Tell me about Jazz (and let’s try to play it!)

The main thing about modular synth that we all need to remember is that is isn't about adhering to the cultural norms that have produced the music. Modular is all about the sound. We craft, patch and create new sounds that no one has heard before, then create new soundscapes or new music from those sounds.

That's not how jazz works. Jazz has it own culture, norms and etiquette. Look at how quickly some one pointed out the culture of wood shedding and improvising on your own, basically discounting even the thought put putting a jazz tune into a sequencer. That's fine on a cultural level, but that's one reason music dies. Once culture defines the music, it can no longer grow and change because it becomes about fitting into a certain cultural expectation. It dies like Latin.

This is exactly why Don Buchla refused to hook up a keyboard to a modular. Simply attaching that keyboard means you've now attached a 450 year tradition on an instrument that is capable of so much more that what came before. Once you slap on a keyboard, it's no longer about the sound and the music. It becomes about meeting a cultural expectation that may not have anything to do with what you're truly trying to do.

When you show up with a modular synth with wires dropping like a Frankenstein experiment gone wrong, people don't know what to think of it. They hear sound and music they never knew possible, their eyes open, and their minds prime to learn. You just bypassed any expectation, jadedness that came in the door.

Plop a keyboard onto the synth, and all that goes away. They'll expect you to adhear to everything they have predefined in their own heads. If you mention that you're trying to play jazz on a modular synth, you're expected to meet all the cultural norms that have defined jazz culture. That's the sad, pathetic truth of modern society. Most musicians don't listen to sound. They only analyse and replicate pre-existing forms and structures. The thought of doing something new mostly never crosses their minds, or it's so offensive that they would condemn anyone to prison for even mentioning anything new.