An interesting linguistic music bit: I often talk (and write) about what I call inevitable art – in italian inevitabile. The meaning is the same: “certain to happen; unavoidable”. What I mean by inevitable is art, more specifically music (but not only), that is the only possible one for an artist. Like John Lee Hooker that couldn’t play anything but his stuff, versus virtuosos that can play everything but don’t have that inevitable quality, “like the ripe pear that effortlessly falls from a tree” (I’m loosely quoting from “Zen and the art of archery”). Now, in italian the antonym of inevitabile is evitabile, which means something that one should avoid. This double meaning is lost in english, but there’s another much more intricate one. The antonym of inevitable, according to my thesaurus, is uncertain. Now, here’s the uncertain definition inthe same thesaurus:
uncertain: adjective
1 the outcome is uncertain: unknown, debatable, open to question, in doubt, undetermined, unsure, in the balance, up in the air; unpredictable, unforeseeable, incalculable; risky, chancy, dicey; informal iffy. ANTONYMS predictable, settled.
2 its origin is uncertain: vague, unclear, fuzzy, ambiguous, unknown, unascertainable, obscure, arcane.
3 uncertain weather: changeable, variable, irregular, unpredictable, unreliable, unsettled, erratic, fluctuating.
4 Ed was uncertain about what to do: unsure, doubtful, dubious, undecided, irresolute, hesitant, blowing hot and cold, vacillating, vague, unclear, ambivalent, of two minds. ANTONYMS sure.
5 an uncertain smile: hesitant, tentative, faltering, unsure, unconfident. ANTONYMS confident.
S0 one could say that, while JLH’s music is sure and confident, Fusion Jazz (which I loathe and despise) is debatable, open to question, dicey, vague, unclear, fuzzy, ambiguous, unknown, unascertainable, unreliable, unsettled, erratic, fluctuating, hesitant, tentative, faltering, unsure, unconfident… And I would have just said it sucked.