Saturday 19 May 2012

Trouble In Mind - Humph



I think we can reasonably expect people at a funeral to be troubled in mind, to feel blue, even if there's also the "celebration of a life" going on, as no doubt there was at Humph's funeral, after his long, creative and productive life, which brought so much pleasure to so many people.

This track has a stately melancholy which I think would be perfect for processing into a funeral.

Revivalist, later to mutate into "trad," jazz doesn't get much attention nowadays. It probably seems quaint, remote, sometimes over-excited, to many people. British jazz suffered then, perhaps a little less now, from an inferiority complex compared with jazz in its country of birth, which of course is understandable. No need for such feelings here. Just listen to Humph's musical, perfectly judged improvisation on the last couple of choruses, behind the beautiful shrilling of the clarinets.

The effect of such music, if it works for you, is to take you through the blues to somewhere calmer. Which is what a successful funeral should do.

Take it home, Humph - and: thanks.

3 comments:

  1. Yes! Take me to the bridge between one state and another. Excellent, with a strange blend of happiness and melancholia.

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  2. Wonderful stuff GM.

    'Take you through the blues to somewhere calmer...' I love that.

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  3. V pleased you both found it resonated, thanks for coming by. I suppose we all have that twitch that goes "If I bang on about the music I love long enough, everyone else will see how wonderful it really is and we'll have a community of musical souls to see us through life," eh?
    No? O God, it really is just me....

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