Miles Davis: Cool Jazz Sound - April 1959

If you don't have Netflix, you probably should.  I loved watching this show from 1959 entitled "The Robert Herridge Theater."  It is a 30m live concert featuring the Miles Davis Quintet, accompanied by an in-studio orchestra led by Gil Evans.  This is a timeless jazz classic performance with cuts from "Kind of Blue " and "Miles Ahead," two albums which epitomize the cool jazz era.

It's cool to see the vintage mics, recording gear, and early television production techniques, too.  Fascinating. 

Go watch it. 

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Miles_Davis_Cool_Jazz_Sound/70014499?trkid=1211018

Theresa Andersson - MBPYNHO

The latest installment of Music By People You've Never Heard Of.

An excellent combination of solo performance and creative mastery of current musical technology. I really like this girl. Be sure to watch to through the scat solo all the way to the end.



Check her out here.

And also this one. Crazy good...



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New Audio Technology Stuff

The National Association of Music Merchants (forever hereafter referred to as NAMM) winter show was last week.  While, typically, it is the summer show that is the musical instrument manufacturing industry's biggest event, the tradeshow last week revealed some cool new products.

First, check out the Akai Synthstation.  It is a powerful, feature packed synthesizer and music production application for the iPhone and iPod.  This is crazy!

Also, there is the iPK25 keyboard controller.  It's so new, you can't hardly find it on the internet, but go check out this really cool video on the Electronic Musician site.

And here is an interesting video on some new studio isolation products from Primacoustic, which is a part of the Radial Engineering family of companies and a real leader in acoustic design technology.  I was really impressed with the simple and creative design of some of these little problem-solvers.  Some clever, thoughtful new tools that will really work well in many studios and performance applicatons.

Nobel Peace Prize Rap by MC Crowbar

"I made a sandwich - got a Peace Prize!"



Oh, yes.  This is very funny to me.

h/t to Instapundit
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Call Your Name - Gateway Worship

One of the best worship songs in the last couple of years. I was blessed to be in the congregation the night this was recorded.

Sing along...it will surprise you.



Gateway Church The singer/songwriter is Zach Neese. Here is a link to more of Gateway's worship music.

Ethnomusicological Stimulus - MBPYNHO

It's a veritable gold mine of Music By People You've Never Heard Of.

Go here to preview and download FOR FREE a couple of dozen World Music Sampler albums from Amazon.com.

I heard about this from ChordStrike, an Amazon blog about all kinds of music.

Free is good.

Rap Chop featuring Vince (Steve Porter Remix) - MBPYNHO

This edition of Music By People You've Never Heard Of features a healthy dose of laugh-out-loud hilarity as well as a slamming remix track by Steve Porter. This is crazy, but it is also wildly creative and very well done. I love what happens at about 2:58, with the guest vocal.



This makes me want to stay up late and buy crazy plastic stuff on TV in the middle of the night.

Jordan Lee Pike - MBPYNHO

Yeah, I know you've probably never heard of him, but the kid's got it.
Take a listen:

http://www.myspace.com/jordanleepike

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Postcards from Hell

I get them. I am certain you do too. If you are like me, most of the time you either ignore where they come from or you minimize their significance. Occasionally, you may not even realize who sent you that Postcard, but most of the time you know.

I need to quit reading the Postcards from Hell. Sometimes I get several a day. How did That Guy get my address, anyway? Oh, yeah, now I remember. I gave it to him and he's always had it. And he sends me Postcards even though I've asked to be taken off of his mailing list. Are you on his mailing list? I bet you are.

Postcards from Hell are full of lies and bad news. Mostly just lies, and mostly lies about The News. Because The News is not really bad. The News is Good.

I need to quit reading the Postcards from Hell. Otherwise, how can a man like me remain in the light?

Trent over at Morphine Life has some excellent things to say about this, too, and a great song to share by the Wood Brothers. Check it out.

Hell, Norway
Is that train about to leave the station?
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CHINESE TRANSLATION by M. Ward

I know it's a couple of years old, but here it is anyway, my new favorite song for the next day or so:



Here's an entertaining live version from the David Letterman Show:



Did you check out that old funky desktop mic he was singing through? Don't you just love the chorus to this song? Don't you like it when I ask rhetorical questions as though you were standing right here? No?

