Odd Thoughts on Odd Meters

I was looking at Spike Wilner's Facebook page tonight; a discussion about various and controversial topics relating to jazz was brewing. Wilner's post had generated over 150 comments. I also commented, although I think I was kind of late to the party. I think the post has run it's course, but I wanted to share what I wrote, cause maybe it works better as a stand alone than a non sequitur . 

I was intrigued about the odd meters comment. For some of my students, 4/4 is an odd meter.....

I won't name who, but I heard a teacher lamenting about how his students were always "bringing in tunes in 19/8, 7/16, and what not" and so many "straight 8" tunes. (He was pretty negative about it.) "And nobody's dealing with the swing...." he pontificated further as he snapped his fingers on two and four (around quarter note= 120).

I say, why not be able to do it all? The more you can do, the more you will work. And furthermore, don't dog stuff cause YOU are unable to do it. For example, I really WISH I could play stride piano as well as Spike Wilner does;But I'm only going to admit admiration. It would be too easy to say "Aw, that's some BULLSHIT..." No. The beauty of our modern society is that we can enjoy it all.

Billy Hart

I think that's one thing I always liked about Billy Hart, is that he was curious about everything, even though at heart he is very traditional. Most of what he plays comes out of Max Roach, or even obscure D.C. drummers. Yet all the really progressive European bands call him and he fits right in. Somehow, Billy is STILL the youngest guy in the band.

But I also think we shouldn't do odd meters for their own sake. It's all rhythm. A lot of stuff that you could think of in four you could also think of in 7, and so on. I find myself writing odd meters less, only because I want to do it for the right reasons, not just to be impressive.

It's not that people are playing in 7/8, it's WHY are they playing in 7/8? What does 7/8 make them FEEL? There's so much great music in 4, or 3, or 6......some people might never NEED to get to 7! 

I don't want to count when I listen to Stravinsky or Steve Coleman. I just want to DANCE! But it's the same for anything I'm listening to, so ultimately it doesn't matter.