Monday, August 07, 2006
Yanni Schmanni
I am not ashamed to admit that I used to own a Yanni T-shirt and that I wore it in public with pride. But I would be ashamed to wear a Yanni T-shirt in public now, if I still had one.
Yeah, I was a big Yanni fan in high school. A couple of my friends got me into him, and we even went to a concert in Park City. That's where I bought the T-shirt. I thought he was a great mix of smooth jazz (which, even more shamefully, I was into at that time), classical, and rock, with some improvisiational elements that appealed to the hard-jazz lover in me that was just developing and has since led me to believe that artists like Yanni are cotton candy compared to Coltrane and Bird.
Today, for the heck of it, I've been listening to Yanni's "Live at the Acropolis" album while doing some fairly non-mind-intensive work. It's all coming back to me. I've found my toes bouncing to the 7/8 rhythm, and I've even been slapping my desk with my fingertips precisely in time with the syncopated accent notes that I haven't heard in years.
I don't know what it was that made me believe that Yanni was cheesy and beneath me. He used to be everything I liked about music. Maybe it's the hair and mustache. Can't get much cheesier than that. As I've sat here, I've pondered it, and I can't come up with any other good reason, except for the fact that I've since really discovered true jazz greats and appreciate classical music more and have come to realize that smooth jazz as a genre is pure drivel. But Yanni is more than smooth jazz and certainly is not pure drivel. I admit he made me feel good today as I listened, and when it comes right down to it, what more can you want from a musician? Of course, I'm not sure if the good feeling comes directly from the music, or from the positive association it brings back to me of the good old days hanging out with my friends "Kanon Ball" and "Cawnie (with an M)".*
At any rate, I've decided to listen to this album more often. I'm not ready to go out and buy another T-shirt (I don't know where I'd even find one--is Yanni still alive?), but I am non-ashamed enough to admit to the world that even if I'm no longer a huge fan, Yanni still makes me smile.
* Those are their real nicknames. And that's how they're spelled. Really. Kanon and Cawnie, are you out there?
Yeah, I was a big Yanni fan in high school. A couple of my friends got me into him, and we even went to a concert in Park City. That's where I bought the T-shirt. I thought he was a great mix of smooth jazz (which, even more shamefully, I was into at that time), classical, and rock, with some improvisiational elements that appealed to the hard-jazz lover in me that was just developing and has since led me to believe that artists like Yanni are cotton candy compared to Coltrane and Bird.
Today, for the heck of it, I've been listening to Yanni's "Live at the Acropolis" album while doing some fairly non-mind-intensive work. It's all coming back to me. I've found my toes bouncing to the 7/8 rhythm, and I've even been slapping my desk with my fingertips precisely in time with the syncopated accent notes that I haven't heard in years.I don't know what it was that made me believe that Yanni was cheesy and beneath me. He used to be everything I liked about music. Maybe it's the hair and mustache. Can't get much cheesier than that. As I've sat here, I've pondered it, and I can't come up with any other good reason, except for the fact that I've since really discovered true jazz greats and appreciate classical music more and have come to realize that smooth jazz as a genre is pure drivel. But Yanni is more than smooth jazz and certainly is not pure drivel. I admit he made me feel good today as I listened, and when it comes right down to it, what more can you want from a musician? Of course, I'm not sure if the good feeling comes directly from the music, or from the positive association it brings back to me of the good old days hanging out with my friends "Kanon Ball" and "Cawnie (with an M)".*
At any rate, I've decided to listen to this album more often. I'm not ready to go out and buy another T-shirt (I don't know where I'd even find one--is Yanni still alive?), but I am non-ashamed enough to admit to the world that even if I'm no longer a huge fan, Yanni still makes me smile.
* Those are their real nicknames. And that's how they're spelled. Really. Kanon and Cawnie, are you out there?
Comments:
Yanni is alive and well and better than ever. He has a new CD that just came out this week and it's fantastic! It will make you smile...even without the T shirt.
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