Articles by Jacob Hobson
Being Grateful: Defining the Jazz Years Part One - 1973
by Jacob Hobson
Jazz, like the Grateful Dead, has never been particularly easy to define. It seems jazz, in its most simply defined meaning, is improvised music. The Grateful Dead have been called a thousand different things since its official formation in 1965, but has rarely been called a jazz band. There have always been and will always be heated debates about which years were the best, which tone of Jerry Garcia's was the best, which keyboardist was the best. I've heard it ...
Continue ReadingImprovising Art: From Jam Bands to Jazz
by Jacob Hobson
The author Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow." The art of improvisation does just that: it makes the soul grow. The soul of the improvising performer is constantly stretched and twisted in search of that unnamed spiritual experience in which lasting art is created in one passing moment. Improvisation allows a musician to take the risk and venture into dark waters in the hopes of ...
Continue Reading
