Sunday Music Muse Day - John Scofield, Charlie Haden & Jim Hall

This Sunday Music Muse Day I get to celebrate my first visit to one of my favorite record shop since the pandemic hit four months ago.  I finally returned to the Bop Shop Record, yesterday, they're on limit 3 day schedule and are following all the proper covid-19 guidelines for retail store.  Actually, Tom, the owner, had called me earlier in the week about a special order I placed back in January.  Unfortunately, since I wasn't sure when the shop would  open, or if he found the CD, I bought it online. But, Tom was good about it, and I was able to get one of this week selection instead.  I picked up John Scofield Swallow Tales, his new release from ECM.  The is special CD as it celebrates and is a tribute to Steve Swallow, legendary jazz bassist and composer, who plays on the set, and is long time friend and playing partner of Scofield. You can tell the music is a labor of love by Scofield.  Well worth checking out.

My next selection is Impulse release of Charlie Haden and Jim Hall, a live duet CD including several favorite Haden tune I associate with records with Pat Metheny.  This CD is a real treat by two giants in the world of Jazz.  I can easily highly recommend it. 

As part of my Dragonfly Views blog I have a Sunday Music Muse Day post where I always hoped to present original music that I had filed away mostly unfinished and unheard, always putting it off because my playing leaves much to desired. But as I get older it becomes apparent waiting for perfect has become an excuse not to do anything. But, sometimes you just have to get things out of your system. So, rough edges and all here is the song, "November Night 2020". November Night is one of my favorite original tune, written in 1980. The original version is included at the end of this video. This was actually the first time we, my friends Rodney Means and Richard Miceli, played it together. That version was posted back in 2008.

This "2020" version was made using a backing a backing track created in Band in a Box music software. You write in chords and a lead line and it creates a backing track and even a solo performance, with varying degrees of success. I'm often surprised how my simple tunes sound fleshed out by a full band, even an artificial one. One area I need to work on is sound mixing in Garageband, I'll get there. Enjoy.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Gary Burton Quartet, Bill Evans & Jim Hall

This Sunday Music Muse Day, find us in the western region of upstate New York bracing for a forecast of dangerous high winds of 50 to 65 miles a hour.  There be a chance of rain with that, but the real concern is overturned trees and downed power lines, resulting in blackouts.  We're hoping for best.  To ease the tension I'm listening to Gary Burton Quartet Live, with Pat Metheny (guitar), Steve Swallow (bass), and Antonio Sanchez (drum).  This live set record in 2007, is sort of a reunion of the classic Gary Burton Quartet of the 1970s, with the exception of Sanchez.  Burton relate in the liner notes how he is amazed at guitarist since he tried learning guitar as a teenager, and "never could figure out ...all the different fingerings."  By contrast he said, "most guitar players don't play the vibes, but the exception to that would be Pat Metheny".  It seems Burton lent Metheny a vibraphone one summer, before he join the band, and with a few months he was playing better than Burton's students.  That's a cool story.  The CD has the quartet revisiting old tunes with a fresh approach from experiences learned on musical paths they travel since playing in the original group.  It would be nice to pull out the original group recording for comparison.  On a side note, the cover is by Peter Max the quintessential artist of the hippie movement of the late 1960s and early 70's.  I like the art, but the type design and placement makes this look like a kid's music CD.

To further ease the tensions and enjoy the clam before the storm, I put on Bill Evans & Jim Hall Intermodulation. This CD is a re-issue of the follow up 1966 LP to their classic 1962 duet session, Undercurrent.  I had the good fortune to have picked up Undercurrent in the past year, so this is a great compliment to it.

As I write this, winds are picking up. So wish us luck. 

Sunday Music Muse Day - Memorial Day, Chick Corea and Gary Burton, Warped Sky Stray Cloud Update

On this Memorial Day weekend, I would first hope we are mindful of the true meaning of Memorial Day, a time to remember and reflect on the fallen who give their lives so we can enjoy the freedoms and rights they believed in.  With that I highly recommend the TV special Hollowed Ground which runs on PBS stations on Memorial Days sometimes. It's very moving.
Hallowed Grounds. 

This week music selection finds a double dose of legendary jazz vibraphonist, Gary Burton. First in one of my favorite duo pairing, Chick Corea & Gray Burton Hot House.  This a 2012 release and the seventh duo recording, that start from "spur-of-the moment encore at a jazz festival in Germany in 1972" as Burton states in the inner notes, "which led to our first recording Crystal Silence, a couple of months later."  Crystal Silence, the album, and especially the title tune, remain an absolute favorite of mine. Hot House finds the pair, choosing "a repertoire drawn form some of our favorite composers from the 1940's through the 1960s".  It a joy join these two great on their shared music journey.

The second select is Gary Burton A genuine Tong Funeral.  A CD reissue of a classic Burton  album featuring compositions by Carla Bley recorded in 1967 and released on the RCA label. Its subtitledDark Opera Without Words. Critics have called it one of Burton's most intriguing recordings.  This classic group includes guitarist Larry Coryell, and bassist Steve Swallow (who I believe was married to Carla Bley). This also include the Gary Burton Quartet Lofty Fake Anagram LP, recorded in 1967, with Booby Moses on drums.  Some consider the true start of jazz fusion, that maybe up for debate, but there is no denying the good listening  they offer. All the more appreicated since Gary Burton annouced his retirement a while ago.

