Racer Session #103 | Simon Henneman Quartet | January 29, 2012

The Blues: not as a structure, but as an experience, for lack of a better term.

You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, I had a whole other thesis and many examples including rebetika, shaker hymns, Ayler, and a bunch of other cool stuff to throw in there, but I think that this is one of those things that is so personal it makes it hard to pin down or put into words: we all experience it as having a different cause, we all experience it in a different way, but we all experience it at some point in time and my blues is not your blues. 

For me, the blues envelops longing, desire, disappointment, hope, expectation; that which is or might be and how we feel about that. It’s something that is distinctly personal and created with great intent going beyond the notes being played and the technique that creates those notes. The expression of it, for me, is the expression of who you are.

The Simon Henneman Quartet will be playing a couple pieces to start out the night with, even an actual blues, and I invite everyone to play along and explore with us and then the night will open up. I urge you improvisers following to explore being personal, even to the point of not making sense to you inside of the improvisation with other folks, and having great intent and really putting yourself out there.

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Past session: Gregg Keplinger & Simon Henneman - March 13, 2011

New album on Table & Chairs: WA: Cross the Center