26/07: Let's call this....
Category: A Rationale
Posted by: Admin
This area deals with my life long love of music, in particular jazz. My father had a phenomenal reach and depth to his knowledge of jazz and brought me up on the stuff too. What follows is part of the journey....
Category: Steely Dan
Posted by: Admin
Quick Spins
Wednesday, June 11, 2003; Page C05
©2003 The Washington Post Company
Steely Dan has glimpsed the apocalypse just ahead, and of course that puts the guys in a merry mood. "I move to dissolve the corporation / In a pool of margaritas," suggests Donald Fagen on the title track of this new CD. On "Blues Beach," a cheery-sounding boogaloo fit for a frat party, he declares: "Things may get a whole lot worse / Before suddenly falling apart."
Keyboardist-singer Fagen and his copilot, guitarist Walter Becker, are cruising comfily through their fourth decade of Dandom. They're the Coen brothers of rock -- wisenheimer wonder boys who win us over with their complete mastery of craft, even as they keep us at arm's length. This album improves on its immediate predecessor, "Two Against Nature" (2000): It's leaner, lighter on its feet. Lively tempos predominate, the arrangements are soaked in funk, and pleasant harmonic surprises underlie the melodies. As always, the lyrics are packed with vaguely sinister details, but much of the story is tantalizingly withheld. We hear mentions of Gina and Trina and Yvonne, of Abu and Slinky Redfoot and Dave from Acquisitions, but we never quite meet them. Maybe we're better off that way.
"Everything Must Go" displays those smarty-pants Fagen and Becker at the top of their snarky game. Their work may not appeal to the heart, but the brain and the feet love it. Improbably, the Dan abides.
- Peter Kaufman
Wednesday, June 11, 2003; Page C05
©2003 The Washington Post Company
Steely Dan has glimpsed the apocalypse just ahead, and of course that puts the guys in a merry mood. "I move to dissolve the corporation / In a pool of margaritas," suggests Donald Fagen on the title track of this new CD. On "Blues Beach," a cheery-sounding boogaloo fit for a frat party, he declares: "Things may get a whole lot worse / Before suddenly falling apart."
Keyboardist-singer Fagen and his copilot, guitarist Walter Becker, are cruising comfily through their fourth decade of Dandom. They're the Coen brothers of rock -- wisenheimer wonder boys who win us over with their complete mastery of craft, even as they keep us at arm's length. This album improves on its immediate predecessor, "Two Against Nature" (2000): It's leaner, lighter on its feet. Lively tempos predominate, the arrangements are soaked in funk, and pleasant harmonic surprises underlie the melodies. As always, the lyrics are packed with vaguely sinister details, but much of the story is tantalizingly withheld. We hear mentions of Gina and Trina and Yvonne, of Abu and Slinky Redfoot and Dave from Acquisitions, but we never quite meet them. Maybe we're better off that way.
"Everything Must Go" displays those smarty-pants Fagen and Becker at the top of their snarky game. Their work may not appeal to the heart, but the brain and the feet love it. Improbably, the Dan abides.
- Peter Kaufman
Swing Definition:
1. A style of jazz that was dominant in the 1930s, and performed by jazz big bands primarily for dancing audiences.
2. A rhythmic style that involves elongating the first of a pair of consecutive eighth notes, and accenting the second of the two. The rhythm is derived from subdividing a quarter note into three equal parts (a triplet) rather than into an even number of parts. Therefore, swung eighth notes are not really eighth notes, but two legs of a triplet tied together, and the third articulated.
3. An elusive quality that some jazz musicians use to describe music they like. (e.g. “that music swings!”)
Bebop Definition:
A style of music developed in the 1940s by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Instead of big bands, musicians tended to form smaller ensembles. The focus was on the soloists, who took extended solos, showcasing their virtuosity and harmonic knowledge. As jazz fell out of favor with popular audiences, Bebop pushed the music into a more intellectual vein, and perhaps marks jazz’ crossover from pop music to art music.