Finally, there is no Warped Sky Stray Cloud, a combination of songs from old tapes and new renditions of original tunes written and played by me in the 1980s, today.  I waiting for some home audio equipment order to be delivered. I'm hoping it will up the ante on the quality of my recordings. I had Tascam 4-track cassette ages ago, but the digital recording market has really advanced.  The amount of tutorials online as mindblowing. 

Stand tuned for th next installment.  Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Sunday Music Muse Day - MIles Davis, Gary Burton Quintet, John Stowell Michael Zilber Quartet.

After a break for a family vacation, I'm rested and back for another Sunday Music Muse Day with a little catching up to do.  First up is another Miles Davis Aura.  I have the LP, but I can't resist buying the CDs for convenience, since I only have my turntable connected to my computer, which I did when I planned to digitize my record collection, but I give up on that idea.  According to Wikipedia, "Aura is a concept album by Miles Davis, produced by Danish composer/trumpeter Pelle Mikkelborg, released in 1989. All compositions and arrangements are by Mikkelborg, who created the suite in tribute when Davis received the Leonie Sonning Music Prize in December 1984, the year Decoy was released."  It interesting that with the exception of guitarist John McLaughlin, acoustic bassist Niels Henning Oersted Pederson, and Mikkelborg, and all the players are unknown to me.  Mikkelborg I knew from several ECM records with guitarist Terje Rydal, and saxophonist Jan Garbarek.  Of course, the playing of Miles is the focus.

Next up is the Gary Burton Quintet, Dreams So Real - Music of Carla Bley.  As sub-title this a collection compostions by famed composer and band leader Carla Bley.  The quintet features Mick Goodrick on six-sting electric guitar and Pat Metheny on electric 12-string guitar.  Steve Swallow on bass, Bob Mose on drums, and Gary Burton Vibraphone. This is classic, highly rated recording, well worth a listen.

My last selection is the John Stowell Michael Zilber Quartet - Live Beauty.  This is live club date and it really has the nice small jazz club feel to it.  I have several early recording of guitarist John Stowell, from 1970s, in duets with bassist David Friesen.  Stowell just fell off my radar for many year.  But I did come across on him again recently.  Saxophonist Michael Zilber is new to me, but the pairing works very well.

I have a slight back log of CDs, but I'll limit this post to these three.  Enjoy.

Sunday Music Muse Day Bill Frisell, John Scofield Trio, George Russell, and Quincy Jones revisited.

This week Sunday Music Muse is a nice collection of old favorite guitar players and two revisits to an album and music already have.  First is the eclectic guitarist "Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones" (which is the title) on bass and drums respectively.   Bill music is always so adventurous, and this doesn't disappoint.  It features one of my favorite tunes of his "Strange Meeting".  Also, this CD's cover graphics features the art of Jim Woodring, which reminds me of the old underground comic art.  Bill Frisell used used Woodring art on other CD cover, too.

Next is another guitar favorite of mine, John Scofield Trio LIVE EnRoute, featuring Steve Swallow, on bass, Bill Steward on drums.  I've seen these guys several times playing in NYC years ago.   They are definitely tight unit that's a pleasure to listen to.  I like the humorous CD graphics parody of airline safety instruction.

 The next selection is a sign of weakness on my part.  I usually try not buy CD of things I own on vinyl, unless the vinyl is in really bad shape, or the CD has bonus tracks, custom packaging, etc.  But , I couldn't resist this one because I love the title track so much.  George Russell & the Living Time Orchestra, So What.  This So What is very rocking version of the Miles Davis tune with the whole orchestra playing the Miles solo transcribed and arranged for the band.  It's nice to have easy access to this. I'm sure I'll be playing it a lot more.

 Last up, is a curious selection, in a way.  I suspected I had the music already, but not the CD cover.  Quincy Jones, The Birth of a Band Vol. 2.  As it turned out, I have a version of the music on this CD that friend make for me.  But, it's nice to have the cover art to complete the set, visually at least.  Of course, the fact that my father, Sam Woodyard, plays drums on seven of the fourteen cuts had nothing to do with my buying it.  Go figure.

 Hope every one has a good week, full of good times, and good music.  Enjoy.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Henri Texier, Lars Moller Group, & John Abercrombie

Today's Sunday Music Muse Day post features two European artists.  While clearing some CDs from my office desk I came across these discs,  Henri Texier - Colonel Skopje and Lars Moller Group - Colors.  The musicians on the Texier CD are well know American artists, guitarist John Abercrombie, electric bassist Steve Swallow and multi-reedman / percussionist Joe Lovano.  Plus, drummer Aldo Romano, a native Italian and resident of France.   Although I have several vinyl albums of Henri Texier from the mid-1970s.  I hadn't come across one of works in a long time.   I wasn't familar with the Lars Moller group, including the leader.  The common thread in both groups is guitarist John Abercrombie.  In all likelihood, that's probably the reason I picked these up.  It's part of the fun of discovery finding new music by using band personal connections to lead you in different directions.  Sometimes it's dead end, and other times it leads to whole new vistas of music.  These were worth listening to.