Caught a little of "All Things Considered" Friday on
my way home from work. They were running this great
story on "non-musicians" who nonethless dedicated
their lives to music. One of the folks plays a jazz
show out the Columbia Univ. radio station, and has for
nearly 40 years.
He relayed this story about how one day he had an
undergrad in the studio, who was pontificating in that
uniquely undergrad way about Thelonius Monk's piano
playing. The guy's talking about how Monk used "all
these intriguing wrong notes to create modular
harmonies to deconstruct the classic blues penatonic
chord ..." or some other such Musicology 101
bibble-babble. Anyway, Monk calls into the show, and
says, in his uniquely taciturn way:
"Tell that kid a piano ain't GOT any wrong notes."
That struck me as something Joni's been aware of from
the start! And not just on songs like 'Paprika
Plains'. That same squint shows up throughout her
keyboard work in the '80s albums ... which is another
reason I have to disagree with those who characterize
the sound of those albums as "cheezy" or in "poor
taste." Just my circuitous 2-cents!
Don Rowe
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