Here is a recording I did earlier this year with the band {{{Sunset}}} from their new CD called “Glowing City”. Awesome stuff by Bill Baird, who is formerly of the band Soundteam, and also happens to live in my neighborhood. Bill is super creative and prolific and always has 10 new songs he wants to work on, not to mention all the blogging, videos, and everything else he creates.
Anyway, check out the song “Dear Friend (Failing Domino)”. Listen to the klezmer inspired clarinet part I improvised about two and a half minutes into it. The whole album is cool if you have the time though… You can listen to it in its entirety HERE. There is a splattering of random saxophones, clarinets, flute and maybe accordion that I played on there, so listen carefully…
I just found out that Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svennson passed away on June 14th in a diving accident. His playing was beautiful and melodic… It had an interesting blend of classical, jazz and rock styles. His trio had been playing together since 1993. He was the first European jazz musician to grace the cover of Downbeat.
For the last couple of years, I have been making homemade granola. I highly recommend it! It is a healthy and tasty breakfast or snack. If you can, use all organic ingredients. People keep asking me for the recipe once they try it, so here it is. I got the recipe from my sister Eve (Certified Aston-Patterning® Practioner, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, massage therapist, Yoga instructor, and a great cook) …
Enjoy,
David
Place mixture in 1 or more casserole dishes.Bake in the oven at 325 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden.(more time may be needed in glass pans vs. metal)Stir every 10 to 15 minutes while baking for even browning.
Let cool mixture.
Add:
1 ½ cups raisins or cranberries
Store in refrigerator for a few weeks.Glass jars are best but plastic containers will do.
Serve with milk, fruit and yogurt, or sprinkled on apple sauce.
Tips:
°All quantities can be adjusted according to taste.
°Other nuts or seeds can be used besides the ones listed: sesame seeds, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews, brazil nuts…
°Other dried fruits can be used along with or instead of raisins: apple, dates, currants…
°Spices can be added before baking for taste variations, such as cinnamon orgaram masala…
There was a great article in TIME magazine this week called “10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas” that I recommend. I especially like #2, Sprawl Stalls. Maybe my dream not that long ago of suburbs turning into post-apocalyptic wastelands with empty superhighways connecting them isn’t so far off. It’s nice to see that people are finally looking for the positive in this situation. Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely feeling squeezed by gas prices and rising food costs… Plus, I am sick of those forwarded emails telling me which gas stations to boycott so prices will lower. Read the article (especially if you are concerned about gas costs) and let me know what you think…
5 wrong notes
2 missing turns
3 notes that they added which didn’t exist
1 missing note
3 wrong rhythms
And that’s just the first song!
I recommend checking with the recording before you assume any transcriptions are correct. Why don’t they hire me to re-edit and re-release it? Anyway, it keeps you on your toes when you learn those solos. Happy practicing…
David
**The Charlie Parker Omnibook is a book of transcribed Charlie Parker solos.
Hang up your clothes to dry. With global warming, it hardly takes any time at all to dry your clothes on a clothesline! It is a lot cheaper than a dryer, doesn’t use electricity (save even more money!) and your clothes last longer because there is less wear and tear on them. Why not? If you have a dryer and don’t want crunchy clothes, you can always throw in the clothes for a couple of minutes once they are done to fluff them up! If you are concerned about lint, then throw them in before hanging them up for a few minutes with the lowest possible heat setting, to save a little extra. If the neighbors don’t like it, I think it is time for them to reevaluate their priorities. Plus, being green is trendy… Also, use a retractable clothesline, so you don’t have it out all of the time. Finally, don’t leave out your clothes over-night if you can, so that animals don’t decide to hang out there…
If you want to call yourself a musician, this is the minimum that I ask: Be able to play a few songs at a party without any music. Someone asks you to play and you don’t have to dig out a book of songs and read something from it, you can just pull something out of your head, or make something up on the spot. (I think quite a few college students studying music and classical musicians would be disqualified) I really don’t think that is asking very much at all!
Check this out, I think Bireli Lagrene qualifies (watch this all the way through, you’ll be glad you did!):
David
PS Thanks to Beau Sample for sending me this video…
When someone is out car shopping, what is it that makes them decide that they need a Yukon XL versus the regular Yukon??
“I was really hoping I could find an SUV that seats 15…”
I am so happy to see that these vehicles are slowly coming out of style. I know I live in TX, the world of big trucks and big SUVs, but I think gas prices are finally forcing these things off of the road.
David
PS Nothing personal to all you yukon drivers… It could have been suburbans or tahoes or denalis or escalades or hummers or anything else…
When I play with different people, everyone has their own idea of the way a song should be played. Some people learn the song from a fakebook, some from the original sheet music, others from a recording.
Every once in a while, though, I meet someone who will try to tell others that they are playing the wrong chords. To me, this makes no sense, especially when dealing with an old jazz standard.
With certain songs, there is a more absolute way of playing the chords (a song like “Recordame” by Joe Henderson or “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane). With older songs, a lot of times they have been played and recorded so many ways that right and wrong is subjective. A good example of this is “Honeysuckle Rose”. Many people play this tune in slightly different ways (particularly in the 2nd half of the A section). I-I7-IV-#IVdim? I-VI-ii-V7? I will say that I respect the folks that seek out the original sheet music to those types of tunes in order to try to find out what the composer intended (though I can’t say I have ever done that myself).
Check out Anita O’day doing this tune (I-I7-IV-IVmin):
Or check out this other Anita version, with different changes (I-I7-IV-#IVdim):
Anyway, it is always good to be open to different interpretations of music. As soon as you start seeing music in absolutes, you start sounding like a curmudgeon and close yourself off to things which you may learn from or appreciate…
That being said, a lot of people play weird chord changes because they haven’t taken the time to learn the song from a good source other than a fakebook (which often has mistakes). A good example of this is the song “Footprints” by Wayne Shorter. In the illegal fakebook, the changes are definitely not from the recordings I have heard…
