What can you play???

[Jake]

Hmm, maybe you're a bit young for Spinal Tap?

Ahh not too young...

perhaps too ignorant.

Never had the interest.

[marshlander]

marshlander, thankyou for backing up my theory about flutes being less cool than a sax.

Okay, I know when I'm beaten

Sorry, fudger, this has been playing on my mind. :eek: I freely admit I think the rules for what is cool are as confusing to me as the rules for Mornington Crescent. I watch those blokes on Top Gear shifting pictures of cars around like it makes any sense. However, I have never had a flautist unable to play a part I've written for them (unlike some sax players ) and a flautist has never whinged about rewriting a part to give them even more time to breathe ... Whingeing is seriously uncool in my not very humble opinion If I write the notes, it's generally what I expect to hear ... apart from in the impro sections which are very clearly marked!

Maybe I've just stumbled on the answer ... you will know that the best way to shut a guitarist up is to put a sheet of music in front of him (unless it's in TAB when he might try and play it very slowly)? So "cool" is what those people who can't/won't read have in order to compensate ... a bit like big cars and small penises? Ok, I think I get it now mile:

[fudger]

Ok I know there is no rule for cool, like the top gear cool wall its a matter of opinion but in general a sax, often associated with jazz or soft rock, funk and motown has to be cooler than a flute which is associated with classical and folk, then again it also depends on your taste is musical style and who is playing the instrument

lets take for instance the guitar and ukulele,
Hendrix=cool v George formby=not so cool,
Clapton=cool v Cliff Edwards (ukulele ike) not so cool
Mark knopfler=really un cool v George Formby=cooler than Knopfler (who isn't)

so there we have it a clear cut answer in my oppinion that the guitar is cooler than the ukulele but only depending on who it's being played by.

as for the sax v the flute, well I don't recall many 80's film tracks with flutes taking the lead in the middle eight.
where would the likes of Bruce springstein be without a Clarence Clemons solo, or would jazz be what it is today if John Coltrane had taken up the flute instead of the sax????
However the flute does feature in some coolish tunes, like November Rain by Guns and Roses and Van McCoy's "The Hustle".
but in my mind the sax just looks cool where as the flute just doesn't.

sorry have i gone on a rant,
oh well who knows the answer to cool some thing just are!

[marshlander]

OMG, this could run and run

So, if I've got this right, cool is whatever you say it is and that comes down to your personal preferences? Conversely, personal preferences become cool when we want to pressure other people to agree with us?

I'm not altogether convinced by your illustrations. Anyone can pull names out of a hat to exemplify the sublime and the ridiculous. PA and I went to see one of our favourite songwriters recently in Geneva. Thomas Fersen is not well known in the UK, but is popular in France and the man just exudes what I (and I think you too) would consider "cool". As it happens, the excellent guitarist/multi-instrumentalist in his current touring band is not tall and attractive like M. Fersen, but rather short and on the rotund side. Thomas Fersen played ukulele on some songs and ALL the women in the room, along with PA and I of course, went totally weak at the knees. George Formby presented himself as a comic figure through his appearance, style and material. He also represented a very different age, one which had very different priorities. I can't believe you expect me to take a comparison with Jimi Hendrix seriously!

My original point, since it seems to have been lost somewhere, was to question an assumption that the saxophone was somehow an "upgrade" from a flute. They are different instruments, each having an important place in the scheme of things. I write regularly for the two sax players in one of the bands I work with (actually, they are both good players and good all-round musicians) and am by no means averse to the sax. I love it for the range of tone colours the instrument can produce. However, the flute has a far longer history than the saxophone and some music is far better suited to the flute and would not sound right at all on a sax. As a composer I have to come to the conclusion that "cool" is irrelevant. However, as a member of an audience I might feel that the weight and power of the saxophone's sounds, along with the very physical effort required to produce the sound can often provide a more exciting spectacle.

[marshlander]

Hi fudger,

Just thought you may be interested in these projects I've just found. I'm not sure how cool the Leviathan Project might be (could be hell :eek: ), but Meltdown very definitely will be (maybe apart from Moby?)

[COLOR="Navy"]The Leviathan Project
City of London featuring 800 saxophonists!!!
At midday on Sunday 21 June, join 800 saxophonists as they wend their way through the City of London, converging on London Bridge to play a new piece composed by John Harle. The Leviathan is one of a number of projects marking the 800th anniversary of the first stone-built London Bridge and forms part of the City of London Festival's three-day Sustain! event curated by John Harle. Any age, any ability welcome - all you need is a saxophone![/COLOR]

Ornette Coleman is the curator of this year's Meltdown ... now there are several shows in this programme I would love to see!
details

A musical hero of mine, Captain Beefheart, was well-known as an admirer of Ornette Coleman. When the Captain arrived in the UK for a tour in the 70s to promote the album, Clear Spot, he confessed to the music press that his wife, Jan, had hidden his saxophones somewhere in the Mohave Desert where they lived so he couldn't play them in concert. She didn't like his sax playing.