R.I.P Mr. Spock

I honor of Leonard Nimoy, who passed away yesterday, here are some of pics of a Star Trek convention book I have. Mr. Spock was my favorite character on Star Trek. The episode when he hooked up with Mariette Harley (I had a crush on her) was one of my favorites. Live longer and prosper, his words and spirit will be with us forever. R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy.

 

In further tribute to Leonard Nimoy here's some poster art from the book The Art of Juan Otriz - Star Trek. These are cool retro-style posters he envisioned for each episode title. I picked some featuring Mr. Spock. As Spock would say you might find them, "fascinating".

Sunday Music Muse Day, Farewell to Clark Terry

First and foremost we bid a heartfelt farewell to the great Clark Terry, who passed away today.  Here is announcement from his family:

RIP CLARK TERRY - December 14, 1920 - February 21, 2015.
"Our beloved Clark Terry has joined the big band in heaven where he'll be singing and playing with the angels. He left us peacefully, surrounded by his family, students and friends. Clark has known and played with so many amazing people in his life. He has found great joy in his friendships and his greatest passion was spending time with his students. We will miss him every minute of every day, but he will live on through the beautiful music and positivity that he gave to the world. Clark will live in our hearts forever.
With all my love, Gwen Terry."

  I'm happy to know that Clark considered my father, Sam Woodyard, as a close friend for many years.  I had the opportunity to meet Clark once in NYC about after Sam passed away.  He was very  a gracious and warm person.  His music will continue to enrich our lives for an eternity.
   Here's a favorite CD of mine by Clark Terry's that contains two re-issues albums, Clark Terry: Out on a Limb and Paul Gonsalves: Cookin', on which my father played drums.  The liner notes has a very funny story told by Clark about inviting Sam to the stage during a gig in Paris, when Sam was very sick.  It's very funny, and shows the love and respect the had for each other.
 

  So, I'd like to offer my deepest sympathies to Clark Terry family and friends.  I'll keep them and my thoughts, and my heart.  Rest in peace, Clark

Sunday Music Muse Day - Follow your Heart or Arjen's Bag - A triple Play

While doodling on my guitar Saturday I happened upon what sounded like the opening chords for John McLaughlin's composition Follow your Heart, one of my favorite McLaughlin tunes.   So I looked it up and there are at least three versions of note.   My first exposure to the tune was from his Mahavishu John McLaughlin My Goals Beyond album.

  I remember taking it out from the Lincoln Center Music Library, in New York City.   That was a great way to preview new music for a poor struggling artist, at the time.  I later bought my own copy.  

The second version was on his debut album Extrapolation, but the tune is titled Arjen's Bag.

This I think is the original version record in 1969 although it wasn't released in the U.S. until 1972 after John success with Mahavishnu Orchestra.  This predates the My Goals Beyond which was released in 1971.

  The third version in the triple play is on the Joe Farrell Song of the Wind album on the CTI label.

  This session features Chick Corea, Jack Dejohnette, and Dave Holland, and of course John McLaughlin.  That is a heavy group.  I don't own the album, but think it was one I also took out from the library.  That said, it's one that I need to add to my must buy list.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Walk on the Wild Side

Here's my Sunday Music Muse Day post. Still enjoying tunes from my CD buys from last week. The Classic Jazz- Jazz Masters CD has so many great songs. One of my favorite is the Jimmy Smith's Walk on the Wild Side. Not to be confused with the Rock classic Lou Reeds Wild on the Wild Side. Some of you may not know the original Wild on the Wild Side was a movie theme from the 1962 film of the same name, performed by Brook Benton, and written Mack Davis, with music by Elmer Bernstein. This version earn a Oscar nomination for Best Original Song that year. The Jimmy Smith version reached No. 21 in the Billboards Top 100, in June 1962. You should look up each version on youtube. Enjoy.

Throwback Thursday - Tales of the Ebony Pencil

Here's something for Throwback Thursday. I saw these Ebony pencils in our DCC Book store and couldn't resist buying them. It reminded me of an old SVA classmate who would stumble around our drawing class high on pot (it was the 70's folks ) and ask "have you ever used an Ebony pencil? Wow...it's so cool." Of course he dropped out after one semester. Now, for contrast, next to the 70 cents pencil is the $50 stylus I just brought for my iPad and trying use. How times have changed.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Jazz Collections, One DVD and one turkey

So, here's my Sunday Music Muse Day offering. I hit the jackpot at the Record Archives store and picked up some nice additions to my music collection. The best find is the StarBuck compilation of Impulse (jazz label) cuts. The second title is a Duke Ellington-Coleman Hawkin's cut, "Limbo Jazz", which has my father playing drums and vocalizing on. I've been looking for full CD, but it's never at the records shops. So, until I find it will happily tie me over. I'll more info on each photo selection.

I'm embarrassed I don't have more Jobim music in my collection. So this helps to correct that.  Great samba classics from the master himself.

  

I posted about this group several weeks ago, and had them on my list I took to the record shop. Beside the jazz collections, it the only one on the list I got to cross off'       

Here are two selection from Norway and Finland.  This the second CD by Tord Gustavsen I have.  I'm  a sucker for ECM label artists.  There a spacey chamber jazz feel to his music.  The Jazz form Finland CD was a total gamble, I couldn't resist the 80 page booklet.  All the groups are unknown to me and pronouncing their name is a big challenge.  First listen through, only one cut out of the 13 was too crazy to like.

 Here's  interior spreads from the Jazz from Finland booklet.  As I said, good luck with pronouncing those names.

 These two buys below were part impulse. I remember liking the movie The Messenger, and thought it would a nice non-football Sunday movie. I have some early albums of bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and liked them. Unfortunately this CD sucks, totally. His early stuff was a mix of Punk-Jazz , in the the vain of Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Living Color. This one is smooth jazz/funk/with a bad attempt at social message, it fails on all levels. The kicker is I picked this over a CD of bassist Stanley Clark first solo album, which I have the LP of already and love it. The bad choice cost 5 bucks.  But. I'll enjoy my other purchases to ease my pain.

Saga

I picked up the Saga, Book One, hardback edition. It's really nice book by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples. It's hard to keep up with all the new comic titles, even the ones that you hear are interesting, like Saga. Luckily for me our Brighton Memorial Library has a great YA (young Adult), and Adult librarian, who purchase lots of trade paper backs and hardcover of comic materials. So, support you local public library system.

 The interior art is excellent.  Plus the books includes thumbnails sketch and page breakdowns to show how the book came together.  Always a nice touch.

I

I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the story.