And again..... Oscar Peterson Ladies and Gentleman

Not a Haiku

Practice…… Must practice more….. Need more hours in the day……. Practice

From the Eyese of Frederico Garcia Lorca

As the firelight flickers and ladies dance with grace
I sit in the corner and wrestle with my distaste
I have trouble believing what lies before my gaze
A room full of lushes in a sad but sweet daze
Someday I might know what it means to be so hearty
If I am not soon murdered by the Spanish Nationalist Party

Poem written- late for class

Bluster bluster says the day
But you still must go, there is no other way
Out from behind your wall of covers
To school you go with your sisters and brothers
Brew some tes and rub you eyes
The mornings a shock but it’s no surprise
Arise arise you will be late
Out the door, with school, a date

A Snopshire Odyssey

A For this project I choose to work with a group, and so one windy afternoon Austin Moore, Carl Hess, Erica Lambert and I embarked on the Snopshire Odyssey. Travis Buffington, Austin and Carl’s roommate, is a video production student at PCC and offered to help us film and edit. We decided upon a theme of a group of wandering minstrels who are approached by a magician who asks them if they are looking for work. They say they are, as musicians are always looking for work. The magician then takes them back in time to the Royal Court of Dopplebach. There the minstrels are asked to play for King Leotard, the King of Dopplebach.
We had trouble finding other actors to aid us in the filming of our story. I was able to con Will Bullock, a close friend, into being the magician but he only had one free hour on the day of filming so we could only capture a few shots. For the part of the king we searched for people but to no avail. We enlisted or faithful director for the part of the king which gave us all some chances to do some filming while we weren’t playing. For this odyssey we tried to find music encompassing all periods of music we studied this semester. We decided to use: “A Chantar” by Beatriz de Dia, Landini’s “Ecco La Primavera,” an English country dance from 1713 “Stropshire Lass,” a solo guitar pavan by William Byrd called “The Earl of Salisbury,” A Sonatina by Handel and lastly “Tipsy Gypsy” by David Grisman. The last number does not technically adhere to the assignment guidelines but we needed a way to get back to the present day.
We wanted to play the songs ourselves using our own instrumentation. Since we needed to do multiple angled shoots of us playing each song we decided to record the songs separately. Using my compute and some microphones borrowed from Jeff Leonard we spent two days doing recordings of the songs. Doing a mixture of live recording and multi tracking we were able to produce some surprisingly good recordings. I got a little too into multi tracking one night however and spent six hours on “Ecco La Primavera.” We originally recorded it with mandolin and violin playing only the melody and harmony parts. While I was doing mixing, however, I decided to put rhythm guitar, banjolin and another mandolin part on the song. Then I put a beer bottle whistle drone over the track and then promptly stopped when I realized it was four AM and I was delirious. I promptly deleted that track before going to sleep.
Mixing down all the separately recorded parts for “Ecco la Primavera” was really tough but it was extremely satisfying to hear the end product. For the other songs we did, on average, six takes for each song and then picked the best one. We were then able to mix them down to a final product, which we were all really pleased with.
However stressful, recording was worth it. It would have been impossible to do multiple takes of the songs on films and be able to edit them. Once we had the recordings we just needed a place to shoot. On filming day it was typically Portland, rainy and cold and not suitable for instruments being outside. Also our director was six hours late due to complications with the KGB.
We were able to get the beginning shots during a rain hiatus. We then tried to go to the Manor House but extremely inhospitable campus safety officers stood in our way. So we turned to the Chapel but had to wait until ten to start filming on account of events previously scheduled.
Once we had all the music and the film footage we began editing. Editing proved to be extremely time consuming. We had over two hours of footage that we needed to cut down to around fifteen minutes. Also we realized that none of us could act very well so we had to figure out how to minimize the dialogue. The hardest part about editing was synching the recorded music to the footage of us playing the music. While filming these scenes we had a boom box blasting the recorded music. This made synching the footage easier but because we are all musicians we were able to tell when every scene did not match up exactly. Eventually we did our best to closet our perfectionism.
I really enjoyed this process. Mostly because getting immersed in all the music from throughout history was ear opening and inspiring. I don’t have much else to say except that I will be remaining a musician and never moving into film.

