The Return of Live Music


Before Covid, my most meaningful musical experiences came from live performances, primarily in West Coast jazz venues: SFJAZZ, Yoshi’s, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, The Bluewhale (the last having sadly closed). SFJAZZ has the best sound system of the four, the intimate Joe Henderson Lab is a particularly sonorous room, but of course that doesn’t mean I heard the best music there. I’ve always found Yoshi’s P.A. to be excessively sibilant, a shortcoming I cure by sitting as close to the stage as I can. I heard Wayne Shorter there when he was still in fine form, and no imperfection in Yoshi’s sound system was about to mar the power of that performance. He and his band--John Patittuci, Danilo Perez, Brian Blade--played with savage elegance, their music impressionistic, painterly even, despite its peaks of thrashing intensity.

Listening to recordings of this band reminds me of watching video of a play: If only I’d been in the room!

As has often been noted on this forum, live music sounds very different from recorded music, but that doesn’t mean it sounds better. In fact, live mixes can be rough and uneven, unlike the skillfully weighted and balanced--yet artificial--stereo images of an expert recording. But flawed audio equipment doesn’t stop a live band from sounding beautiful. It doesn’t stop a recorded band from sounding beautiful. Excellence in music is different from excellence in sound reproduction. This is terribly obvious.

Sound systems produce sound, but music is bigger than sound.

Audiogon has taught me that I’m not much of an audiophile. The machinery that amplifies music, or reproduces it from recordings, is important stuff, marvelous really, but it’s only a means to access the far more marvelous art of Wayne Shorter and others. I know many on this forum agree. Any importance audio equipment can claim is borrowed from music itself--though music has plenty of importance to borrow!

Recordings perform the crucial service of capturing the passing beauty of an ephemeral art form. No one can overstate the value of preserving elite musical performances that would otherwise be gone forever. And of course performances preserved well are preferable to those preserved badly. But there is nothing like being in the presence of the music as the music is made. Hearing firsthand the energy and force of those sonic structures, as they flood into being before ebbing away, is to sit face to face with something recorded music sees only through a glass darkly.

Now that venues are finally reopening, will anyone else’s system soon take a back seat to the clubs and concert halls where music is created live?



mhe
Not to diminish anyone’s concerns about safety given the current climate, but I would say it is definitely reasonably safe.  Clubs will be reopening very soon with, as you said, Smalls already having done so.  Broadway, the Met Opera and the NY Phil all have scheduled reopenings in early/mid September.
I'm lucky enough to have seen Wayne Shorter a bunch of times, from his time with Weather Report on through to his most recent quartet. 

I've been watching the NYC clubs and they don't seem to be opening up. The Village Vanguard in particular has posted no schedule of live show, only on-demand streamings. Smalls seems to be up and running, though.

I hope the Village is still reasonably safe. It alone has more jazz clubs than most states.


Great post, mhe; well said. Nothing like the live music experience; especially when we leave our audiophile hat in the closet.   Congrats on having seen one of the remaining true greats of Jazz.  

Re NYC and safety: the crime rate has changed little in the areas where the vast majority of desirable music venues are. Just stay off the subways during off hours and budget in taxi/Uber rides.
@kgveteran thats the gist of the agreement between my wife and I.  Basically “pick any destination and then let’s look at the concert calendar”.  Such a great way to diversify the venues I’ve been to but also the bands I see.  
Our new thing was to travel, around a concert abroad. We saw EltonJohn in Antwerp Belgium two years ago.
our next jaunt is
The Lumineers/GregoryAllanIsakov in Madrid Spain. My hope is the same that things simmer down 
It’s very dangerous to be in NYC after dark even in previously safest areas.

My plan is to travel to New York in October for the jazz clubs, but I'm not positive they'll be open.

“Now that venues are finally reopening, will anyone else’s system soon take a back seat to the clubs and concert halls where music is created live?”

Perhaps, somewhat. Hopefully the lockdowns are at an end. Time will tell. 
Its always good to meet a music lover. I have been an avid player of music and Listener to music. Both give me thrills. Playing is about the most fun one can have with their clothes on. But it was listening to music which made me want to play it. I have very good pitch (vocals) but never really wanted to play melody. I did play keys for a while which is how I know my pitch is good. But My LOVE is drums. has been since I was 12. 
That was 58 yrs ago. Don't attend live shows like I did as a young man. But it is that time of year.