Why I Like Acoustic Music

I was once watching a hand drummer in an African show @ The Skirball Cultural Center. The rhythm speeds up, then slows down, and it’s constantly changing. Just like the human heart. Drums and hearts aren’t like machines or metronomes. They’re natural. That’s my organic metaphor.

I was thinking about this recently when I was listening to a new Gerald Wilson Orchestra cd called Legacy. On it there is a cut called “Virgo”. The musicians are all gifted and weave a tight musical tapestry. I think of the collective years all of them have spent practicing and learning to get this beauty out.

Certainly great artists like the late Joe Zawinul used advancing musical technology—as it reached the consumer market–for decades. But he had years of classical Viennese training before Weather Report ever formed. Ditto for Herbie Hancock. These two maestros first mastered the acoustic piano before venturing into new electronic territory.

Sure, I love Nicodemus and Thievery Corporation, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Kraak and Smaak. They make music that propels a thousand dance floors daily. But when I do close listening at home with my vintage tube gear, acoustic music, whether it be jazz or classical, always takes first place.