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From: [e-mail] (Mark Linimon)
Subject: FAQ: rec.music.bluenote: frequently asked questions
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Summary: Answers to blues and jazz frequently asked questions (periodic posting)
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Archive-name: music/bluenote/faq
Version: 1.0
Last-Modified: Thu Oct 29 11:36:49 EST 1992

This posting provides a (possibly biased) overview of newsgroup
rec.music.bluenote by summarizing the history, common past topics, and
frequently asked questions.

A companion posting to this one, "FAQ: rec.music.bluenote: welcome to
rec.music.bluenote" <[e-mail]>,
complements this one by providing a concise introduction to the group.
Another posting, "FAQ: rec.music.bluenote: sources of information",
<[e-mail]>, provides references
to books, magazines, media, and festivals.

These articles are repeated periodically for the benefit of new readers.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: table of contents

    Subject: What is the charter of rec.music.bluenote?
    Subject: What is considered good net.etiquette on rec.music.bluenote?
    Subject: What have some common past topics been?
    Subject: What are the best 100 jazz albums?
    Subject: What are the best 100 blues albums?
    Subject: Is [jazz | blues] currently [dying | undergoing a rebirth]?
    Subject: Is [fusion | avant-garde | etc.] really jazz?
    Subject: I think X is a much better player than Y.
    Subject: What are "Fake Books?"  What about "Real Books?"
    Subject: What do people think of Wynton Marsalis?
    Subject: Who did that music on the Charlie Brown specials?
    Subject: What is a "mojo"?
    Subject: Why isn't there a rec.music.jazz?  Rec.music.blues?
    Subject: A brief history of rec.music.bluenote.
    Subject: Support live music! [FAQ Editor's personal soapbox]
    Subject: Contributions to rec.music.bluenote FAQs.

------------------------------

Subject: What is the charter of rec.music.bluenote?

The charter of rec.music.bluenote is to provide a forum for discussion
of both jazz and blues music, both past and future.  The group is
unmoderated; participation is open to all.

[There was no mechanism at the time of the newsgroup creation to include a
formal charter in the vote, like there is today.  However, the above is
pretty close to what the original consensus was.  See "A brief history of
rec.music.bluenote", below, for details. -- Mark]

Note that the listing in the canonical "newsgroups" file is:

rec.music.bluenote    Discussion of jazz, blues, and related types of music.

------------------------------

Subject: What is considered good net.etiquette on rec.music.bluenote?

Here are some etiquette reminders that will help us all to make the group
an ever-friendlier place:

-- Please, before posting, ensure that you've read the basic Usenet
   etiquette guide in news.announce.newusers.

-- Please consider the bluenote readership before you cross-post.  Consider
   rec.music.misc for articles of general interest to all music fans.

-- Please set the Followup-To: line in your post.  This is especially
   true if you are cross-posting.  If you are requesting information,
   consider setting Followup-To: poster, and then summarizing the replies
   to the net.

-- Particulary if you're posting upcoming concert information, consider
   setting the Distribution: line in your post (for example: usa, na,
   can, ba) to restrict posting to an appropriate local region.  [However,
   some folks like to know what's going on elsewhere in the world.]

-- When following up, please change the Subject: line if the subject has
   really changed.

-- Musical tastes differ.  Rec.music.bluenote, when at its best, is a
   force that can aid education and tolerance.  Let's each of us try to
   learn from one another.

------------------------------

Subject: What have some common past topics been?

An incomplete list would include:

      Discussions of specific artists, often with discographies or record
            reviews.
      Pointers to upcoming festivals (Chicago Bluesfest, New Orleans Jazz
            and Heritage festival, others).
      Concert schedules and reviews.
      Club listings.
      Musical jam listings.
      Discussion of music theory, performance practice, and instrument
            techniques.
      Pointers to books and magazines about jazz and blues.

------------------------------

Subject: What are the best 100 jazz albums?

Even seasoned listeners won't agree on this topic.  Common recommendations
include recordings by (roughly in historical order) Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane,
Charles Mingus, and Ornette Coleman.  Most would agree that a discussion
of jazz would be incomplete without including the recordings of these
artists.

------------------------------

Subject: What are the best 100 blues albums?

Again, tastes vary.  At the very least, no discussion would be complete
without Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, and Muddy Waters.  A little further
study brings you to Bessie Smith, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker,
and hundreds of others.

------------------------------

Subject: Is [jazz | blues] currently [dying | undergoing a rebirth]?

The press periodically rediscovers jazz and blues.  The news coverage
accorded to rock is generally steady, but that accorded to jazz and blues
seems to only become prominent when the press can seize on someone as
"the leader of the new movement".  This may or may not be doing a favor
for the leader so chosen [see Wynton, above :-) ]

In any case both musics seem to undergo periodic revivals; it's likely
that neither is in any danger of dying out.  But opinions vary.

