Gypsy jazz is the way: a machine's perspective

wdickerson

I gave GPT-2, a generative artificial intelligence language model, the prompt "gypsy jazz is the way," and it generated the following hilarious output:

==== SAMPLE 1 ====

For many, it is. But it hasn't been for everyone. For one, the music is a lot of fun, but there was a time when it was too much for many. The sound was too loud. And the crowds were too rowdy. But the music was just too good at the time.

A few people have tried to revive the style, though. There was a group called the Black Arts Ensemble, made up of former music teachers and musicians, who created "The Black Arts Ensemble," the first-ever band to call itself "The Tango Tubes." And there's the Tango Tubes, a group founded by three former members of the legendary New Orleans band the Lips.

The Tango Tubes got its start in the 1970s and was known for its wild party atmosphere, which often included a DJ, the use of cocaine, and the use of drugs.

But the Tango Tubes have had a hard time getting back into the spotlight. It's been nearly 50 years since they were formed, but that hasn't stopped them from playing the occasional show.

For many, the Tango Tubes legacy is a story of the rise and fall of a band that was one of the most important in New Orleans. And that's not something that the band's current members, who formed the Tango Tubes in 1987 in New York City, are too proud to admit.

"I think that I would feel even more proud of the band if it were still going on," says guitarist Timmy Shultz. "But it's not a real band."

But they are proud of a legacy that they hope will continue. In the mid-1990s, the Tango Tubes signed with Verve Records, which had a reputation for releasing artists that were underground. (They were also signed to Epic Records in the 1980s that did not last. But that's another story.)

The Tango Tubes, with their music, were something special. They had a unique sound that had a funky, jazzy feel, making it a bit more modern than other bands of the time. But they also had a distinct sound that was reminiscent of jazz of the 1950s and early 1960s.

"I think we were an interesting style of jazz band with a particular sound," says drummer Billy Tipton, who also played in the seminal jazz band the Moonglows.

==== SAMPLE 2 ====

They do not write. They play and talk. It is a jazz form that has been a staple of the American musical landscape since its inception in the 1960s. It is the way to get to know music if you want to take it for granted.

When I first started to play the piano in the early '70s, I was introduced to my first gypsy jazz band by a friend of mine, a young saxophonist. I first became familiar with the style over a period of years when I was invited to jam with a group, the Gypsy Jazz Quartet, while in high school. I didn't become a part of the Gypsy Jazz Quartet for many years, but after college, I asked to rejoin. The band had a new drummer who was also a saxophonist. We jammed for days on end and finally, I became a part of the group.

At this point, I had lost my jazz roots. I knew nothing beyond what had been taught to me before. The jazz I was hearing in the band was the same jazz that made me a jazz musician in the first place. I was learning how to play the jazz of the period which was based on free improvisation, improvisation on the fly. I was looking for something else. After a couple of years in the band, I found gypsy jazz, which gave me a fresh taste of what I was hearing but with a different type of improvisation.

I still remember the first time I heard Gypsy Jazz. It was in early '79. The band had just finished a concert tour in New York. They had played the New York City nightclubs, and after the concert, I went to the hotel room where the band had stayed after the show. I was playing the piano when the doorbell rang. It was the band, and they told me that I had to come up to the hotel to meet them. I had been playing for 10 or 15 minutes when I realized that I wasn't playing the style of gypsy jazz so much as I was playing the style of jazz that I had learned as a child, a style that was in many ways more improvisational than what I was used to hearing in a jazz band. I heard the band play for what seemed like hours and hours. I thought I was in for a long night. As it happened, the music took me straight home, to a place that I had lived in for the previous five years.

billyshakes

I don't know why but I saw the subject line text and missed the "GJ" so originally thought this was spam. Glad I opened it up to read!

These read like some undergrad papers I've read. Or better yet, they sound like speeches you might hear in business-speak (I won't mention politics to keep to the tenor of this board 😉). By that I mean, there are a lot of words, and they seem like they should be saying something coherent, but when you get to the end, it feels hollow. I award these samples no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCU36pkH7c

AndyW

Soon, the bots will reply to these AI-posts, and we can have entire forums with no real people required ;-)

Bones

Reminds me of the dreams I've had if I eat spicy spaghetti too late at night.

Buco

Apologies to Will for not reading the AI essay...

The hollow talk Bill mentioned reminds me of a story a friend told me when he started his career as the banker. He was in the meeting with another 30 or so people in the room and after about an hour of empty bs deliberations he had the guts to raise his hand and ask "what are we actually discussing here?". And people just uncomfortably squirmed in their seats...

pdg

We probably could use AI to generate gypsy jazz solos. Then we'd have no more need to be creative.

Azazzell

Is there going to a be a GPT-3 follow-up ? :)

https://github.com/openai/gpt-3

billyshakes

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/106437#Comment_106437

I know what that would sound like -- probably similar to my hapless, scattershot approach. In the right key. Nice stylistically appropriate ornaments and licks...not a coherent thought in the whole dang thing! 😔

Buco

It's probably only a matter of time before it will kick human's ass.

billyshakes

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/106444#Comment_106444

The computer Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at chess. Do you think they are REQUIRED to name the AI that musically outplays a human Deep Purple?

Buco

The machine that out plays a human should be Blue Django, no? But the overall result stands at 1:1 with Kasparov having more wins than Deep Blue. IBM refused to continue after they won the second match. But even Kasparov says that today's laptop with a chess engine could easily beat Deep Blue and that no human stands a chance. But interestingly, he says not because of the superior intelligence but because a computer lacks psychology and knows nothing about the pressure to make the right move.