There really wasn’t a day 5, but most folks were eager to do one last gamala taki session after breakfast. Karl was reluctant to do it because it was so darn cold! The weather had really turned. But the enthusiasm of the people won over, and it turned out to be one of the most physical gamala taki sessions I can remember, with lots of dancing and singing. We talked about the possibility of future CMS sessions, said our goodbyes, and hit the road. It was an extraordinary week folks. Extraordinary.

CMS 40th anniversary workshop and retreat

This is it, folks. The last day of this 40th anniversary workshop and retreat. I’m sad. Yes, I am. It’s been incredible. Extraordinary. But it’s great to be able to say that the Creative Music Studio lives on here in the twenty-first century!

There’s been so much happening these past four days; I’ve been able to give you only a very few highlights. Today we had illuminating and energizing  sessions with Steven Bernstein (a high-energy, second-line-inspired romp), Don Byron (a real challenge in the area of creating and refining brief compositions), and Steve Gorn (a beautiful introductory lesson to Indian music). It was Steve’s birthday today.

That’s all for now folks. I’ll get back to you later with a report on tonight’s final concert.

Peace,

Bob

CMS 40th anniversary workshop and retreat

Extraordinary. Did I say that already?

Here’s the deal, folks: I’ve committed to blogging every day (and I’m gonna), but there’s so much going on that I can’t really do it justice in the short little times that I have to write stuff down.

Some highlights:

Breakfast. Yeah, yeah, the food’s better than you could hope for, but you’ve heard that already.

Body awareness. Back in the day–1976, when I first came to CMS, body awareness was taught, by dancer Sara Cook, and Eva and Savia Berger,  the daughters of Karl and Ingrid, were just little girls. Now, body awareness is taught by Savia. This is great stuff. If you’re a musician or any other kind of human being, you need body awareness training.

Then we had gamala taki training and voice training. If you don’t know about gamala taki and you want to, email me at bsweet [at] arborville.com. Email me anyway.

Then John Medeski taught a workshop that had us transferring improvisations in a circle around the room. I know, you’d like more detail on that. I’m sorry, time is short.

Oliver Lake’s workshop was fantastic. Everyone got to play a lot and we were all challenged by his charts, despite how deceptively simple they appeared.

Mark Helias. The man is brilliant on the bass, and he’s spent so much time exploring the mental processes that make or break your ability to improvise effectively. A great session where he created small groups on the spot to improvise freely. At the end, we all (twenty-some people) improvised as a unit. Extraordinary.

Then we had a music -mind meditation session with Karl Berger. We listened to the ends of sounds, sounds disappearing. Give it a try.

Tonight there’s a concert with Karl, Tani Tabbal, Mark Helias, Kenny Wessel, and John Medeski.

Stay tuned, y’all.

Full Moon Resort. May 20, 2013.

I’m going to keep this short, folks. It’s late and it’s been a long day. All of the participants of the CMS 40th anniversary workshop and retreat gathered about 5:30 amid outrageous appetizers and drinks–I’ll just digress for a moment here to say how outstanding the food is here at the FMR–to hear from Karl Berger how the next four days are going to unfold and what the fundamental musical principles of the Creative Music Studio are: an unfiltered, intimate, and vastly pure personal relationship with the elements of all musical expression, regardless of styles, genres, fashions, or industry dictates.

Then dinner. More really good food. And then a concert with Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, Tani Tabbal, Oliver Lake, and Mark Helias. Ilene Marder, who has been with Karl and Ingrid since the early, early days of CMS and who I’m so glad showed up tonight, because she’s just an all around beautiful person, said that the performance reminded her of times at Sam Rivers’ Rivbea Studio, when the music would just go on for hours and hours–not that it did tonight, but it had that transcendent quality that would have continued to satisfy even if it had gone on for hours longer.

It was great to hear Mark Helias, an outstanding bassist, whom I had not heard before; great to hear Tani Tabbal, whom I used to hear a lot when he and I were living in Detroit and he played with the band Griot Galaxy; great to hear Oliver Lake, whose command over the saxophone can sometimes take the listener’s breath away; and great to hear Karl and Ingrid, who are unique in all the world. It was an extraordinary (you might find me using that word a lot over the next few days) beginning to what promises to be an extraordinary week.

After the concert, several–most–of the workshop participants who were fired up and eager to play (including yours truly) got up for a jam session, which included an energetic mix of freely improvised music, jazz standards, and blues.

I’m going to bed. See you all tomorrow.

My goodness, folks. . . there is so much coming out in the media about Karl and Ingrid and the Creative Music Studio. . . I just can’t keep up!

The Jazz Journalists Association just gave Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso the 2013 Jazz Heroes Award. We always knew they were heroes. Now the rest of the world does.

Congratulations, Karl and Ingrid.