------------------------------

Subject: Is [fusion | avant-garde | etc.] really jazz?

[A quote from Marcel-Franck Simon ([e-mail]) -- Mark]
We can talk about something is "not jazz" without this meaning that it is
not worth listening to.  I like, e.g. African pop, among others.  That
doesn't mean .bluenote is the place to talk about them; moreover, saying
so implies no disrespect for those musics.

------------------------------

Subject: I think X is a much better player than Y.

These postings always create a great deal of controversy.  As subjective
listeners we have preferences.  Certainly the approach of saying "I prefer
X over Y because of A, B, and C" seems to shed more light than saying "I
prefer X over Y because Y has A, B, and C wrong with him."

Nou Dadoun provides the following true story of a Sheila Jordan comment:

      In the fall of '88, Sheila Jordan and Bobby McFerrin were both in
      Vancouver on the same night at different venues.  A fan went up to
      Sheila at the end of the evening and said that she'd gone to hear
      her instead of Bobby McFerrin because she's better.  Sheila responded
      without a moment's hesitation, "I'm not better, I'm different".

------------------------------

Subject: What are "Fake Books?"  What about "Real Books?"

"Fake books" are compilations of transcriptions of music, intended as
aids to help one to learn to play the compositions.  Many vary in accuracy.
Most are legitimate in regards to copyright payment.

The Real Book, on the other hand, was a compilation of transcriptions
done by some Berklee students (that's Berklee College of Music in Boston,
not U. Cal. Berkeley) which was photocopied and sold without any attention
to copyright.  Supposedly the 'New Real Book' has the same focus (mostly
jazz standards) but with fewer errors, and with the proper copyright fees
paid (and better readability).  The original Real Book proliferated because
of the usefulness of the tune selection compared to that of other fake
books (you could get 'Dexterity' instead of 'California Here I Come').

------------------------------

Subject: What do people think of Wynton Marsalis?

Wynton is a controversial figure in this group, and elsewhere, because
of his strong views on the state of jazz today.  It seems true that
developments in jazz from the late 60's to the present have failed to
win the music a wide audience.  Wynton in some of his public comments
seems to share the view that many people have that this is "bad."  This
is certainly a matter of opinion; there is certainly no consensus among
the readers here.

What the group consensus does seem to be is that Wynton, taken aside
from his personal views and press buildup, produces music which may well
be to many folks' liking, and that he has helped bring new listeners
to jazz.

------------------------------

Subject: Who did that music on the Charlie Brown specials?

The composer of the music on the first two or three specials was named
Vince Guaraldi.  He has since passed away, and some of the later specials
have been done by Judy Munson.  Several albums remain in print under
Guaraldi's name.

Readers have also recommended an album of music to the film Black Orpheus
"Cast Your Fate To The Wind (Jazz Impressions of `Black Orpheus')".  The
music on that album (at least the title/theme song; probably all of it),
is by Louis Bonfa.

------------------------------

Subject: What is a "mojo"?

[answer provided by Derek Morgan ("Sleepy" of _Mojo Syndrome_), or
([e-mail]) -- Mark]

MOJO (v) - 1) Casting a spell to cause a person to fall in love with the
              person issuing the spell.
     (n) - 2) The magical act of 1).

Well, it's not standard Webster's 8-), but as for a complete explanation:

The term is from the bayou country, and a "mojo" is generally the spell
cast by a woman to catch a man.  It is NOT a love spell.  Romantic notions
have nothing to do with a "mojo".  Generally, when one has been "mojoed",
EVERYTHING in that person's life goes wrong.  Bad luck becomes worse luck,
and physical problems occur.

There are generally two ways to get rid of a "mojo": 1) The woman becomes
disinterested, and removes it; 2) You give her what she wants, and marry her.

Depending on the site of the folklore, there may be two additional ways to
remove a "mojo": 1) Find her "mojo bag", which contains the secrets of her
magic, and take it away from her; 2) Find a witch woman to break the mojo.

The theory is that people needed to explain why eligible and desirable men
would marry less desirable (physically, I guess) women.  In some places, a
"mojo" is not a thing to be taken lightly, and caution with the term would
be advised.

As far as a man being able to "mojo" a woman, the general rule is that it
doesn't happen very often; more likely the "mojo" effect will boomerang and
afflict the male with the bad luck, instead of affecting the desired female.
Probably has something to do with the fact that desirable women do not often
marry less-desirable men.

"Mojo" has been occasionally used to mean a love spell, but it really isn't;
it's just that the use of the term to symbolize obtaining a desired person
has been generalized to include love potions, which is a different bayou
subject altogether.

