Self-Applause

I was in the lobby of the Mexican hotel playing cards one night, when another guest brought his guitar down to join a group of 5 or 6 others. The unmusical lobby looked with disgust wondering why somebody would pollute the noise of their lobby with music. "You could never do that in America. How inconciderate!"

I appreciated the music. A quiet guitar accompanied the Spanish song. Walking the streets of Mexico you can come upon renegade musicians who, no lie, strum one chord and sing a song. Punk rock has more interesting chord changes. But these guys were a different bunch. They had sat around and sang songs like this before. They might have been business partners, commonly staying in the same hotel for a few nights.

The songs were sung in Spanish, and of the 4 songs I heard, the lyrics all dealt with love. When they finished the song, the group members who didn't sing the song would clap, and those who did would exchange a "nice job" and soon another song started.

It resembled the "jam session" so familiar to the jazz life. It was impromptu, there was no sheet music because they all knew the songs, and they played purely for their own enjoyment. If somebody else liked it, all the better. And at the end of the song they had that feeling of "yeah" that comes after a good song.

While I was sitting enjoying the music one of my companions chuckled saying "you know your not good when you have to applaud your own music". I felt disgusted immediately, but then it all became apparent to me, and I responded "sometimes you have to applaud your own music".

Recognize it, jazz musicians?