A list

Top Five Albums Right Now

5. Strength in Numbers- Telluride Sessions
4. Tim O’Brien and Daryl Scott- Real time
3. The David Grisman Quintet- Self Titled
2. The Beatles- The White Album
1. Mike Marshall and Chris Thile- Into the Cauldron

Quiz on Guitar Gently Weeps Analysis

Most Important Exam Ever: “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”

1) The song begins in a minor and modulates to what key area?

A. C# Minor
B. F Major
C. Gbb Junior
D. A major
E. B minor

2) Who was the “The Quiet Beatle”?

A. Ned Rorem
B. George Harrison
C. Paul Simon
D. Ringo Star
E. Sarah Palin

3) The song was written after George Harrison read which book?

A.. The Dao de Ching
B. The Lotus Sutra
C. The I Ching
D. The Bible
E. Dianetics

4) Who recorded the guitar solo on this song?

A. George Harrison
B. Robert Johnson
C. Eric Calpton
D. Antonio Vivaldi
E. Sarah Palin

5) The “White Album” was recorded in what year?

A. 1969
B. 1968
C. 1966
D. January 27, 1756
E. 1972

6) The Carillon is the worst instrument ever invented

A. True
B. False

7) Please name one other song George Harrison wrote.

___________________________________________________________

While My Guitar Gently Weeps Analysis

It is easy to hate rock stars. They’re either not musical enough, too musical, too eccentric, not eccentric enough, whiny, egotistical or too depressed. Really we just like to hate rock stars because they are rich and famous and usually brilliant and we are not. Probably the most hated and also loved band in rock history, The Beatles, are certainly not exempt from any of the above superlatives. However, most of us who appreciate great music choose to ignore this and focus on the genius music that all four of the “fab four” produced during their illustrious careers. Mingling among the greatest of all Beatles songs, “While my Guitar Gently Weeps,” expresses the thoughts of, “The Quiet Beatle.” Judging by the lyrics of this epic lament, George was not exactly happy about his nickname.
For most of the existence of the Beatles George was allowed only one song per record and he was not allowed to do any solo recording on the side. By 1968 when the Beatles began recording for, “The White album,” George had had quite enough of this.
The second verse of the song clearly illustrates George’s frustration with the band and his lack of creative control.

"I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold you love
I don't know how someone controlled you
they bought and sold you

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps"

While many people have criticized the Beatles for lack of musicality, “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” is one song amongst their musical catalogue, which indubitably remains exempt from this criticism. The song begins with a pulsing piano; guitar, drum and bass vamp in a minor. The verse structure reads as a double period with a minor i to V/iii to IV to V progression. The last section of the verse however starts in the same form but cadences in A Major, which is consequently the key of the bridge, which follows.
The bridge is in A major, however it still remains true to the minor feel of the song. Progressing from I to iii to vi to iii to ii to V. This progression inhibits the bridge, with a great deal of “word painting.” That is, the music mimics the mood of the words. The bridge begins major while the words sing about love but when the music shifts to minor the words also shift to illustrating the control that is being exerted on the band members by the record company and of course George’s guitar lying in the corner, silently unplayed.
Perhaps another ironic twist to the history of this song is that the incendiary guitar solo that occurs two minutes into the song was not actually recorded by George Harrison at all! As the story goes, after recording the song several times, none of the three other Beatles were pleased with the recording. Frustrated and hurt George called Eric Clapton down to the studio and after one take; they had a completed version of the song.
While this fact seems to annoy many die hard Beatles fans, inciting them to go as far as saying that the Clapton solo is not actually the one heard on “The White Album,” the fact remains that Clapton’s appearance in the studio during this tumultuous time helped ease rapidly escalating tensions within the band. The irony is apparent and even humorous to some. Mostly, however, this song just adds yet another gem to the Beatles vast collection, and yet another story to add to their lore.

Mother Nature's Ston

My favorite Beatles' song:

Born a poor young country boy--Mother Nature's son
All day long I'm sitting singing songs for everyone.

Sit beside a mountain stream--see her waters rise
Listen to the pretty sound of music as she flies.

Find me in my field of grass--Mother Nature's son
Swaying daises sing a lazy song beneath the sun.

Mother Nature's son.

Nora Beck Conducts Tan Dun

Youtube is putting together an orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/symphony

Tan Dun wrote the music.
Nora Beck should conduct.

Ned Rorem is a very bad man

On November 30th in 1965 "Rolling Stones Day" was declared in Colorado. Take that Ned Rorem! I don't understand how someone can make a living writing about things that they don't like. I guess it says more about society than it does about Ned Rorem. We search for the faults in the world and take pleasure when other people agree with our findings. I'm not saying the Rolling Stones were the musical genius's that having a day named after them might suggest but they are a source of postivity. They make millions of people. I hearby declared November 30 national, "Ignore Ned Rorem" day.

