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Coming back to Gypsy Jazz after two years!
Hey folks, thought I’d share some videos. I am currently in Europe. I was trapped in Asia for two years for a number of complicated reasons. It was extremely safe Corona wise as there were pretty much no local cases. Life went on normally over there which is definitely a privilege but there was no music scene there. The first year was really good as I focused on other aspects of my life and music (worked a lot on bebop), but come the second year, my mind went to very dark places. Vaccine rollouts were very slow and as soon as I got my second dose , I booked a flight to Europe to record a lot of artists. I just recorded Paulus Schafer, Rocky Gresset and Wawau Adler, and come January, will be recording many other artists (not just GJ). It’s really an unbelievable feeling .. we made a few extra recordings for fun that i’d like to share with you:
Last but not least, Wawau Adler asked me if I could play rhythm guitar on his new album alongside Hono Winterstein… How could I refuse such an offer? Here’s a video of a rehearsal:
PS: I have to give a massive shout out to Christiaan van Hemert for being incredibly generous with me. He just lost his dad, and I hesitated in coming but he and his dad insisted that I come, and I cannot thank his family enough. He’s a really great guy and I hope people support his Patreon and Youtube channel. One of my best friends for sure (and competitor!!!! Just kidding)
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Comments
This is great, gratulations!
Welcome back Dennis! Hope your projects will come true!
Great you're back Dennis.
I'm sure this video is bringing a smile of pleasure to the face of each one here as they login today.
Gresset… Gershwin.. (why doesn’t “Hemert” start with a “G”?)…
GREAT!
PS Dennis, although you have said in the past that you are not proud to be a Canadian…
…nevertheless, we are proud to claim you as an exceptional Canadian.
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
I think in Dutch, the H is pronounced more like "GHemert" :-)
I didn’t say I wasn’t proud, I said I don’t have any kind of nationalistic tendencies . I think there’s a difference in the nuance 😁. I am very thankful to be born in Canada, but I would also feel vert thankful to be born in many other places :-)
www.denischang.com
www.dc-musicschool.com
I've been watching your latest YT video in small chunks. I don't know if I would've been so brutally honest about the music scene and cultural beliefs lol. I mean, if they hear it with open ears, it can only be to their benefit. But it might earn you a few haters too. But there's a lesson there both ways.
Interestingly, there's some of that, or there was as I was growing up, where I come from too. This notion that you either have it or you don't and that if you practice you'll somehow ruin your natural instinct for music and other similar nonsense. Of course there was another side of the coin and I knew musicians who practiced incredibly hard and became incredibly good. The former group were, as I now realize, lazy "artist" type. I put artist in a quote because that's how they wanted to be seen but really were just lazy bums. Of course we were all just adolescents and a lot of this is to be taken with a grain of salt. But still a lot of that completely false belief permeated the culture to some extent. To the detriment of others including myself somewhat.
This notion that you either have it or you don't and that if you practice you'll somehow ruin your natural instinct for music
The Practice of Practice book recommended here a while back is excellent on debunking this idea. I found the book really useful. The author is a trumpeter but has also studied gypsy jazz guitar.
Well the recording session with Wawau had to be cancelled because someone in our entourage tested positive, we’re in isolation mode! Even if I test positive, as long as the symptoms are not severe, this trip was well worth it for my mental health!!! We’re gonna try to record the album in January.
It’s really a pleasure playing with such fine musicians, and getting to play rhythm alongside Hono is quite a treat!
Buco, yes it’s a bit harsh, but i think it’s necessary, and i don’t say any of this with ill intent. I was there for two years, i donated my time to a lot of younger musicians to help them out, without ever asking for money. I think it’s totally ok not to be good , the problem is the mindset that has set the standard so low, and this already starts with a lot of foreigner musicians who were ok / decent musicians back home but moved to taiwan and suddenly become gods, and realized they didn’t really have to work hard anymore.
it’s a very complicated and delicate issue. They invite a lot of “famous” foreigner teachers there that don’t really know how to teach. The teachers are very good at using marketing buzzwords and showing off knowledge that while isn’t incorrect should not be taught to students until the fundamentals are covered. So a lot of young students have this idea that music is a lot more sophisticated than it really is.
I had many kids write to me thanking me for showing them an alternative mindset based on logic/pragmatism because the way a lot of teachers are teaching there is based on rehashed conventional wisdom and often to showoff how much they know by using all sorts of complicated terminology. In one session, i changed the playing of players who had been studying for a few years in local music schools, they were all shocked at how simple it could potentially be (but still require hard work)
In Taiwan, it ‘s so incredibly easy to become famous. Everywhere I went I was meeting “famous” pop stars signed to record labels and whatnot. Even I became one of the most famous jazz guitarists there within a few months. For me, it is meaningless, when outside of Taiwan, I am surrounded by child prodigies and the top of the top. It keeps me on my toes. Staying at Christiaan’s house was already such a blast, we were practicing together every day, working on phrases, and his bass player friend would come, and we’d share ideas.
I am learning so much during this trip!
www.denischang.com
www.dc-musicschool.com
Here's hoping you and everyone else stays healthy.