Hard Bop Definition:
A style developed in the 1950s by musicians such as Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, and others. Seen as an extension of bebop, hard bop infused the earlier style with elements of R&B, blues, and gospel. Hard bop was just as virtuosic as bebop, but sought to make jazz more appealing to dance audiences, the way swing had been. A reaction to “cool jazz,” which was partly influenced by European classical music, hard bop is characterized by its focus solely on African American musical styles.
Free Jazz Definition:
A style of music dating from the 1950s and 60s. The name most likely comes from an Ornette Coleman album entitled Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, released in 1961. Free jazz usually involved the abandonment of chord changes, song structure, and in some cases, conventional tone and technique. Although it was often dismissed by listeners, it has proven to be very influential on today’s jazz.
Recent DVD reviews - By Steve Voce, courtesy of Tom King
It’s not surprising, given its extended form, that DVDs are used to try to inform us as well as to entertain. In this respect I found ‘Stéphane Grappelli – A Life In The Jazz Century’ (Music on Earth MoE 01) particularly pleasing. It is a very worthwhile project done with love and unsurpassed expertise.
There are two discs...
It’s not surprising, given its extended form, that DVDs are used to try to inform us as well as to entertain. In this respect I found ‘Stéphane Grappelli – A Life In The Jazz Century’ (Music on Earth MoE 01) particularly pleasing. It is a very worthwhile project done with love and unsurpassed expertise.
There are two discs...
09/01: The best seat in the house??
Michael Garfield of hplusmagazine.com speculates on the musical "experience" to come...
– It’s 2006, and I am now accustomed to the jumbo screens to either side of the main stage at any given major music festival. I still remember having no choice but to elbow my way to the front if I wanted a better view, and it’s still a fresh feeling: gratitude for being able to leave my binoculars at home and enjoy the view from the lawn
– It’s 2007, and I am a consultant for social music network iggli.com
– It’s 2006, and I am now accustomed to the jumbo screens to either side of the main stage at any given major music festival. I still remember having no choice but to elbow my way to the front if I wanted a better view, and it’s still a fresh feeling: gratitude for being able to leave my binoculars at home and enjoy the view from the lawn
– It’s 2007, and I am a consultant for social music network iggli.com
This question was asked (on the West Coast Jazz Group site) of Bill Crow - well known student, writer and expert on jazz folk, their humour and their interactions.....
Bill,
I've been curious about something for a long time, and I thought you
might have an opinion on the matter, given your extensive experience in
the jazz community. My basic question has to do with the personal
associations and subgroups -- or what sociologists call "identity
groups" -- that might exist among jazz musicians, just as they exist in
other professions.
Specifically, do you think there is any correlation between the
instruments that musicians play and the friendships they are likely to
form? For example, is a trumpet player more likely to become close
friends with other trumpet players than he is with (say) saxophonists,
owing perhaps to their similar experiences with the same instrument? Or,
alternatively, is a trumpet player less likely to befriend and pal
around with other trumpet players, perhaps because of a competitive
tension that might exist between them?
Or do you think that all of this is irrelevant, and that friendships
within the jazz community are usually based on other considerations
altogether? And if this is the case, then what might those other
considerations be? Are they simply a matter of individual personalities
and the personal likes and dislikes that influence every friendship in
every field? Or do cliques tend to develop within the jazz community
that coalesce around a common denominator that a given musician shares
with some of his colleagues but not with others? For example, do the
better or more famous musicians tend to form their own exclusive
fraternities, in effect?
I know these vague questions defy precise answers, and that attempts to
generalize will leave many exceptions in their wake. We are talking
about complex human beings, after all, not automatons. Nevertheless, I
would appreciate hearing any opinions that you (and other JWC members)
might have on this topic.
Thanks.
and his answer.....
Bill,
I've been curious about something for a long time, and I thought you
might have an opinion on the matter, given your extensive experience in
the jazz community. My basic question has to do with the personal
associations and subgroups -- or what sociologists call "identity
groups" -- that might exist among jazz musicians, just as they exist in
other professions.