Sick sad world

One hundred and fifty people were killed in Mumbai in the last couple of days. Terrorists seized bunch of hotels and started killing hostages. Now all the terrorists are dead. The Indian special forces killed them all. I wonder why terrorists think that killing innocent people is what their God wants. They never made any demands or threats really they just pointlessly killed. In America we're all terrified because of this financial crisis, but it will inevitably get better in time. I dont know if self justififed, senseless killing of innocent people will ever go away. I fear for the lives of my children.

Presidential Turkey Pardon

I guess this is the most productive thing Bush can do anymore. Pardoning a turkey when you are a turkey must feel like your springing your best friend out of jail.

Thanksgiving Pie Poem

This morning is thanksgiving. Michelle Obama is not going to cook thanksgiving dinner. Neither is Barack. Neither am I. Times is tough. Maybe there will be pie. There's always pie.

If only pie would fall from the sky
Maybe I would not feel the urge to cry
These days ahead will be filled with dread

The economy fails and you feel dead
O if it were only a world filled with pie
O pie o pie why wont you fall from the sky

Sarah Palin is a big dumb idiot

KC- You’ve cited Alaskas proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

SP- That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border, between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side the land ahhh boundaray that we have ahh with Canada, I I I it’s funny that a comment like that was ah kinda made to uhuhuh carec uh uh I dunno ya know reporters.

KC- Mocked?

SP- ya mocked I guess that’s the word mocked ya, ummm eh

KC- Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials?

SP- Well it certainly does because our, ooour next door neighbors our foreign countries they’re, in, the, state, that, I, am, the, executive, of and they’re in Russia.

KC- Have you ever been involved with any negotiations for example with the Russians?

SP- We have trade missions, back and forth we we do. Its very important when when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin ah wheres his head ah and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where wh do they go? It’s Alaska its just right over the border it is, from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this, very, powerful, nation Russia because they are right there they are right next to ummm to our state.

Rant on the state of things

Waiting for your life to feel complete and fulfilling is quite possibly the worst thing to wait for. It leaves you with a metaphysical hole whose gravity becomes increasingly stronger as time goes on. The only way to achieve fulfillment and happiness is to work towards it and hope for some sort of staying power. In the long run it ends up being the work that distracts you from your metaphysical hole. There comes a point however when you realize that your days are filled with more meaningless tasks and thankless obligations that there’s not enough time for doing things that actually make you happy. Of course the meaningless tasks and thankless obligations can distract you from your hole just the same but when you can take your brain out of the box you put it in before the shit begins for a breather its hard to feel like your moving forward. Creating something from nothing is really all we as inspired people who strive towards artistic self-validation. We all want to accomplish great things in our life yet we zero in on small personality faults and raise our noses to people who were once our friends. “Something about you must have changed cause you used to be a somewhat decent human being,” we think. Really we’re all just trying to be happy people. We’re all just trying to find some sun on perpetually rainy days. Yet some people still insist on inserting a bark-clad stick up their ass every morning before they step out the door. Rolling their eyes and scoffing when people think out loud for self-verification or when someone can’t remember how many sharps are in G# Minor.
Assigning a rant is a very hit or miss assignment. The flow of sentences depends directly on the mood from second to second of the ranter. For a ranter who is quite tired and quite sick of some uptight, unfriendly and thoroughly unpleasant assholes. But now that said ranter has successfully ranted the aforementioned rant, he no longer cares. He steps back from his computer screen and realizes that these people probably have larger holes than most but will probably never know it. Nor will they ever know true emotion, happiness, selflessness or true love. As the ranters fingers slow and he feels unsure about the negativity he has just projected, he thinks about what can be done to curb these blights on the canvas of the human race. He then logically deduces that because his faith in the human race is strong these people must not be people at all. Yes! They must be psychic aliens that intend on exterminating the human race disgusting them all death with their pompousness.

O Joe, O Joe, Where did your sight go?

