Thursday, August 19, 2004
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TALKATIVE THURSDAYS, KIDDOS!
Let's see that comment box fill up! Tell me what you like, what you don't like, what new musicblogs I should check out, how to bronze my baby booties; just SAY something!
Actually, this is the last of the jazz section of the Blue CD; have you heard anything that's gonna make you want to go learn more about the genre?
I'll take comments on ANYTHING but if you're at a loss, why not try out our spiffy new "Daily Question"? Every day, I'll offer a new question up at the top of the page to be answered by YOU the reader in our handy dandy comments or in the "Talk to Me" forum.
It's yet another interactive feature at Th' Hut. Because we care.
Think of it as a very very short ILM.
Also, be on the lookout for the new random daily clicky that's been grafted onto the "FORKSCLOVETOFU SEZ:" up there; just be aware that it won't always be work safe.
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glisten: Blue CD 4
Juan - I'll have an extra-dry Tanquerai Martini with a twist.
Rob - In the vein of the last song, sleep inducing. I'm not in the mood for it right now, but I suppose if I was feeling more melancholy or relaxed it would be perfect. It fits its title pretty well.
Pastor - I like it. Nothing seems to lower my blood pressure as well as music like this.
Brian - Kind of a rare downtempo tune for Sonny. This mix is seeming more and more like an Autumn afternoon mix. I used to live in a state where autumn lasted about a week…it’s good to be back where I can listen to this song as I watch the slow turn of leaves…and I mean that as the highest of compliments. Simple, clean, sad and joyous at once. Great tune.
This track was originally released on Miles Davis' 1951 record "Miles with Horns". This was quite early in Sonny's career; he'd only been recording for about three years or so. "Miles with Horns" marked his first album with Davis; they'd go on to cut four more over the next three years and then not record together again.
Brian's right; this song is hardly indicative of Rollins at his peak and as it's an alternate take anyway, it's most interesting as a bit of curiosity.
Aw hell, now I better put something up here to assuage my guilt about giving this legend such a weak introduction. Let's sample the legendary:
Sonny Rollins - "St. Thomas"
That's better. Beautiful, eh?
Curious Rollins neophytes are instructed to go check "Saxophone Colossus" (where 'St. Thomas' hails from), "East Broadway Rundown" and "Tenor Madness". That'll get you started.
You're looking at a rough call if you want to get this on CD. You can either buy "Chronicle", the eight disc $125 Miles Davis Prestige box set; or you can buy "The Complete Prestige Recordings", the seven disc $93 Sonny Rollins box set. Both are from Amazon, both are for serious bop-heads only.
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Read this interview with Sonny and this interview with Jazz historian Gary Giddens about Rollins.
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Listen to NPR's Jazz Profile and Biography on Rollins.
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Sing along with the lyrics to this Rodgers and Hart standard.
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Juan - This is one of the first tunes I learned to play in the guitar. I love Joe Pass, but what is the other guy playing? A trombone?!? (I Googled it.) It makes it sound a little bit like a joke. Still, nice.
Brian - Not a huge fan of guitar jazz outside of Django. It kinda floats along, this tune. The muted horn gives it a…errr…well….muted feel. Again, lazy afternoon music.
Rob - Great guitar intro, , but the direction the song takes after lets me down... until the next guitar solo in the middle of the song. jazzy.
Pastor - It's criminal how well that guitar is played, and how well it and the trombone sound together.
Can't say I know much about either of these musicians but the song sure is sweet.
Buy "We'll Be Together Again," a disc of duets with Joe Pass on guitar and J.J. Johnson on trombone, from Amazon.
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Visit the Joe Pass Online Memorial for more information on the remarkable guitarist of this piece.
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Read this interview with J.J. Johnson, the excellent and influential trombonist on this track.
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Is that a banner in your sidebar
or are you just happy to see me?
It's all true; th' Hut has sold out! Well, not quite.
Here's the deal: the fine folks at Racknine have offered, in exchange for my posting of a banner, to aid with my bandwidth overflow. This is astonishingly helpful and really pulls my fat out the fire; I've consistently overshot my bandwidth for the past three months running and as my readers (you ARE reading, aren't you?) continue multiplying like rabbits, I was beginning to get worried that the Hut would be a victim of its own (admittedly meager) success.
I'm happy to welcome Racknine as a white knight.
R9 has been with The Tofu Hut since we started musicblogging and has been nothing but reliable and helpful. Their interface is simple enough that even a tech unsavvy geek like myself can work it; their customer service is knowledgable, accessible, helpful and ridiculously friendly; their management has been nothing but accomodating. Every time in the past eight months that I've had a stoppage of service (and I can count the number of times on one hand), they've had me up and running after just one phone call.
For anyone seeking a quality hosting company and especially to those of you who are considering getting in on the musicblogging trend, I recommend R9 completely and utterly without reservation.
SEVERAL RESERVATIONS FOLLOW:
1): Please be aware that Racknine is NOT paying for my hosting; just spotting me a little extra bandwidth as is necessary. I'm STILL paying to do this; so PLEASE no hotlinking. Don't waste my cash and I'll be able to keep sharing the music I love, okay?
Also, I'm not getting a dime from them in payment for advertising, so cries of "SELLOUT!" would be (sadly) inaccurate.
I'm still VERY much willing and available to sell-out; isn't anybody listening?
2): I have not tried ANY alternative hosting to Racknine. For all I know, .Mac washes your privates and pats them down with baby powder; I've been happy enough with R9 not to stray.
Caveat Emptor.
3): Apparently, if anybody buys a year of hosting via the above link then I get a free month, but to be honest with you would-be musicbloggers looking to get started?
I'd go month-by-month to see if you dig it before I dropped a lot of cash. Musicblogging is a LOT of work and only middling reward. If after four months you still wanna continue, then buy your year back here, okay?
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spiffy
Movie of the moment: Kill Bill 1 and 2.
Yeah, I never saw it; I was pissed because the thing got neatly chopped into two films when it was very obviously meant to be one (I understand from a business perspective but it pisses me off as a moviegoer, rabid Tarantinophile though I am) so I intentionally waited until they were both out on video and watched them back to back.
Whoa. I just... whoa. Wish I could be clever here but I only now finished four and a half hours and I'm still blown away.
One of the best of the year though; no doubt about that.
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CD of the moment I can't stop listening to: Desmond Dekker and the Aces. This double disc set of "Action!" and "Intensify" is solid reggae gold, absolute and undeniable. I'll pop a track or two up at M4R afore long but you owe it to yourself to go check out this original rude boy ASAP.
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I've started posting a "musicblog reviews-in-brief" over at Better Propaganda and there's some promise that this might work its way onto the front page as long as I keeps grinding them out.
Stop by now for my take on Mark Martin's excellent Ditties for the Party as well as the basic format the reviews will take.
Musicbloggers who would be interested in getting a little free publicity and would like a writeup are encouraged to contact me and I'll send you a questionnaire about your blog that I'll use to assist in writing you up. I can't guarantee I'll get you a piece, but I'm more likely to follow up on people who holla at me. The email is up top, if you're down.
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We have all our CD's set up for the next round at the Hut. Keep a look out at the end of this theme (that'd be Monday after the upcoming) for another offer.
For those that DID get discs, I'm mailing them out Friday. Keep watching the skies.
