like he wrote
me, and I agree, I think we might become good friends. We certainly
have a passionate interest in the same ax, and in music. And, despite
my call to the contrary, what we say here does affect him, as he cares
deeply. It's just that sometimes, it seems he has a bit of difficulty
and perhaps, not enough time to express himself in as aesthetically
pleasing a manner as some would like, I guess. Well, we've all had
those days, with two left hands, and one foot out the door...
Randy would like to discuss aesthetics as a philosopher interested in
the broad genre of jazz, and I for one, would like to read his
thoughts. Uh, the written ones, that is... ;)
So, enough guessing and second guessing. Jimmy, I look forward to
meeting you; and Randy, let 'er rip! :D
Regards,
...z
PS: Thanks for the personal support from a few here, and to the few who
feel I've wasted their time, I humbly apologize. Just remember that
career building is an important aspect of playing. If you perform only
in your living room, who cares? If there are any loose ends left
personality wise, we're all workin' on 'em...
"If you envy successful people, you create a negative force field of
detraction that repels you from ever doing the things that you need to
do to be successful. If you admire successful people, you create a
positive force field of attraction that draws you toward becoming more
and more like the kinds of people that you want to be like."
-- Brian Tracy
-- =---Seek the truth, speak the truth!---= --
L.G. "Zeek" Duff
WHAT!Productions!
Blue Wall Studio
303.485.9438
ICQ#35974686