Joe was blind. Most people would consider his condition to be of the worst kind, for there was a time in Joe’s life when he could see. He used to have the capacity, much like most healthy young men, to see with near perfect vision all the colors of fall, the sun shimmering on the ocean during summer or the last wisps of daylight on a midwinter day. Throughout the duration of his days of sight Joe never appreciated these things. He passed the days idly, much like most healthy young boys, never really stopping to appreciate the world around him until one day it was all gone and the only world that Joe knew was what he could created from his remaining four senses. The unfortunate young man woke up one morning to a blurry sight. That is, his sight was very blurry. By the end of the day it was darkness, pure unremitting and indefatigable darkness. Joe’s parents cried and cried; outraged that such a thing could happen to their perfect, healthy young boy. The fourth, fifth and sixth opinions from the fourth, fifth and sixth doctor that Joe was dragged to, all agreed that Joe was blind and that the reason was far beyond the comprehension of the mortal man. For Joe however just sat. For nearly a week Joe sat in silence just listening to everything around him. The truth was that, after the initial shock of going blind Joe wasn’t all that upset about not being able to see. He realized that he had never really appreciated his sight because there wasn’t really anything particularly beautiful for him to look at in the dull, gray existence that was his life.
While Joe’s parents never could quite cope with the loss of sight that befell their son, Joe considered it the best thing that ever happened to him. As the weeks passed and Joe finally began to digress from the constant sitting position he began to notice things that he had never noticed before. Walking down the stairs from his room, Joe could hear the tiny creak of each stair and as a result see with unfettered definition, the beauty of the old oak panels that he had bound up and down a thousand times before. As he entered the kitchen he could scarcely distinguish the difference between the art of grilled cheese making and beautiful sound of the symphonies that his dad used to play when he was a child. This incredible realization inspired eleven-year-old Joe and in two years he had mastered the piano and had begun working on his first symphony.
While Joe could no longer see as you or I can, he could see the universe of sound that had always been around him. Finally nothing seemed gray to Joe, the world buzzed with color, colors that Joe could now only feel. But this was not to last. At age fourteen, having completed and published three symphonies Joe’s sight returned to him. While he could still hear just as well, the world returned to gray for Joe. The only thing that was left was the sweet taste of grilled cheese.

Words as art

The Greatest Jazz Pianist since Dinasaurs Roamed the Earth

Black Berry Double Time

The end of this video is unbelievable

Bird and Dizzy

Bird and Miles

Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. Bird and Miles. If you dont have it get it.

Big country

I saw Robert Plant and Alison Krauss this weekend. It was great to see the voice of Led Zeppelin but unfortunately its range had reduced about two octaves. The show was entertaining enough but I kind of felt like the RIAA might have shot me if I wasn't having a good time. Its good to see that some great musicians still colaborate on their own accord. Ladies and gentleman: Chick Corea and Bela Fleck....

And in the end

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the funeral of Ben Larsen, noted musician and composer, who passed away last week at age seventy-six. His wife Corrina, found him deceased on Friday from a combination of the bubonic plague and a crossbow to the right temple. The arrow, fried inadvertently by Larsen’s dog, was quickly removed however he could not be saved.
Most well known for his all genre-crossing lifetime of performance on mandolin and guitar performance, the seventy-six year old is survived by his wife and two children along with a list of musical greats both living and dead. The service, which felt more like a night at the Grand Ole Opry, consisted of several performances by music’s most beloved characters, but featured performances of all seven movements of Larsen’s Acoustic Planet’s. An arrangement of Gustav Holst’s Planets Suite, arranged for acoustic guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass and mando-cello, Acoustic Planets is Larsen’s least known work, but has also been quoted as being his personal favorite.
The service began with Nashville great Tim O’Brien performing a traditional arrangement of Foreign Lander, for solo cello and voice. This haunting performance left the stage open for a teary eyed Corrina Larsen to recite a passage from the Essene Gospel of Peace. The first four movements of “Acoustic Planets” Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter were then performed featuring return-from-the-dead performances from Jerry Garcia on acoustic guitar, Darol Anger on Fiddle, David Grisman on Mandolin, and living members, Larsen’s two sons on fiddle and Bass. The audience waited quietly and somberly as the original four Beatles took the stage, also from beyond the grave, to perform the closing section of their 1969 release, Abbey Road. Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End were played flawlessly and to a momentarily overjoyed crowd. When the Beatles finished and disappeared into mid air, smiles lingered as the return-return-from-the-dead acoustic quintet took the stage to perform the final three movements of Planets: Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Despite the tragedy that united the crowd, the mood was surprisingly light. Perhaps it was because of the “no-black-allowed” dress code, or maybe it was because of the all-star lineup of ghost musicians. For me hearing Acoustic Planets played exactly how Larsen recorded it in 2016, made me feel as though, (excuse the cliché) that he really had gone to a better place, or that perhaps he return to being one with the cosmos, just star dust. Whatever it was, the day was anything but sad. The service closed with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, looking like they may have been around during World War One, played Big Country. An incredibly moving piece that Larsen once praised for making the listener feel, “the way love should make one feel.” As the service ended love was all that anyone felt. For a while the crowd lingered hugging one another and reminiscing about their mutual friend.. Their mutual friend whose presence will be missed for light years to come.