Thanks, again, Sharon.

Nob Sugino - Lap Steel Artist - MBPYNHO

A few months back, around my birthday, I think, I purchased an album sound unheard (and sight unseen) by a Japanese lap steel guitarist named Nob Sugino. I had read his name somewhere and thought it might be interesting to hear how he played one of my favorite instruments. The album was "Wake", and you can ge it here.

The album is an eclectic and surprising blend of sounds, textures, and styles. I like it a lot. Sugino's approach to the instrument is aggressive and confident, but also nuanced and sensitive. It is a fascinating listen. I visited his website and learned more about his equipment and technique, signing up to receive updates as they became available.

Well, this morning, I received a nice personal email from Sugino, inviting me to check out three videos of new performances that he recently uploaded to YouTube. These are all really well done. Great performances on three different, unique instruments.







And check it out! He is using the Boss RC-20XL Looper Pedal! The same one that I've been playing with for the last couple of months and that I've written about here repeatedly.

U2's "With or Without You" by Neanderpaul - MBPYNHO

In this broadcast of Music By People You've Never Heard Of, I bring you this inspired and inspiring home-brewed version of the famous U2 anthem as performed by Neanderpaul. I'll tell you up front, this is not a great recording, even by the standards of YouTube. It won't matter, just check it out.



I know nothing about this guy, and I found him as I was searching for videos of artists using the Boss RC-20XL Loop Station. For those of you not hip to what the Loop Station is all about, Neanderpaul is an able demonstrator of it's considerable creative possibilities. He plays, sings, and records every sound you hear in this video in real time....this is a completely live performance.

There are a lot of folks using this kind of fun tool nowadays, and I've written about it before. In Neanderpaul's videos, though, I was especially struck by his unpretensious demeanor and his passionate approach to every performance, whether it is a cover tune like this one or an original. You get the sense that it doesn't matter who or even if anyone is listening. There is an implicit devotion to honesty, economy, and simplicity that is admirable. His commitment to the music really shines through.

I don't know the guy, but he's an artist, and I like what he's got going on. It's not about perfection, it's about passion.

DOOT-DOOT by Freur - MBPYNHO

From the Music By People You Never Heard Of wholly owned subsidiary of PikeSpeak, here is "Doot-Doot" by Freur, circa 1983.



Other than "doot doot", most of the lyrics are completely unintelligible. It doesn't matter, though, there is much to love about this song/video and I suspect that deep, thoughtful lyrics would probably just get in the way. Sure the haircuts and clothes look funny, but so what?

Things I like about this include the understated "slow-burn" groove, the synchronized echoey vocal sounds and the complex texture created by layering multiple simple parts.

My favorite section starts about 2:32 when the drummer comes in, attacking that classic Simmons drumkit with such drama. That is also where the synth strings come to the fore....and I really love the rich, warm sound of 80's analog strings.

h/t Chordstrike

The middle distance

I just noticed that on my blog masthead, I have the same expression as Miles Davis does on the "In A Silent Way" album cover. Except I'm all neon-y and he's a famous jazz trumpeter noted for his extraordinary creativity and crotchety demeanor.

"Coldplay rips off Joe Satriani?" The fur is gonna fly....

The kids over at ChordStrike have been on a roll lately and you should check them out for their ideas and recommendations for music that is often off the beaten path.

Here, though, is their take on the recent lawsuit brought by guitar-samurai Joe Satriani against the pop superstars Coldplay in which it seems their huge hit, Viva La Vida may have borrowed too generously from one of Joe's instrumental tunes off of a 2004 album.

You definitely want to check out the YouTube video that they have showing the two songs overlaid. It's pretty incredible. I am usually pretty skeptical about these kinds of claims, because pop/rock music is so pervasively inbred anyway these days. But this time...this time it really sounds eerily close and I'm thinking ol' Satch may have an axe to grind with the youngsters.


One thing I know for sure, and this video proves...Coldplay really could be the best band in the world if they got Joe Satriani to play guitar.


Followup: Coldplay says, "Oh, no we din't!"

