Mozes Rosenberg - Joe Zawinul - Advice

DragonPL · January 30

I just saw this video of young Mozes Rosenberg. What's interesting in it, is the advice from Joe Zawinul. I never heard of Zawinul, guess he was a big name in jazz based on his Wikipedia, but what's interesting none of his advice like knowing the chord names, knowing how to read music etc... translate to gypsy jazz or to Mozes' career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3bAeuuVGYk

voutoreenie · January 30

Really neat watch, thx for posting!

PA-Andy · January 30

Respectfully I feel kinda the opposite way. The players that interest me the most in Gypsy Jazz are those that push the boundaries and refuse to continue to sound the same as the traditional inside players (as great as they are) I like Antoine Boyer, Adrien Moignard. Les Doigts. They took a different route. Extra knowledge and exposure didnt hurt them

Zawinal’s advice was meant merely to give them more possibilities, which someone in his position as a master musician would be loathe not to. I think Joe was trying to say there are ways to expand your horizons so that you can never be bored and stagnant

That being said i understand that birele didnt formally learn music theory as dchang has reported. But he learned it nonetheless - he just did it by hanging out and playing w players like Jaco and Babik- who was not a strict emulator of his father’s style. Birele of course was massively influenced by Benson

Birele branched out and played w numerous great jazzers Larry coryell Philip Catherine Al Dimeola To name a few His adventures away from traditional gypsy jazz enhanced his playing

billyshakes · January 30

Andy, I have to agree. He was impressed at the sense of harmony that Mozes had but yet when he was asking him why he played what he did over the Gm chord, Mozes didn't know what that was....at 13. If he was 25-30, it might be a different story. But I think he was trying to tell this prodigy player at 13 that being able to understand what it is you are actually doing will only unlock more secrets for you. In this case, it isn't as much a barrier as it is meant to help. Just as any native speaker never learns grammar in their natural mother tongue, it can be a quick help to take knowledge you already have and unlock different languages with some of the skills you already have.

So...is it necessary? Maybe not. Was it still advice coming from a place of good intentions? Absolutely.

bbwood_98 · January 31

That is a very interesting video.

I think the most important thing that he brought up was the idea to keep playing through the frustration section of learning new ideas - and at a certain point when you feel it's time to develop your own voice you have to stop yourself from playing ideas you already know. Also, to write your own tunes seemed very important to both Mozes and Zawinul.

This is more the advice that I thought was impactful over knowing the notes - it did not stop them from communicating about the music in any way after a few seconds.

Their backgrounds were very different. Music is pretty universal however so . .

ethanwm · January 31

Folks might be wondering how Mozes feels about this in hindsight.

Mozes's bio from from Django à Gogo may have an indirect an answer, by its inclusion — and content: "Mozes also benefited from master classes with Joe Zawinul, a significant figure in jazz fusion, during the North Sea Jazz festival in Scheveningen. Zawinul, who had Hungarian Gipsy roots, helped Mozes refine his craft, leading to his development as an outstanding solo guitarist."

A nice hat tip to JZ.

source: https://www.djangoagogo.com/music-camp

bbwood_98 · February 1

Also,

One of my favorite (talking) intros to a tune came from Zawinul (indirectly . . .)

"You know . . . Sometimes we're not prepared for adversity. When it happens sometimes we're caught short. We don't know how to handle it, when it comes up. Sometimes, we don;t know just what to do when adversity takes over. And, ah, I have advice for all of us. I got it from my pianist who wrote this tune and it sounds like what you're supposed to say when you have that kind of problem. It's called "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy".

Great tune too!

https://youtu.be/W9mYN0Tkoik?si=pBxBIc-KEKHNaNc2

Sorry, could not resist sharing it.