mjzee

How Bugs Bunny and 'Kill the Wabbit' Inspired a Generation of Opera Stars - WSJ

What’s the best way to listen to a Charlie Parker solo? Ted Gioia suggests singing along. In his satisfying new book, “How to Listen to Jazz,” Mr. Gioia recommends trying to “internalize” Parker’s style, which stood out for its virtuosity and angularity, by memorizing and singing even a small passage of one of his recordings. Such mimicry is precisely the course of study that was undertaken by the saxophonist himself when he was growing up in Kansas City and used to listen to recordings of Lester Young’s solos again and again, striving to copy them note for note. This virtual apprenticeship, as Mr. Gioia put it in a previous book, marked a “turning point in Parker’s musical development.” A radiantly accomplished writer, a busy blogger and a pianist who has recorded several albums, Mr. Gioia conveys his passion for the music with vivid description and shrewd judgments, concentrating principally on the recordings made by jazz musicians rather than on details of their personal lives. (He writes about those in his “History of Jazz,” now in its second edition.) “Listening,” he holds, “is the foundation; everything else builds out of this starting point.” More here: I Hear A Rhapsody - WSJ

Here's another little wrinkle to consider. Amazon is selling devices that claim to be compatible with AirPlay. I tried an AudioCast (aka Veetop Wireless DLNA Airplay Music Receiver Adapter), which sells for $41.99 - much cheaper than an Airport Express. It did indeed connect to my network, appeared in iTunes, and I was able to include it in my stream to multiple devices. However, it did not stream exactly in sync with my other devices - it was about a half-second off, producing an awful echo effect. I wonder if this might also happen with powered speakers that incorporate AirPlay. For example, Polk Audio makes one (AM6119-A) for $249. But if it won't play the stream in sync with other devices...

I wonder if some of the musicians here could comment on his comping. I find it fascinating, because it sounds like if you were to listen to what he's playing while he's playing behind someone, if you were to listen to it in isolation, I'm not sure it would sound coherent - it would sound more like scattered odd notes and broken chords. But the effect when he's behind someone is electric, and I'm sure he's making the soloist play better and harder than he would be otherwise. There's a magic there, and I wonder whether some more knowledgeable folk here could expound on that and tell a little about how that works.

I find the later work consistently satisfying.

This sounds like something Phyllis Hyman would've recorded.

Noticed that this was produced by Tommy LiPuma, so went to his Wikipedia page. It says he started working with the O'Jays in late 1964. This song has an arrangement and feel very similar to Little Anthony's Going Out Of My Head, also from 1964.

Wonderful story, a great life lived. RIP. Wonderful story, a great life lived. RIP. Hmmm...I posted this from my home computer, and got the double-posting.

Which search terms did you use? I only found some new vinyl.

Apple to Update iTunes After Reports of Deleted Music Apple acknowledges music deletion issue, but can't work out the cause

Laurie's doing a commendable job curating and releasing Art's work. Wish other deceased musicians had someone doing similar. Ubu, thanks for letting us know about this new release.

Tommy Turrentine around the 21 minute mark and again around the 28 minute mark.

A few words about the Meet Up At The Movies I just caught. 7/2/89, Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA. A few things struck me: the organized chaos at the heart of the band; there did not seem to be a true leader that evening - everyone was just reacting to what they were collectively creating; and how strong Brent was - at that point, he really was an integral part of the band, not just an accompanist. Jerry was smiling, Phil was subdued and serious, and there was a real connection between Bob and Brent. Even Mickey was more laid-back, with Kreutzmann being more in-front. The stadium sound was great, and you really felt like you were up on stage with them.

I always liked the 3 songs from Dexter Gordon's 5/5/62 Blue Note date that were released as part of Landslide. Turrentine had a strong, brassy tone. Interesting band on that date: Dex, Tommy, Sir Charles Thompson on piano, Al Lucas on bass, and Willie Bobo on drums (!). Tracks: Serenade In Blue, You Said It, Love Locked Out. Worth checking out.

Sonny Clark's last date. Very sad to think of what he might have accomplished if he hadn't OD'd.

Have you considered using your laptop as part of your system? It already has a CD player (a casual perusal through Amazon showed no 3-disc players on sale). You could then plug in a set of powered speakers. As for your iPhone, if the powered speakers can receive Bluetooth, you could play from the iPhone that way. Finally, re FM, use an app on your iPhone such as TuneIn Radio. As for which speakers, if you don't have a suitable store near you, you're left with reading Amazon reviews. For example, this has some good reviews (I haven't heard them), and there are many others. Bose is also a good way to go, and if there's a Bose store in a mall near you, you could hear how they sound. Just some thoughts.

Is it possible that Tippin' take 8 and Pristine take 9 are the master takes, and therefore on disc 1? I have the 2-CD set The Bethlehem Years, and the master takes on disc 1 do not have take #s listed; only the alternates on disc 2 do.

Well, you know that area from your time in New Haven. Best of luck in the future.

Trio 3 played Houston in February 2013 (hard to believe it was that long ago). Here's a shot from that night:

To be fair, it's hard to know all that will ensue from clicking an innocent "yes" (one of many) after an upgrade. It's not like at that point Apple will pause the process and explain all that will occur after you click "yes." One has a reasonable expectation that Apple will do right by its customer and not cause harm. So, yes, this can be a shock, it can be detrimental, and the customer should not be blamed.

Just back from seeing Dave Burrell and Andrew Cyrille. Very enjoyable. Burrell's a consistently interesting pianist, and Cyrille was a sensitive accompanist. It helps that they're old friends. It was nice meeting kh1958 at the show!

Here's a scary thought, inspired by this recent thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/78502-another-thread-gone-missing/ What if your hard drive started dropping files? Either through a malfunctioning EHD or through something like Apple Music. If you have a large digital collection, how would you catch that? I know it's possible if you do a compare of your current collection to your most recent backup, but most people wouldn't do that on a regular basis. How would you become aware of missing files? Similarly, what if your EHD began corrupting files? If you perform regular backups, your good backup would be overwritten by the corrupted files. I'm just throwing these out as food for thought. As some of us migrate more toward primarily using digital files, I think these issues will be of some concern.

Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed reading it.

Great! Thanks for clarifying.

I've noticed that this thread exists, but haven't been following it. Nonetheless, the following article showed up in my Facebook news feed. I have no idea whether this works, but merely offer it up for examination: http://themindunleashed.org/2016/05/boil-bananas-before-bed-drink-the-liquid-and-you-will-not-believe-what-happens-to-your-sleep.html