{"id":1420,"date":"2008-08-05T01:04:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-05T08:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2008-08-05T01:04:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T08:04:00","slug":"other_places_bill_holman_at_le","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2008\/08\/other_places_bill_holman_at_le\/","title":{"rendered":"Other Places: Bill Holman At Length"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his JazzWax<\/em>, Marc Myers has a fascinating four-part interview with Bill Holman. I’m no enthusiast of transcribed verbatim interviews, but Myers’s introductions, questions and production values make the format work, and in the great arranger he has a subject whose articulateness and wit carry the reader along. Two excerpts: <\/p>\n

\n

\n\"Holman.jpg\"<\/span>I used to think that writing a jazz arrangement was like stream of consciousness, the same as a jazz solo. You just started playing and built on what you just played. Then you go on to the next thing and never repeat yourself. After a few years it finally dawned on me that the ear wants to hear something it recognizes, so I started concentrating on the shape of an entire piece, the form, and how it builds to a climax. As a writer, you also want to avoid getting to the climax too soon. If you do, you’ll kill yourself trying to top it in the arrangement. And the result is monotony. <\/p>\n

Writing music and arranging never gets easy. I’ve had students ask me, “How long does it take before it gets easy?” I tell them, “Never.” As soon as you get to one point in your development, you’re looking at the next level.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To read the four parts in order, go to JazzWax <\/a>and scroll down to July 29. Start with part 1 and scroll back up through parts 2, 3, 4 and an addendum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his JazzWax, Marc Myers has a fascinating four-part interview with Bill Holman. I’m no enthusiast of transcribed verbatim interviews, but Myers’s introductions, questions and production values make the format work, and in the great arranger he has a subject whose articulateness and wit carry the reader along. Two excerpts: I used to think that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}