In a Silent Way is my favorite Miles Davis album, possibly my favorite jazz album, and one of my favorite works of music generally. Most of Miles’ music of this era is ornery and angular, but In a Silent Way is like slipping into a warm bath. The music hardly sounds like “jazz” at all. …
Author Archives: Ethan
The Roots, “Don’t See Us”
I advocate for the study of hip-hop because it shows that harmony is not the only aspect of music worth studying. However, hip-hop is also underappreciated as a source of harmonic ideas in and of itself. The Roots’ “Don’t See Us” is a fascinating example of groove harmony. The live version has an amazing acapella …
The NYU Music Education Popular Music Practicum
This year, for the first time, I’m co-teaching the NYU Steinhardt Music Education Popular Music Practicum with Dr Kimberly McCord. Kimberly is doing the first half of the semester, and I’m doing the second half. She’s covering live performance and improvisation in the rock and “modern band” idioms, and I’m doing songwriting and remixing in …
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The Roots – “The Lesson Part III (It’s Over Now)”
This is my favorite song by the Roots, and one of my favorite songs by anyone ever. I got curious about it the last time it came up in iTunes shuffle, and did some searching. I was surprised to find out that, so far as I can tell, no one has ever written anything about …
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Thelonius
If, like me, you are a Thelonious Monk fan, you will be sad to learn that this song has very little to do with Thelonious Monk. J Dilla compares his greatness as an emcee to Monk’s greatness as a pianist, and “Thelonious” kind of rhymes with “microphonist.” That’s the extent of the connection. Regardless, “Thelonius” …
Happy inauguration day
I don’t love the settler colonialist lyrics, but I do love this arrangement: And while I don’t love the song, I do think Lady Gaga sang it as well as I’ve heard it sung.
Soon may the wellerman come
For some reason, a corner of the internet has become obsessed with sea shanties, making for an unusually wholesome set of memes, a participatory music culture in action. https://twitter.com/Beertheist/status/1348759849077714951 The tune in this delightful video is called “The Wellerman,” as sung by The Longest Johns. Between Wind and Water by The Longest Johns
Rhythm-a-Ning
After doing “Straight, No Chaser,” I’m now diving into another one of Monk’s greatest hits, “Rhythm-a-Ning,” at the request of Christian Gentry. Monk’s take on the ubiquitous “I Got Rhythm” chord progression has a lot in common with “Straight, No Chaser.” They both use the most generic materials possible to produce something that still sounds …
Straight, No Chaser
Thelonious Monk wrote a lot of excellent blues tunes. “Straight, No Chaser” is the weirdest and coolest one. Here’s his first recording of it, from 1951: Here’s another good one, from his 1967 record of the same name:
I’m doing a session for the 2021 Remixing General Music conference
You should come! It’s on Zoom. Follow some live tweeting here. I’m going to talk about drum programming with the Groove Pizza as part of a broader philosophy of centering groove in music ed. Online conferences are good, I hope we keep doing them after the pandemic is over.