Negative Space

[fabrisse]

I'm reading a book called In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan. It links be-bop to science, especially nuclear physics, and, while I'm uncertain about the science, the lady is definitely sound on the jazz.

As happens with her books, I've had a little internal revelation which may be blatantly obvious to everyone else, but seemed new to me. Be-bop is aural negative space.

This means something to me from the funeral of my step-grandmother when I was in high school. My uncle Jim, who's a professor of mathematics and specialized in number theory, couldn't understand why Ora had embroidered so many weird modernist book marks. I looked at the bookmarks and read the phrases that were on them. The one I remember is "Jesus Saves."

Jim couldn't read the negative space. His wife could read the phrases when they were pointed out to her as could my sister. I don't remember Dad's reaction, but Mom had also read them from the beginning and, like me, had a hard time understanding how anyone saw anything else.

The faces in the vase image that is used so often has always puzzled me. I see both. I always have seen both and I pretty much see them both at the same time. I know some people say they flip between one and the other, but, while I can force myself to see one or the other exclusively, I either don't or I cycle so quickly that my mind doesn't register it.

What about the rest of you? Is this one of the oddities of my bifurcated brain (one ear hears high, the other low -- one eye sees distance, the other reads)?

Comments

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

There's a recording by John Coltrane of "My Favorite Things" that goes off into the realm between the notes. If you know the music from Porgy and Bess, Miles Davis' version of that is a terrific way to hear it. I remember walking into a bookstore nearly twenty years ago and hearing this great trumpet. The melody was just at the edge of my hearing in a way, I could feel the shape of it, but couldn't identify the song. And then there it was: "There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York." Goonan uses "Koko" and "Salt Peanuts" by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie as her touchstones. If you're more into vocal music, Ella Fitzgerald on one of her scat runs is as pure as you can hear it. I especially like her "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."

What are your favorite Be-bop or cool jazz pieces? By the way, my absolute favorite group was Modern Jazz Quartet. I was lucky enough to see them live on my twenty-sixth birthday. And my favorite song of theirs is "The Martyr."

The funny thing is, I've never cared for Stravinsky, but she points out they're using the same approach to tones he did.

For me, Jazz is interstitial. The best players, and I love late be-bop and early cool jazz (1948-1958), make space for their ideas, but never kill the melody or lose the theme.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Just a side note: about three chapters after I wrote the above, she specifically mentions Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" and both Modern Jazz Quartet and Ella Fitzgerald are referenced.