Soft and Music

Valentine’s Day — you either love it or hate it. It makes sweethearts swoon and others want to stab fat cherubs with a bow and arrow. Between the chocolate hearts, the red roses and the teddy bears shoved in our faces, the holiday stirs up a cocktail of emotions: happiness, despair, jealousy, grief, sadness, desire … MTV News has all your mood swings covered. In honor of this beloved and dreaded holiday, we’re rolling out the Best Love Songs, Best Breakup Songs, Best Makeout Songs and Worst Love Songs in recent memory. It’s our Valentine’s Day gift to you, minus the dinner-and-a-movie part. So slip into something comfortable, and stay for a while. Love songs tend to get dusted off and put on display at weddings. And it’s hard to take any song seriously right after doing the chicken dance. Our favorite artists know what’s up: They express those deepest, darkest emotions without the help of cheesy lyrics or a soprano-saxophone player. Give it up to Justin, the Jonas Brothers and these other winged matchmakers for making us all a little weak in the knees. 10. Jonas Brothers – “Lovebug” This is about the only “lovebug” we ever want to catch. Let’s leave it at that … 9. Alicia Keys – “No One” In this soulful song, Alicia belts out her emotions so we don’t have to. 8. The Postal Service – “Such Great Heights” Despite never uttering those three magic words, this 2003 hit puts us on cloud nine. 7. Jason Mraz (featuring Colbie Caillat) – “Lucky” This duet is bound to make the wedding-day rounds. Still, the old-timey lyrics are cute. 6. Miley Cyrus – “7 Things” This isn’t a typo. This certainly isn’t a typical love song, considering that Miley sings about hating someone. But listen a little closer, and you’ll see the teen queen taps into the heart of a relationship — the bad that also comes with the good. 5. Beyoncé – “Crazy in Love” Ms. Sasha Fierce escorts us over the edge of love and back again in her 2003 smash single. Uh-oh! 4. Taylor Swift – “Love Story” With the sweet melody and fairy-tale references, this teen songstress gives us hope there will be a castle and a lover in a low-cut top in all our futures. Give in and “say yes” to Taylor’s catchy chorus. 3. Gym Class Heroes – “Cupid’s Chokehold” Travis McCoy joins forces with Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump to talk pancakes, secret handshakes and other shared moments with a string of girls. You gotta love a guy (and a song) with a sense of humor. 2. U2 – “With or Without You” After all these years, Bono still melts our hearts. This 1987 classic addresses the question: What the hell would I do without you? That never gets old. 1. Justin Timberlake – “My Love” With the help of Timbaland and T.I., Justin Timberlake nabs the top spot with his 2006 hit. JT redefines the concept of the love song, proving it can belong in both the club and next to a roaring fireplace.

I was in row 32 on the floor for Elton John, and enjoyed the show more thanks to the two huge video screens that provided a great view. The giddy 50-something ladies I sat beside brought album covers and waved them constantly when they danced during the non-ballad songs. When Elton appeared onstage to a thunderous ovation, the crowd naturally rose to their feet, only to sit down a couple of minutes later. At the end of the first song, they stood up again to show their appreciation. Typically, during the slower songs, many people sat down. Dressed in dark brown shades and a large black tailed shirt with elaborate embroidery of Rocket Man artwork, Elton would immediately stand up and point to various people in the crowd after playing a song. The crowd went nuts when Elton played “Bennie and the Jets.” I don’t know if EJ was aware of the significance of the song for Winnipeggers. Winnipeg had an NHL hockey team, the Jets, from 1972 to 1996, when they moved to the US and became the Phoenix Coyotes. Ben Hatskin was the first owner of the Jets, hence the connection to the song. Unlike some performers, EJ made a point of introducing all the members of the band. Both guitarist Davey Johnstone and drummer Dee Murray are original members. If you’ve seen EJ’s Madison Square Garden concert DVD, then you’ve seen what the stage more or less looked like. There were no curtains and you could see the band with unobstructed views from behind the stage. Once the show sold out, a decision was made to sell the seats behind the stage. The show was the fastest sellout in the history of the four year-old downtown arena. A second show was quickly announced for the next day. The sound was excellent, among the best that I’ve heard. The band was tight, with no obvious mistakes. If anything, it was just slightly a bit too loud for me, but I didn’t notice anyone complaining. They tacked on a mini-jam at the end of “Rocket Man,” but it was so limp that it took away from the classic tune rather than added to it. With a bit more fire and passion, they could have really had something special. I really wanted to see some passionate jams, but alas, this wasn’t to be.page 1 | 2

So, when does jazz stop being jazz? There have been all sorts of jazz fusion groups over the years that have incorporated elements of other genres into their compositions from funk to straight ahead rock and roll and I wonder if there's a point where the music stops being jazz and becomes the other genre? Why would a song that's primarily a rock and roll song be still called a jazz piece just because the people performing it are nominally jazz musicians? Perhaps jazz is less a genre and more a state of mind, and what defines the music, and by extension the musicians, is the intent and not the music itself. People who call themselves jazz musicians don't normally constrain themselves by thinking they have to write for a specific market or create any particular sound. They come up with an idea for a piece and then utilize whatever resources they have at their disposal to bring that to life. In some ways jazz is an organic process in that a composition will often develop out of the process of rehearsal as each player in a combo adds new layers and textures to a basic structure. While there is always a certain element of improvisation in all music, it's far more likely that a jazz composition will not only have been created through improvisation, but a good deal of the song would continue to be improvised each time it's performed. Sometimes it appears that in order to write the ideal jazz song you only need to create a theme around which all the participating musicians can build their own contributions, and each time its played, the song is almost being rewritten. In that sort of atmosphere does it really matter what styles of music are utilized? A great example of a band taking the genre be dammed attitude and running with it can be found on Garaj Mahal's forthcoming release on the Owl Studios label, wOOt, which will be in stores on September 9th/08. While some jazz fusion groups might be content with adding either bits of blues, or funk, or rock into the mix, the guys in Garaj Mahal have no hesitation about utilizing any or all of the above in any one song. While that might give the impression that their music is kind of chaotic stew, the reality is … well the chaos is controlled anyway. In fact come to think of it, sometimes while listening to their compositions one is distinctly reminded of the butterfly in Japan flapping its wings and causing an earthquake in San Francisco. What appears to be a series of disconnected events are in reality very much interconnected.page 1 | 2 | 3