Presents

For my birthday, I received the most wonderful toys:

A Radial Engineering Trimode Distortion Pedal

A Yodeling Pickle

Motorola Z6TV Cellphone

Juggling balls

Albums by:

Buddy Miller

David Bowie

David Byrne & Brian Eno

Carlos Santana

A new crockpot!

Not to mention an excellent black hoodie, a sweatshirt, and some generous monetary gifts.


Plus, I was treated to a meal at the best restaurant in Richmond, Ghyslain, with my wife, mom, and Grandma. Chef Ghyslain is an international award-winning chocolatier and restauranteur from Canada. Outstanding!

I missed my son not being there, but he'll be home from IU/Bloomington soon.

"Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet..."

Via the ArtsJournal.com, here is an interesting piece from The Guardian examines why pop songs are so short. Apart from the fact that in many cases it is simply our own good sense or the the Lord's sweet mercy that delivers us from the worst of what passes for pop music, this article takes a fresh look at typical examples and historical reasons, as well as notable exceptions.

In this latter category, he describes the background of and offers a link to an emotionally arresting recording by Gavin Bryars, entitled "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet."

Arlen Roth: Slide Guitar Lesson

Here's another short video lesson in beginning slide guitar technique, this time by Arlen Roth. Not only does he give great insight in the "how-to", he delivers some easy, great sounding basic licks. He is playing a Gibson SG, which is the model preferred by Derek Trucks, too.



Slide guitar is a lot of fun, but like he says, it's totally different than playing regular guitar.

10,000 Hours, more or less

"In the early 90s, the psychologist K Anders Ericsson and two colleagues set up shop at Berlin's elite Academy of Music. With the help of the academy's professors, they divided the school's violinists into three groups. The first group were the stars, the students with the potential to become world-class soloists. The second were those judged to be merely "good". The third were students who were unlikely ever to play professionally, and intended to be music teachers in the school system. All the violinists were then asked the same question. Over the course of your career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practised?

Everyone, from all three groups, started playing at roughly the same time - around the age of five. In those first few years, everyone practised roughly the same amount - about two or three hours a week. But around the age of eight real differences started to emerge. The students who would end up as the best in their class began to practise more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight by age 12, 16 a week by age 14, and up and up, until by the age of 20 they were practising well over 30 hours a week. By the age of 20, the elite performers had all totalled 10,000 hours of practice over the course of their lives. The merely good students had totalled, by contrast, 8,000 hours, and the future music teachers just over 4,000 hours.

The curious thing about Ericsson's study is that he and his colleagues couldn't find any "naturals" - musicians who could float effortlessly to the top while practising a fraction of the time that their peers did. Nor could they find "grinds", people who worked harder than everyone else and yet just didn't have what it takes to break into the top ranks. Their research suggested that once you have enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That's it. What's more, the people at the very top don't just work much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder."

Excerpted from from Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers: The Story of Success, reprinted from The Guardian. A fascinating read, this excerpt also discusses hockey champions, Bill Gates' career, and Mozart's childhood.

Tommy Tedesco Interview

Here is a link to an interview with Tommy Tedesco, one of the greatest studio musicians in the world. He passed away a few years ago and there is a new documentary about his work in "The Wrecking Crew," a storied group of musicians who played on quite literally all of the major record and important film dates in LA from the early 60's through the early 90's. I'm not kidding...I mean all of them. Check it out. He was so prolific throughout this time that I daresay, in this age of cable TV, there is likely always one or more movies or TV shows that feature his guitar playing.

Tommy Tedesco is revered among guitarists, in particular, for his unbelievable musicality and stylistic versatility. He had an astonishing ability as a multi-instrumentalist and was generally without peer in the LA studio scene for many years. He could literally play in any musical context, and he thrived on the high-stakes pressure of the high-dollar, two-takes-and-you're-done recording sessions. When I was in college at the University of North Texas, circa 1981, he visited and gave a master class/lecture on what it takes to be a professional studio musician. That certainly was one of the most memorable days of my college career and figures significantly into my lifelong pursuit as a guitarist.

Check out the links above, if you've got a minute or two, and you will be surprised and entertained. Tedesco was a fascinating character and a superb musician.