Travis Morrison: Me Vs. Entire Discographies

Lately I have been listening to artists’ entire catalogs. So far I have done Bob Dylan (first), Madonna, Tom Waits, Aretha Franklin, Kanye West, John Coltrane, Bjork, Led Zeppelin, Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder, Lil’ Wayne, and Brian Eno. . . I think that’s it. I’m doing Miles Davis now (see ya in 2013. )Everyone else I listened to the tracks from A-Z. The logic was that I was curious to hear artists peak and valley in different ways at different times. Each artist had their own “graph”. If x=time and y=”travis thinks you’re killing it. ” Which is totally subjective of course. But I could definitely draw a line for all of them. I got a real sense of their musical lives. Except Coltrane, I listened to in chronological order. That’s a trip. Especially that he ends with “Interstellar Space”. The all-time most abrupt discography end ever. It’s like watching a movie that goes from rom-com to car-chase thriller to Stan Brakhage and then just becomes white noise for a minute and ends. I learned that I wasn’t much for his bop material as much as I loved the totally out there free stuff and the ballads. God he could play a slow one so sweet and warm. the Coltrane and Hartman record is amazing. And then he made “Ascension. ” I think you have to have that kind of heart to make the insane stuff. Otherwise it’s just like someone arguing at you or trying to trick you. With Coltrane, when he made totally out music, I felt like he was just trying to make something that sounded like reality