Beat Oven and His Over Cooked Nephew

Many scholars of music and informed people of any sort for that matter; are at least somewhat familiar with the life and times of composer Ludwig van Beethoven. That is to say: most know he was somewhat insane and deaf and also that he was a prolific, and brilliant composer. Maynard Solomon, co-founder of Vanguard records cum musicologist, forgets that Beethoven was indeed a prolific and brilliant composer and in his article Beethoven and his Nephew writes only of Beethoven’s considerable mental defects and the custody fight over his nephew Karl between 1815 and 1820. Of the thirty-three pages that make up his article, only three have any mention of the music that Beethoven composed. These three pages read as a rushed insert, included only to refute people like me who would make snide remarks about the lack of musical commentary. I would probably also be told, “shut up and read the thesis you idiot,” as Mr. Solomon clearly states that the article is actually about, “Beethoven’s life between the end of 1815 and early 1820 [and] the complex, and occasionally arcane, story of his attempt to surmount-indeed to survive- a personal and creative crisis that threatened to overwhelm him.” Still in an article about a composer as well known as Beethoven, I would think it imperative to have far more mention and description of the music and how it intertwined with this time in Beethoven’s life. .
Once I got over the lack of musical remark, it was easy to come to terms with the article and completely agree with Solomon that Beethoven was completely and utterly insane. While that may not actually be the case, there is little room for argument in this biased lambasting of the great composer in a very fragile state. In the entire article I found one quote that was not manipulated to make Beethoven sound like he is crazy as loon. “[Karl’s] whole future depends upon this education, which cannot be left to a woman or to his mother alone.” All sexism aside, this quote reinforces the seldom touched upon idea that Beethoven actually was concerned for his nephew’s well being.
Unfortunately for Beethoven and his corpse, which is surely rolling over, Solomon holds stubbornly to the idea that Beethoven’s nephew Karl was in fact Beethoven’s savior, and thus the reason for Beethoven’s madness concerning the custody issue. This idea almost enables the reader to imagine Beethoven as very human. Solomon however does his best to dispel this notion throughout the article by centering his attention on describing the volatile nature of Beethoven’s relationship with his sister in law Johanna, Karl’s mother. Every instance of Beethoven speaking ill of Johanna is followed by a remark from Solomon about the diminishing validity of his mental state. From a conversation book (as result of Beethoven’s loss of hearing he would hold his conversations through a book) Solomon quotes, “Last night that Queen of Night was at the Artists’ Ball until three A.M. exposing not only her mental but her bodily nakedness- it was whispered the she- was willing to hire herself- for 20 florins! Oh Horrible!” Solomon then deems the statement, “A sexual fantasy, [and] subsidiary to a complex rescue fantasy.” Even when Solomon depicts a time when Beethoven was an extremely reasonable man, he quickly attributes all kindness to Beethoven’s desire to manipulate future events.
Finally near the end of the article Solomon stops his castigation of the great composer to essentially list all the music Beethoven wrote in the midst of his custody battle, and describe a few in scarce detail. While Maynard’s article in certainly informative it lacks an objective view. Maynard goes into this article with far too much emotional attachment thus rendering him a biased and overly passionate commentator on these tumultuous times in Beethoven’s life.

