I went to a jazz jam over at Twains in Decatur the other night. Loads of musicians. Lot of Berkelee grads. Lots of young players. Most of these guys were 'killer' musicians who could play incredibly beautiful and complex solos over incredibly complex changes to painfully slow or blazingly fast rhythms, without breaking a sweat.....all without benefit of digitized sheet music in front of them, transpose buttons, automatic chord generation, sequencers, mp3 players, etc., etc. They could also accompany the other soloist with equal ease. In other words, they were REAL musicians......in a way that most arranger players aren't. Given the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that they have devoted to their craft, should they look down on arranger keyboards/players? Dunno, but I can understand it if they do.

We get angry when/if someone suggests that arranger keyboards are mostly of interest to 'ol folks' and poor to mediocre players who use them as crutches to present themselves in a better light, musically. If we're honest, we know that this is generally true. Although there are some 'good' players (I haven't heard any 'great' players) here (unlike say on some of the recording boards), I've only heard a couple that could have set in on that jam the other night; not because of genre', but because of the level of musicianship and training. I think serious musicians want to play what's in their heads, not a sequence (played/programmed by someone else) triggered by a 2 or 3 fingered chord (with very sophisticated software to minimize the effects of poor timing, etc.). These are machines designed for and used by hobbyists that are sometimes, but rarely, used by 'entertainers' to give themselves (hopefully) more performance flexibility than the old 'tape' backing tracks of yesteryear (but just in case, don't forget to bring your compliment of SMF's and MP3's).

For the record, I feel the same way about the loopers and slicers and remixers in the world of HipHop. But at least they do it mostly in the studio, not in the middle of a pretend performance.....plus, they don't even pretend to be 'musicians'...they CALL themselves HipHop artists and treat it as a seperate and unique artform (whether we like it or not, it probably is, and as such, requires a certain skill set, talent, and understanding of the genre'). If it were easy, given the amount of money generated, everyone would do it.

Personally, I don't think the development of more contemporary styles or more modern or authentic sounds matter one little bit in terms of attracting a broader market. It's the VERY CONCEPT of an arranger that makes it attractive to some and a turn-off to others. The old auto-accomp home organ mentality is still alive and well; it has just been re-packaged into a more affordable, more portable, form that allows practically anyone with reasonable singing ability to go out and make a few bucks.

Some people can make music with spoons or partly filled water glasses. Some talented folks will always find ways to use arrangers in sophisticated and artful ways. My dog has a VERY soulful howl; I'm still not taking him to the gig.

chas