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Lex Borthwick

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My Jazz Story

My preferred musical style is electric blues (what would once have been called rhythm & blues, but that seems to have been taken over by some sort of pseudo-disco - and OK to those who like it, feel free to like it, but it has caused me some confusion in the past - but I try not to get too hung up on categorisation). I play the tenor sax and while there's some good sax in some electric blues, funk, and rock music, there's a shitload (and being brought up in country towns where the dunny - outhouse to polite folk - cans were collected and emptied into trucks before being taken out to the shit dump, the word "shitload" is a definite quantitative term!) more in jazz. Again, while not overly hung up on categorisation, I guess my preference tends towards bop. So, why do I love jazz? Well, I have to be honest, I don't love it more than any other musical form that I enjoy. But I love it more than country, or country blues for that matter. And I've never developed a taste for opera, or rap, or electronic trance, or any music with lyrics that call women 'bitch' or 'ho' (if they represent an essential element of a culture, that just calls some aspects of that culture into question). Or racist rubbish, including that directed at whitey, or religious sky fairy mythological stuff (although there are some fantastic sounding gospel singers). Or music played or composed by paedophiles or probable paedophiles (Gary Glitter - definitely. Tchaikovsky and Michael Jackson, anyone? Yeah, I know neither is proved, but the evidence is high with Tchaikovsky - people dodge things by calling him a homosexual, which he was, or a pederast, which he also was, but pederast is just a subset of paedophile, so if he's one, he must be the other, and his homosexuality is completely irrelevant - and Michael Jackson, did he or didn't he is not the question, what harm he caused by his activities with children is the question, and on that he stands condemned even if he didn't bumfuck them or carry on what Bill Clinton denied was a sexual act - and in both cases, do their terrible childhoods excuse them? I don't think so - but, of course, you're welcome to your opinion). Now, do I have any other musical prejudices? Yep, but I think I've gone on for long enough. Nothing like a good rave to clear the lungs a bit! See ya!

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