Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Thelonious Monk’s beautiful ballad “Round Midnight” is said to be the most widely recorded and performed jazz tune — that is, a tune that was written specifically for jazz, not an adaptation of a showtune or pop song. It’s a testament to its popularity that it’s one of exactly two songs that Dave Chappelle knows [...]
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged ballads, bebop, bud powell, carmen mcrae, Composition, cootie williams, dave chappelle, dizzy gillespie, ella fitzgerald, hip-hop, john coltrane, krs-one, linkedin, miles davis, oscar peterson, Sampling, singing, thelonious monk
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Rather than attempting the impossible task of explaining how everything in jazz works, I’m going to pick a specific, fairly mainstream tune and talk you through it: “Someday My Prince Will Come” by Miles Davis, off the 1961 album by the same name. First of all, here’s the original version from Snow White. Once you’ve [...]
Filed in Improvisation, Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged disney, hank mobley, Improvisation, jimmy cobb, john coltrane, linkedin, miles davis, movies, Music, paul chambers, quora, wynton kelly
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Several US presidents and other prominent politicians have also been musicians. Here are some highlights. Harry Truman played classical piano.
Filed in Music, Politics
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Also tagged alan greenspan, america, bill clinton, classical, condoleeza rice, harry truman, john ashcroft, mike huckabee, Music, Politics, presidents, richard nixon, rock
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Improvisation Charlie Christian – “Waiting For Benny”
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged art blakey, blues, charlie christian, clifford brown, Composition, count basie, duke ellington, herbie hancock, Improvisation, john coltrane, max roach, miles davis, quora, soul
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Thursday, December 1, 2011
The word “groovy” originates in jazz slang, referring to music that’s swinging, tight, funky, in the pocket. The analogy is to the groove in a vinyl record — the musicians are so together that it’s like they’re the needle guided by the groove. The “groove” becomes generalized to any good rhythm, passage, or entire piece [...]
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The trumpet player Nicholas Peyton wrote a blog post recently: On Why Jazz Isn’t Cool Anymore. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the future of the art form. If jazz is ever going to be popular again, it needs to regain its cool. Jazz was popular when it was intimately connected to popular culture. [...]
Friday, November 18, 2011
Ella Fitzgerald lost some of her range as she got older, but her soul and phrasing got deeper and deeper. The series of duet albums she did with Joe Pass late in her life are exquisite.
Filed in Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged age, drumming, ella fitzgerald, funk, Improvisation, joe pass, max roach, miles davis, quora, soul
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
There’s a certain jazz lick that’s so heavily used that it’s just known as The Lick. It’s the only jazz lick I know of that has its own Facebook page. Here’s a greatest hits compilation:
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged akon, bobby hutcherson, classical, cliches, digging the crates, Evolution, facebook, freddie hubbard, grant green, Improvisation, john coltrane, memes, miles davis, Music, player, pop, reggae, rock, santana, stravinsky
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Monday, November 14, 2011
For my tastes, you can’t beat the Ellington Nutcracker. Ellington’s Peer Gynt suite is also pretty wonderful. This one has inspired some remixing from me.
Filed in Music
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Also tagged aaron copland, chick corea, classical, django reinhardt, duke ellington, eumir deodato, john coltrane, oliver nelson, quora, remixes, sibelius, uri caine, wayne shorter
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
I know this melody as the cartoon snakecharmer song. Here’s a kid playing it on bass clarinet: I’ve always wondered where the Egyptian melody came from. It turns out to be hundreds of years of old, and goes by many different names. You can find an excellent capsule history of it in William Benzon’s book [...]
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Evolution, Music
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Also tagged beatles, cartoons, cliches, das racist, folk, linkedin, louis armstrong, memes, middle eastern music, pop, quora, stereotyping, steve martin, they might be giants
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