Tim O'brien's Fiddler's green

Contemporary bluegrass music today is often stereotyped as being more of the same thing. Unfortunately Tim O’brien’s third album Fiddler’s Green does nothing to change that stereotype. It does however give bluegrass enthusiasts that reliable “same old thing” in a thickly layered, twelve-song tribute to all things bluegrass; drinking, traveling, murder, love and sorrow. Released in 2005 on Howdy Skies records Fiddler’s Green is a mix of O’brien’s genius song writing, and traditional arrangements. The opening track “Pretty Fair Maid in the Garden,” breathes new life into a traditional tune about a soldier gone for several years who finally returns to find his love who has been waiting for him for several years. Later in the album we are graced by “Long Black Veil,” the traditional song come folk favorite thanks to the Band’s 1968 debut album, Music From Big Pink. The title track, “Fiddler’s Green,” written by songwriter Pete Goble, is an ode to, according to the CD booklet, “A mythical place where old sailors go when they die.” Throughout the song a man searches for his fiddler’s green in this word, to no avail, and at the end warns, “Go marry your young girl, raise corn and your beans/ don’t waste your young manhood on fiddler's green.” Throughout the album O’Brien plays mandolin, guitar, fiddle and bouzouki and incorporates guests from bluegrass legends Stuart Duncan, Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer to the young Chris Thile who lacks legend status only because of his youth. The high point of the album comes in the form Peter Rowan’s classic melody, “Land’s End.” Featuring a djembe, fiddle, bass, low whistle and Mr. O’Brien on the mandolin, “Land’s End” offers a great new take on a classic instrumental that’s sure to please bluegrass addicts and introductory listeners alike. If ships were still the primary method of transport, and if whiskey was still the only thing to drink then Tim O’Brien would surely be a household name. Sadly he’ll have to remain a folk/bluegrass hero to those who have been lucky enough to hear him.

The Mel Brown Quartet

Straight-ahead, sixties-era jazz is not something easily stumbled upon these days. Especially in Portland, OR where the word jazz can define anything with an overly long guitar solo or a standup bass. One place where the word jazz couldn’t be more accurately used is Jimmy Mak’s. The dimly lit, très classy jazz club on the corner of Everett and NW 10th, has taken everything about the word quite literally as far their décor goes. Unfortunately, the only time they take that approach towards the music is on Wednesday nights, when drumming legend Mel Brown picks up his finest brushes to play three hours of your papa’s jazz. Straight off the page, but played with unsurpassable professionalism, it’s no surprise that Mel Brown, formerly featured drummer for Motown legends, The Supremes and The Temptations, is Jimmy Mak’s weekly artist-in-residence. Tuesday and Thursday you’ll find him with his Septet and B3 Organ group, respectively, playing slightly more rocking, jazz-fusion. Wednesdays, however, solidify Mel-Browns legendary status as a Motown kid cum jazz magician.
Performing with Tony Pacini tickling the ivory, Ed Bennett on standup bass, and fellow artist-in-residence, and Portland jazz staple, Dan Balmer(the Dan Balmer Trio appears every Monday), Mel Brown would blow even the hippest, pork-pie hat wearing jazz cat out of the water. I arrived on Wednesday night to the swift, up-tempo bop, of Clifford Brown’s Daahoud. Typically heard at an extremely, “up,” tempo, Mel held a surprisingly, “down” high hat and snare, four four beat, while Mr. Pacini demonstrated remarkable piano technique. If I wasn’t staring right at him I might have thought there were two piano players. One playing a very complex syncopation of oddly inverted jazz chords, while the other wailed through perfectly accentuated scales and arpeggios that changed keys every two bars. Dan Balmer’s guitar work seemed lazy and uninspired, as he appeared to sigh after taking the solo from the keys. Balmer stuck to a very basic pattern of embellishing the melody, before annihilating any sort of breathing room with a rapid fury of arpeggios.
In between songs, and while playing for that matter, Mel Brown left no doubt that he used to play for the Temptations. Charming the crowd with a quick remark about the tune and a smile that could melt Ghengis Kahn’s heart, Brown introduced Tony Pacini and the group launched into the medium swing of Duke Ellington’s Love you Madly. Bass player Ed Bennett took a rather guitar-esque solo at the end of the solo section, playing at the top of his neck and playing licks that sounded slightly muddy and hurried on his seven foot standup bass. While the bass walked away into the parallel dimension of bass/ guitar solos, Mr. Balmer turned the volume all the way down on his guitar and continued to comp the chords. No one in the crowd could really hear anything but the sound of a pick against strings, and every strum made the overall vibe a little more awkward.
The high point of the night came when Tony Pacini began his original composition, Inside a Silent Tear, with a piano vamp that made me feel a little like I was in a Disney movie. All cheese factors aside, the band eventually came in with a very solid bop groove, and Dan Balmer finally escaped the modal minefield he seemed to be navigating all night. Putting aside the intellectual side of his playing, he approached his solo on this tune, with what felt like real emotion, coming to hair bending climax that sounded slightly reminiscent of a Guns’ and Roses guitar solo. The crowd stared in awe hooting and hollering for the first time all night as Balmer and the band faded out and Pacini brought us back in for the closing credits of The Little Mermaid.

