Ever hear Ambent and Jazz fused? - my other side...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Llarion
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Llarion,

I very much enjoyed your ambient and to me jazz flavored music. Very Nice!

The disussion with AlChuck was interesting about trying to define Jazz per se because the added complexities and variety of texture, song structure, rhythm and especially "complex" chord voicings (using things besides predominantly major and minor 3 tone chords) is what depicts jazz to me albeit with the obligatory improvisational elements.

I would defininately refer to it as ambient with jazz flavorings.

As a bass player I hate to admit this but the bass sounds are very nice with a fretless sound that reminds me of David Friesen and Mark Egan.


Regarding Fed's comments on "doctrine"; I too as a Christian am intrigued by the titles and spiritual imagery but I am also wary of "New Age" religious concepts that sometimes try to merge Christianity with things that are doctrinally unbiblical. I am not a preacher, prophet or theologan by any means but I do actively question all spiritual inluences for validity to the truth as defined by scripture.

I do not bring this up to start any religious debate but simply to point out that from my quick review of your site I am left feeling that the spiritual imagery is definitely an important element of your last two projects but that it referenced in a decidedley vague way. This is probably by your design for certain reasons but for me contemplating a purchase of yours or similiar material it leaves me with more questions than another intrumental work that makes no reference to anythig spiritual like a Brian Eno or instrumnetal jazz CD.

I am more cautious about what I buy to listen to for repeated listening than what I might down load or borrow for one or two listenings. That does not mean I do not listen to non-christian musicians by any means...I have lot's of jazz and some pop albums by artists that lived very unchristian life styles but whenever an obviously spiritually influenced work comes accross my path it undergoes greater scrutiny to know where they are coming from. I think maybe that is what Fed was trying to get at is that he recognized the spiritual imagery but was left unsure as to its source.


Forgive me if I go too far off course from discussing the music from only a "listening experience" but music as a whole has great potential to interact with our spiritual nature and I experience it that way. The most powerefull musical experiences I have been apart of both as a musician or part of an "audience" that included the improvisation of being caught up in the moment and presense of God and sometimes it is rock, jazz and/or even ambient in style.

Any way... good sounds, wonderful textures and very pleasing to my ears. Now if only I had a hot tub because my wife is quite beautiful.
 
:rolleyes:
It has surprised me how many people have objected to the spiritual descriptions at his website even though they are vague and don't really contradict scripture. First off....the Bible is not a deity....it is a book written, translated and retranslated by fallible men and some of it is even extrapolated from incomplete writings.
It really isn't possible to say that everything in the bible must be taken 100% literally and, in fact, I can point out different sections of the Bible,(this is well known) that directly contradict each other. What do you do with that?
Secondly, as for his descriptions of passing into the other world and such....they are vague and the Bible does not go into detail as to how that process occurs. Perhaps you've had a pastor or someone you trust tell you how the Bible says it's gonna be, but I bet you can't show me in the New Testament where a solid description of such is.
Lastly, this is a music site where people put up their music and others listen to it and like or don't like it. If someone put up something offensive or sacriligious, I'd be first in line to take them to task over it. But Llarion's song or descriptions of it are neither and proselytizing is uncalled for and unappropriate.
And for the record, I too am a Christian. I study the Bible and books about the Bible on a daily basis and there are those on this BBS that will tell you I'm quick to defend my faith. So this isn't an objection from a "heathen" who hates any reference to the Lord.
 
Lt Bob,

You mis-stated or mis-interpreted my comments implying I objected to anything I read.

Please re-read. I expressed no objections to anything in his music or website.

I only stated that the vagueness leaves me cautious and curious.

I also stated that I in no way wanted to start a debate about what was "Christian or not" and I refuse to be drawn into one in this forum. I will tell you that the Bible is MY measuring stick for the truth and none of us can prove or disprove it's accuracy to each other so lets not waste our breath here.

My only point in commenting was regarding the marketing of Llarions music that some of us are going to question where he is coming from because there is a flood of New Age religion that does contridict the Bible but claims to go agree with it. I also wanted to explain why I had questions so Llarion would know why it was important to me as a musician and as a music consumer.

Now before you misinterpret me again let me point out I did not accuse Llarion to be New Age, antibiblical or a heretic in any way (real or imagined).

I am a concervative Christian with a functional brain and I choose not to fall prey to knee jerk reactions OR blind acceptance of any spiritual or political dogma to be what it seems on the surface.
 
Lt Bob,

You mis-stated or mis-interpreted my comments implying I objected to anything I read.

Please re-read. I expressed no objections to anything in his music or website.

I only stated that the vagueness leaves me cautious and curious.

I also stated that I in no way wanted to start a debate about what was "Christian or not" and I refuse to be drawn into one in this forum. I will tell you that the Bible is MY measuring stick for the truth and none of us can prove or disprove it's accuracy to each other so lets not waste our breath here.

