*worldwide release date 10/18/19 on Shifting Paradigm Records Pre-order HERE One of the most important qualities that a practitioner of artistic endeavors can possess is that of curiosity. The spark that impels one to see what’s out there, to find out and to know more is much the same as that impulse that sets the […]
Author Archives: Jamie Breiwick
Lessons from Don Cherry
Miles and Wynton both agree… Don Cherry is important. “Don Cherry, I like…” – Miles Davis by Leonard Feather, Down Beat Volume 58 No. 12 first published by Down Beat, June 1964 “I loved Don Cherry.” -Wynton Marsalis, interviewed by Will Layman for Pop Matters, April 2016 As a young student of the trumpet, my […]
No history, no future.
No history, no future. *an edited version of this essay will appear as the introduction the forthcoming book “Images of America, Milwaukee Jazz” by Joey Grihalva on Arcadia Publishing Co. (preorder the book here: mkejazzbook.com) Many have proclaimed the “death of jazz” since the musical art form began over a century ago. In response to such […]
The case for KASE
Unlike the Classical player, the jazz artist must achieve a technique that uncovers the self, that answers the question that Ellison says is the question of American art: Who am I? -Robert G O’Meally, from the introduction ‘Jazz Shapes’ to Ralph Ellison’s “Living with Music” (header photo by Bryan Mir) I am musically restless. Sometimes I […]
Music is life is music
In Make the Road by Walking I mentioned allowing one’s life experiences, personal relationships, childhood memories, visual artistic expressions (ie. the smells, tastes, sights, and sounds of daily life) to influence one’s music. Here, I would like to share with you a personal example of this concept put to action and a glimpse into my own compositional mind. There are […]
Make the road by walking
Life experiences, personal relationships, childhood memories, visual expressions – the smells, tastes, sights, and sounds of daily life… the musicians who I am connected to most have this in their music. It can be explicit or implicit – but it can be felt. Can I hear your story in your music? Am I telling my story in my music?