Raimbaut de Vaquerias and the First of May

The songs of the troubadours were primarily about love. Whether it is lost love, wanted love, waning love or searching for love; the original troubadours were some seriously love sick bachelors. One of these bachelors, and perhaps the famous of them all, was Raimbaut de Vaquerias. Oddly enough, his most famous work, Kalenda Maya is not about love at all, the beginning of summer and what that entails for all.
Raimbaut de Vaquerias, born in 1150, called himself the son of a, “paubre caviler,” or a “poor knight.” Despite his disenfranchised beginning, Raimbaut went on to serve as a troubadour for Margrave of Montferrat in Northern Italy during the 1170’s, and in Provence under Hugues I des Baux shortly thereafter. His notoriety as a troubadour eventually gained him knighthood and an election as leader of the fourth crusade. It was at his first post as troubadour, however, Raimbaut composed his most famous work, Kalenda Maya.
According to the liner notes of Minstrels Two, Kalenda Maya came to be when, “at the court of Montferrat [Raimbaut] was asked to write words for a dance tune which was then being played by minstrels from northern France.” The result, Kalenda Maya, is a perfect illustration of a medieval plainchant and an even better example of the work of a troubadour. The words read almost like a children’s book of today would read. They describe what various animals and people are doing, as they finally have to wait no longer for kalenda maya, or the first of May. The first as well as the second verses paint a typical summer day, complete with smiling people and sleepy dogs, while third verse celebrates summer time sports. “On foot and ball our strength expending/ we’re not intending to be offending/our bruised limbs home we’re wending.” A comical and slightly silly rhyme scheme intertwines itself among an enchanting, jig like melody, resulting in a dance song that could cure any peasant’s plague.
The AB form of the piece solidifies its self-classification as an estampida, a traditional dance tune sung by troubadours. The syllabic verses, accentuate the simplicity of the song, yet one can’t help but hum the tune. That being said, the validity of Raimbaut as a composer is certainly not verified with this song as it was composed to an already existing fiddle tune. Unfortunately of the thirty- three songs accredited to Raimbaut, only seven of them have melodies that exist today . As a result it is hard to determine the legitimacy of Raimbaut’s compositional skills. We can however safely assume that Raimbaut knew how to write a good poem.

New Grove
Sargeant, Brian. Minstrels 2. London: Cambridge UP, 1979.
Sargeant, Brian. Minstrels 2. London: Cambridge UP, 1979.

Monk Music

When the druids return from the dead to reclaim the earth as theirs, Meredith Monk's, "Dolmen Music," will be their battle cry; and after listening we'll probably just hand the earth right over. I never thought twenty four minutes of incoherent chanting be so effective but Ms. Monk has made the Gregorian chant hip again. The ability to convey raw emotion without words is something jazz players do all the time. The ability to convey raw emotion that really moves the listener without words, using only the human voice, is an entirely different feat. Ambient and very minimal flute and cello occasionally intertwine with the six part vocal tapestry that dominates the piece, ranging from hypnotic chanting to high pitched shrills that fade in and out, putting the attentive listener into a trance like state. Despite the drawn out length of this ode to the ancients and the hordes of East Village bohemians, I found myself actually wanting more. The abrupt end of the piece left me slightly uneasy, almost as if the druids didn't really like what the saw and decided to turn back last minute.

Crazy Parents

These kids can really play their instruments. It's too bad that they don't look very happy doing it. It's a shame when parents push their kids to excell at things to this degree when they're so young. I wonder if these kids will be playing music when they're twenty.

John Zorn: Short Stories

If Mary Shelley were to write a score for Frankenstein, or rather if she were to employ Frankenstein to do so himself, he might come up with something similar t0 John Zorn's "Cat O' Nine Tails." Listening to this piece was like walking through an insane asylum, sporadic busrsts of fervor followed by extreme sorrow or brief moments of extreme joy. Mostly however, the piece is filled with ambient bow attacks and the percussive beating of what sounds like a cello. Its second name "(Tex Avery directs the Marquis de Sade)" leads me to believe that maybe this is what hell is for the Marquis de Sade. An eternity of listening to this piece while watching Tex Avery draw Daffy Duck stripping. Maybe that would be heaven for the Marquis de Sade?