My only point in commenting was regarding the marketing of Llarions music that some of us are going to question where he is coming from because there is a flood of New Age religion that does contridict the Bible but claims to go agree with it. I also wanted to explain why I had questions so Llarion would know why it was important to me as a musician and as a music consumer.

Now before you misinterpret me again let me point out I did not accuse Llarion to be New Age, antibiblical or a heretic in any way (real or imagined).

I am a concervative Christian with a functional brain and I choose not to fall prey to knee jerk reactions OR blind acceptance of any spiritual or political dogma to be what it seems on the surface.
 
Sorry about the double post.

I got an error message so I re-submitted and now there are two.
 
I listened to The Light Of Valhalla and Dewpoint.

Like the guitar tones in Dewpoint. Steely Dan like leads for sure, great stuff.

I found the two I listened to, too mellow for me, but this isn't a style of music I listen to often, so I can't really judge.

I agree with AlChuck's statement, it really is far removed from 'jazz'.

Good stuff though. All round great performance.
 
Guys, please...

I really wanted to avoid the implied spiritual aspects of my music in this discussion. But, to set the record straight, so that you both know where I'm at about it, and not be concerned, here's the deal:

I'm a Presbyterian, (www.fpc-stpete.org, I'm their wembaster too)not because of the specific teachings of that faith or that church, but because I became involved with the most loving, supportive and caring group of people I've ever known, and they are members of or minister to this church. And since it more than nominally fits my belief system, I decided to be a member of their spiritual family.

I'm a former Roman Catholic. I left that church for various reaons which I will not discuss in this forum at age 17. I went churchless for the intervening 2 decades, while retaining a deep and profound faith in God.

This stuff only nominally relates to the music. How I came up with the whole idea for the "Heaven" CD is this:

At first I was simply going to do a CD of unrelated Ambient Jazz songs, where each title mentioned Heaven in a differing context (The Light Of Valhalla was the piece that inspired the CD), and there was going to be no deeper implication than that. However, one day I was thinking about the "Heaven concept", and it occurred to me that there must be SOME process that goes on between your death in this world, and your final arrival at whatever destination your arrive at. (subject to your beliefs, I make no pretense to dictating what the path is in any way, shape, or form)

Anyway, my mind's eye started to wander, and tried to picture what that process must be. Because of my Catholic upbringing, my imagination naturally conjured clouds, and "judgment", the concept of purgatory, the concept of limbo, the notion that one's soul could conceivably go though periods of time (immesurable by our standard, I suppose) of uncertainty and maybe even fear.

As these pictures came to my mind, I decided that I wanted to illustrate what those images in my mind looked like through the moods of the music. So, each song is going to be a chapter in this hypothetical journey. The song Passage is going to be the opener, which will illustrate death in this world. The Journey is intended to be the anchor/middle piece, and a song on my MP3.com site, Ascension, is the ending piece, which will supposedly illustrate final absolution and admission to Heaven. You get the idea.

It's really no deeper than that, honest. I am not trying, through these works, to illustrate anything definitive for anyone, or influence their spiritual belief system in any way. My goal is to simply plant the seed in the listener's mind, through the descriptions, to wander along the same imaginary path that I did, and picture what they believe this process might be. (Whether or not your picture of this process, if you even believe in it, was influenced by any particular faith or religion or holy book is not the primary concern here.) Whatever works for you spiritually and brings you comfort and peace is the greatest thing in my eyes.

So, the notions of "violating doctrine" are somewhat foreign to me. Needless to say, I have a lot of questions for God when I finally get to meet Him. And I'm confident that they will be answered by His glory, in whatever fashion He ultimately deems appropriate. That's all I can hope for, that I finally get there one day. The rest is up to Him as far as the whys and wherefores.

But really, my short term goal is for many millions of great folks like you to take my music, find a jacuzzi, and seduce their lovely wives and girlfriends with it's soothing power. :D :D :D

The motto on my website is "Dance like nobody's watching". What that really means is "Take the beautiful gift of life you've been given, and enjoy and cherish it to the fullest."

If only one person is influenced to live well by my music, than my mission is complete.

I guess that's a cryptic way of saying "Thanks very much for listening, and for caring enough to read more about it, and even begin to discuss it. It means I touched you somehow, and that pleases me."

Participant - I'd LOVE for my music to be the New Muzak. I submit that while I may not be a pioneer, my music is certainly more palatable than most of that stuff. :)

Also, I dropped in on garage band in 1999, long enough to review 5 songs. I found their mechanism to be unrelentingly difficult and gave up. However, I was fortunate enough to discover Katthult (look em up on MP3.com), and she won female vocalist of the year from garage band, perhaps in small part by my review of them. That alone made it worth it, their music is incredible, and they are now signed in Norway.

Cheers,
Phil
- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons; for you are crunchy, and go well with ketchup.
 
Not my bag of tea, but very well done none-the-less. Sonically, it's pretty inspiring to hear commercial grade stuff coming from home hobbyist gear. Nice job.

