Well, as my father once said to me, "Son, if you're going to compose music, do it because you enjoy composing music. Then, the money will come..."

Still waitin' to see if that's true! smirk

Actually, I agreed with him, and would believe it even if he had never told me that. I have never, ever, sat down purposely, and with focused deliberation, to compose a song that I imagined would be appealing enough to a mass audience to cause them to want to buy it. How would one even attempt such a thing? Not to mention the fact that I've read story, after story, after story, about musicians who composed something in a casual manner without any expectation of profiting from it...and then, all of a sudden, they had a "hit" on their hands. On the flip side, the songs they wrote that they actually believed could be "hits", never went anywhere.

Trumpeter Lee Morgan's surprise "hit" composition, "The Sidewinder," was a "happy accident." Here's the Wikipedia information:

"According to drummer Billy Hart, Morgan said he had recorded "The Sidewinder" as filler for the album, and was bemused that it had turned into his biggest hit."

Go figure! What does it mean? I think my father got it right...

My personal pipe dream would be to compose a straight-ahead jazz tune that "went viral." It's been years, maybe decades, even, since I heard of a straight-ahead jazz instrumental, or song, that "climbed the charts." When was the last one? Dave Brubeck's and Paul Desmond's "Take Five" in 1959? Eddie Harris' "Exodus" in 1961? Antonio Carlos Jobim's and Vinicius de Moraes' "The Girl From Ipanema" in 1965?

Anyway, I just think it would be cool to walk down the street and hear people snapping their fingers and "be-bop-sha-boppin'" to the tune of a nice instrumental jazz tune, or crooning the lyrics of a melodious jazz ballad...

LOREN (a.k.a. "bluage)


Last edited by bluage; 02/09/17 07:39 PM.
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".