All that goddam jazz

I went to the Lucerna music bar on Tuesday night to see John Scofield. I'd agreed to it months earlier on the grounds that I'd never seen Scofield and it would be an interesting experience.

Imagine my dismay when Scofield took the stage and I realized that not only had I seen him before, I'd hated him.

I tried my best, but interminable, noodley electric guitar solos, even when peformed by a man who is arguably a musical genius, are not my thing. Fearing I was about to implode, I did the only rational thing -- I ran away.

The whole experience reminded me why I like punk music -- it's the punk ethos: "I can't play my instrument very well but this song is only gonna be, like, two minutes long and you're pissed anyway, so what do you care?"

The progressive jazz ethos, on the other hand, is "I play like a god and this next song is going to serve as both the second set AND the encore and don't even think about going to the bathroom."