Now on to Doctorine... lol... whatever... I've been in that "area" between death and uncertainty... and I'm a Christian... and they didn't play this tune, so I think you must be of the devil. ;) :rolleyes: seriously though, whatever inspires you to write a tune, go with it.

btw, what's a dichotamy of silence?
 
Well Llarion......I intend tonight to avail myself of the download option on your tunes and burn them to cd so I can listen to them when I'm driving or working on electronics. Since I normally listen to Andreas Vollenweider or Alan Parsons or George Winston at those times....I hope it gets across to you how much I like your stuff. It's all very much my sort of thing and I think you've accomplished something worthwhile with these pieces.
 
I listened to the Valhalla song...

I couldn't get the Artist site to launch up...so I went to your site.

I found the same 'vocal' patch and fretless bass sound to be a little repetive thruout the entire piece. It was the same instrumentation, basically from beginning to end. Also..as far as the theory discussion....what I am hearing is basically chord changings...and the bass is basically playing in the scale of that particular chord. But the chord progression doesn't seem to really go anywhere... The return to home chord, I am hearing more as a flat two (ra)...rather than as a flat 9. I think the 8 beat, tied whole notes are what are repetive to me also. I think this is pretty nice, but I feel that your imagination could take it a little further with some more 'ear candy' and different sounds coming in and out. The theory is 2nd fiddle really in this tune, to me...it's all about the sound. I'd take some nice solo synth sounds...

all negative comments, but I'd definately put it in the player when climbing in the sack....nice stuff.
 
a dichotomy of silence

JR,
Boy did that choice of title spark debate in my circle...

The way I intended it is that the dichotomy exists between sound and silence; in that music is sound, but without the silence, music is just noise, so the silence is necessary.

A little thin bit of reasoning, I know, but it also just sorta sounds cool, too. ;) sorta "what the hell does THAT mean???" :)

I can't remember if I posted it, but the cover art for that CD is attached to this post.

I very much appreciate your confidence in my engineering skills...

Lt. Bob,
Why thank you! Vollenwieder was a very big influence for me early on; White Winds is my favorite work in that genre... Man, these comparisons to artists I love so is really bringing a lump to my throat!!

As far as me being the devil, I was born on Oct 30th, which is "Devil's Night", so who knows? ;) I suggest you vault on over to my good friend Martin Lindhe's site at www.mp3.com/bassic. He makes me look like a kindergartener.

mixmkr,
I can't dispute anything you said; but I can perhaps explain that the feeling on TLOV was to deliberately NOT get too "interesting". My intent was to have you close your eyes and just drift... perhaps as meditation music, or to think about the stuff in my last tome, er, post. :) Or, music to go to sleep to, which you alluded you'd do, which means it's EXACTLY on target for me.

As to the cadence, the song is in G minor, and the cadence point is a D7-9, voiced low. But I do use the "flat 2" (which is the tritone substitution for the regular V chord) an awful lot. In this key, that'd be Ab7 though... :)

Emeric,
Thanks very much, I really enjoyed your stuff too!!!
 

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Llarion,

I apologize if I opened up a can of worms!

My intent was simply;
1. Tell you I loved your music!

2. Comment on the jazz infuence as I percieved it and

3. Give you feedback on the marketing of you music - at least as it pertained to me.


I would not have brought up the spiritual issue at all except that others (Fed in particular) also were curious about the origin and influence and the Heaven concept album will beg the question with some people.

I am sensing a "reverse witch hunt" mentality along the lines of reverse racism with some of the people on this board. I do not believe in pushing my personal beliefes down anyones throats but I reserve the right let someone know where I am coming coming from when it is relates to the discussion.

If anyone has a problem with that then send me a private message or refer me to a thread in the cave and we can discuss it elsewhere.

Don't let this distract you Llarion your music does exactly what you intended...heck I don't even need the hot tub...and I hope to order a CD soon. :)
 
Scooter B said:
Llarion,

I apologize if I opened up a can of worms!

My intent was simply;
1. Tell you I loved your music!
2. Comment on the jazz infuence as I percieved it and
3. Give you feedback on the marketing of you music - at least as it pertained to me.

I would not have brought up the spiritual issue at all except that others (Fed in particular) also were curious about the origin and influence and the Heaven concept album will beg the question with some people.
...

Don't let this distract you Llarion your music does exactly what you intended...heck I don't even need the hot tub...and I hope to order a CD soon. :)
Click to expand...

Oh, I wasn't worried in the slightest. :) I just wanted to lay the cards out, hopefully defuse any arguments, and refocus on the music. I'm very glad you enjoy it, and I thank you again! :)
 
its nice!

as another slob who owns an 880ex i can testify that while they are capable of giving you back what you put in i was never able to make mine sound that good!

on the other hand it sounds like everything is canned. kind of like a muzak version of the original.

very pleasant and much more listenable than i would have imagined from a canned rhythm section.

:)
 
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