12 tracks · 131 min
A brief history of noodling: Back in the days when jazz was pop music and swing bands roamed the earth, it was common for horn players to "noodle" around the melodies of popular favorites. Benny Goodman was an expert noodler. So was Louis Armstrong. Then in the 1940s came be-bop, a music that demanded more technique. Veteran noodlers were ridiculed as moldy figs. It's been up and down ever since: Cool jazzers didn't noodle, but Dave Brubeck did; Miles Davis never noodled, but many who followed in his footsteps did. Jazz fusion was the big Ramen noodle, a yammering, highly technical cacophony of questionable nutritional value. These days, noodling is the province of spring-water hippies. Improbably enough, it also has become big business. While the music world spent the past few years obsessing over grunge, a grass-roots, militia-movement-style takeover of the amphitheaters of America progressed virtually unnoticed. The bands responsible - staffed mostly by wonky, bearded, computer-literate, sensitive guys - are everywhere, with operations that stretch to every corner of the Internet. You know the list: Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Dave Matthews Ba…