Specifically, do you think there is any correlation between the
instruments that musicians play and the friendships they are likely to
form? For example, is a trumpet player more likely to become close
friends with other trumpet players than he is with (say) saxophonists,
owing perhaps to their similar experiences with the same instrument? Or,
alternatively, is a trumpet player less likely to befriend and pal
around with other trumpet players, perhaps because of a competitive
tension that might exist between them?
Or do you think that all of this is irrelevant, and that friendships
within the jazz community are usually based on other considerations
altogether? And if this is the case, then what might those other
considerations be? Are they simply a matter of individual personalities
and the personal likes and dislikes that influence every friendship in
every field? Or do cliques tend to develop within the jazz community
that coalesce around a common denominator that a given musician shares
with some of his colleagues but not with others? For example, do the
better or more famous musicians tend to form their own exclusive
fraternities, in effect?
I know these vague questions defy precise answers, and that attempts to
generalize will leave many exceptions in their wake. We are talking
about complex human beings, after all, not automatons. Nevertheless, I
would appreciate hearing any opinions that you (and other JWC members)
might have on this topic.
Thanks.
and his answer.....
17/08: Les Paul: R.I.P.
From the NYT...
August 14, 2009
By JON PARELES
Les Paul, the virtuoso guitarist and inventor whose solid-body electric guitar and recording studio innovations changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday in White Plains, N.Y. . He was 94.
The cause was complications of pneumonia, the Gibson Guitar Corporation and his family announced. .
Mr. Paul was a remarkable musician as well as a tireless tinkerer. He played guitar alongside leading prewar jazz and pop musicians from Louis Armstrong to Bing Crosby. In the 1930s he began experimenting with guitar amplification, and by 1941 he had built what was probably the first solid-body electric guitar...
August 14, 2009
By JON PARELES
Les Paul, the virtuoso guitarist and inventor whose solid-body electric guitar and recording studio innovations changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday in White Plains, N.Y. . He was 94.
The cause was complications of pneumonia, the Gibson Guitar Corporation and his family announced. .
Mr. Paul was a remarkable musician as well as a tireless tinkerer. He played guitar alongside leading prewar jazz and pop musicians from Louis Armstrong to Bing Crosby. In the 1930s he began experimenting with guitar amplification, and by 1941 he had built what was probably the first solid-body electric guitar...
20/07: A useful link to jazz styles
This link connects to a useful list of genres - the point being not that classifying is necessarily useful or accurate or meaningful.... but the page has links to numerous descriptions of each genre and its musicians etc.
Category: Sonny Rollins
Posted by: Admin
This courtesy of Duaneiac - Sonny Rollins Jazz Colossus Blog
By Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun
June 26, 2009
VANCOUVER - Saxophonist Sonny Rollins doesn't take the Orpheum stage until 8 p.m. Monday, but he's told the venue that he needs the dressing room by mid-afternoon.
That's because he wants to practise for three hours before he takes the stage. And, if things go the way they did when he appeared here two years ago, he'll practise for another hour after the concert....
By Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun
June 26, 2009
VANCOUVER - Saxophonist Sonny Rollins doesn't take the Orpheum stage until 8 p.m. Monday, but he's told the venue that he needs the dressing room by mid-afternoon.
That's because he wants to practise for three hours before he takes the stage. And, if things go the way they did when he appeared here two years ago, he'll practise for another hour after the concert....
How Many of You Are There in the Quartet?
by Paul Desmond
by Paul Desmond
Dawn. A station wagon pulls up to the office of an obscure motel in New Jersey . Three men enter - pasty-faced, grim-eyed, silent (for those are their names). Perfect opening shot, before credits, for a really lousy bank-robbery movie? Wrong. The Dave Brubeck Quartet, some years ago, starting our day's work.
Today we have a contract (an offer we should have refused) for two concerts at the Orange County State Fair in Middletown . 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Brubeck likes to get to the job early.
