For the last year, jazz has been my project. Miles Davis. John Coltrane. Thelonious Monk. Bill Evans. I have been working through the history of the genre, trying to understand what makes it work. Tension and Release What struck me first was the tension. A jazz soloist plays a phrase that bends away from the […]
Over the years, I have played piano in churches, rock bands, country bands, and folk groups. Each genre has its own vocabulary, its own rules, its own expectations. You do not play a rock song the same way you play a hymn. You do not comp chords for a country singer the same way you […]
Miles Davis built a career on playing less. While other trumpet players filled every bar with notes, Davis would hold a single note and let it hang in the air. He trusted that one note, held long enough, could say more than a hundred fast ones. The Virtuosity of Restraint The same restraint shows up […]
For years, pop music was something I dismissed. Too simple. Too polished. Too eager to please. Then I started paying attention. The Discipline of Three Minutes Around 15 years ago, something shifted. Pop music stopped feeling shallow and started feeling disciplined. A three-minute song has to grab you in the first five seconds. It has […]
It has been an impressive 5 years since my last “Music You Need in Your Life” post. I apologize. So let’s restart this series by introducing to you one of my new favorite bands: FIZZ. They are an independent “supergroup” specializing in chaotic, fun indie pop out of the UK. This group includes Orla Gartland, […]
What a crazy year. Personally and globally, lots of things going on. Either way, we all still listened to music (even if we couldn’t see it live). So I guess it’s time for my annual list of my favorite albums of the year. As always, numbers 20-11 will just be title and a video. The […]
As we get closer to the end of this year, it’s time for my annual list of my favorite albums of the year. As always, numbers 20-11 will just be title and a video. The top 10 will have some notes from me included. All titles are also links to the album on Apple Music. […]
My ongoing, dramatically inconsistent series of “Music You Need in Your Life” continues today with a new singer/songwriter: J. S. Ondra. First, a little biography. Ondara grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, listening to Bob Dylan and other folk and rock artists from America. Around the age of 20, Ondara wins the green card lottery and […]
So, last year I somehow did not do my favorite album list. I apologize profusely. I’ll never know how to make up for it. Anyway, here’s my favorite albums of 2018. Number 20-11 will only be the name and a video, the top ten will have a few comments by me in addition to a […]
December is here and the temperatures are dropping. Amazon.com is getting all our money. But more importantly, it’s time for my annual list of favorite (not best) albums that were released throughout the year. Last year I started doing 20 albums instead of 10 but #s 20-11 had only a music video posted. The top […]