No, I am not making this up.  I needed to do the research for my band, Mojo
Syndrome.

------------------------------

Subject: Why isn't there a rec.music.jazz?  Rec.music.blues?

This has to do with the history of the group, and the feelings of the
early creators and participants.  See below.

------------------------------

Subject: A brief history of rec.music.bluenote.

The following history is from Marcel-Franck Simon ([e-mail]),
included with permission.

    I was running mail.jazz and Rich Kulawiec was running mail.blues.
    We were both on each other's lists, but there was no other relation-
    ship.  Several people on mail.jazz had asked how come it was not a
    newsgroup.  Finally Joe Hellerstein decided to do something about it...
    There was a lot of talk about this, both private and on the respective
    mailing lists, but a consensus eventually emerged that the musics were
    pretty much sides of the same coin, and also that there was no other
    place for either to go, and that some good synergies would develop
    from these related, but distinct, points of view.  Note that this has
    basically happened.

    On the name.  Sorry, it had nothing to do with the Blue Note label.
    The name came out of a bunch of mail exchanges between Joe, Rich and
    myself.  It was quite clear that including the blues meant the
    [exclusion of the name] rec.music.jazz.  None of us liked any permu-
    tations of rec.music.jazz_and_blues (thank goodness) ... I don't
    remember the various proposals, but we came to agree on rec.music.
    bluenotes, since blue notes permeate both jazz and of course the
    blues (see, e.g. Monk's "Riding on a Blue Note").  The net discussion
    and vote counting period all carried the bluenotes name, but when the
    group got created, that final s somehow was lost.

    Chronology: all this occurred over the last four-five months of 1987.

Rich Kulawiec ([e-mail]) recalled it this way:

    There wasn't nearly enough support on Usenet to create a "blues"
    newsgroup and a "jazz" newsgroup at the time that rec.music.bluenote
    was created.  There was *barely* enough to create r.m.bluenote, in
    fact.  While it's probably true that the number of people reading
    this group is increasing all the time, I would not be surprised to
    find that there still isn't enough support for separate newsgroups.

    Oh, about the name: yes, I picked it, out of the ones suggested by
    everybody who had an idea to contribute.  There was quite a bit of
    discussion at the time (which I won't repeat here) and "bluenote"
    seemed to be the name which satisfied the technical criteria and
    expressed the purpose of the newgroup.  I don't think it's confusing
    at all -- especially since any new user should read news.announce.
    newusers ... before asking questions like "what is the purpose of
    newsgroup X?"

------------------------------

Subject: Support live music!  [FAQ Editor's personal soapbox]

[When Mark Boolootian ([e-mail]) commented on Sarah Vaughan's
passing:

    She was supposed to play at Yoshi's (in Oakland) last month and I
    was going to take my mom to see her.  I had assumed we'd catch her
    next time...

My own, personal, response followed:

    Here's a melancholy realization I came to sometime last year.

    We have to _assume_ that there isn't a next time.  For me, there
    wasn't for Bill Chase, and Lightning Hopkins, and Roy Buchanan, and
    others.

    Folks, the time to pay tribute to these artists is while they're
    living, by showing up when they're in town, checking them out,
    applauding, and putting some bucks into their back pockets.

    So take that "job-critical" evening off and see Mal Waldron, or
    drive 250 miles to see Steve Lacy, or drive through a tornado warning
    to see Richard Dobson (outside the scope of this group, yes).  I've
    done all these.  Now, over two years later, I can't remember what I
    would have been doing if I hadn't gone.  Whatever it was just wasn't
    that important, in the long run.

    Do it.  Some of the old lions in jazz and blues get their starts in
    the 1930s and 1940s.  Check 'em out now, and celebrate while you can.

    I love records, mind you, but live music is where it happens, and
    this music is meant to be loved -- live.

End of soapbox.  Thanks for indulging me. -- Mark]

------------------------------

Subject: Contributions to rec.music.bluenote FAQs.

Thanks to the following for additions, corrections, and updates:

    Jeff Beer ([e-mail])
    Mark Boolootian ([e-mail])
    Nou Dadoun ([e-mail])
    Bill Hery ([e-mail])
    Malcolm Humes ([e-mail])
    Rich Kulawiec ([e-mail])
    Shamim Zvonko Mohamed ([e-mail])
    Derek Morgan ([e-mail])
    Marc Sabatella ([e-mail])
    Marcel-Franck Simon ([e-mail])
    Dan Torosian ([e-mail])

I welcome reactions, additions, and corrections to this posting via email
at [e-mail].
--
    Mark Linimon / Lonesome Dove Computing Services / Roanoke, Virginia
   {chinacat,uunet}!nominil!linimon   ||    [e-mail]
     "I keep my fingernails long, so they click when I play the piano."