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The Perils of a Jazz Pianist’s Left-Hand
For the modern jazz pianist, the risk of developing disparities between the right and left hand is well-known and rarely discussed. It’s our secret shame. To understand this, try…
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The Bufos are Back
It’s late spring and the toads have returned. Every April thousands of breeding-obsessed amphibians invade our neighborhood for an extended game of Where’s-the-tadpole? These fat little lumps, better known as the…
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Soul of a City
It’s April, time for the Spring KUHF fundraiser. One of the gifts-with-donation this year is the Engines of our Ingenuity CD Soul of a City. This new multimedia package, the 11th…
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Horace Silver Transcription, “Peace”
Horace Silver made his name working alongside Blakey, Rollins, and countless others. But later he would part ways with be-bop to explore the funkier aspects of jazz. His strong…
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Phineas Newborn Transcription, Sugar Ray
Phineas Newborn was the pianist’s pianist. He died way too young and only recorded a few albums, all of them gems. I spent some time transcribing the “head” to…
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“Crank It Down”: Music For Sleeping
Ambient music, it’s warm milk to a seasoned insomniac. It’s Ambien without the morning hangover. The sandman of choice for me has always been the genre’s master, Brian Eno. There’s just…
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For the Love of You, ARP 2600
It’s my sad confession. I once had a crush on a machine. I was an impressionable teenager and the ARP 2600 was my pinup girl. I loved this thing…
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Benny Green Transcription, Cottontail
Benny Green trading choruses with a guitarist on the Ellington rhythm changes “Cottontail” from the Ray Brown CD Seven Steps To Heaven. Note the tempo — a scorching 300…
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Benny Green Transcription, The Song Is You
This is the first chorus of a Benny Green solo on “The Song Is You” from his debut CD Prelude (1989, Criss Cross). The thing that’s impressive about this solo…
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Mulgrew Miller Transcription
RIP Mulgrew. What a loss: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/arts/music/mulgrew-miller-jazz-pianist-dies-at-57.html Here are three choruses of a Mulgrew Miller piano solo on “If I Should Lose You,” from the album Getting To Know You.…
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Today’s Music Discoveries
A few bands I discovered today while trolling 8tracks.com playlists. Angus & Julia, details here: “Siblings Julia and Angus Stone come from Newport, Australia. Angus and Julia’s decision to collaborate was…
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Hipster Proto Bands
Band name-dropping is a tried and true technique for making yourself appear knowledgeable and cool. The more obscure the band the better. The smaller their output the better. If…
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An Apple for an Apple
A brief history of the Battle of the Beatle, the legendary band's enduring conflicts with Apple Computers, EMI, and their future in the digital musicsphere.
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Blinded by the Douche
“Blinded by the Light” was a perplexing piece of pop music. Despite the song’s surreal refrains, or maybe because of them, it achieved anthem-level notoriety in 1976, popular among both hipster children and…
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Feeling Crusty
The North American plate drifts 3″ westward each year. That’s over 10 feet in my lifetime. I feel so unobservant. How could I have not noticed? One day it’ll…
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Review: Cassandra Wilson Closer To You: The Pop Side
A review of Blue Note's upcoming compilation of Cassandra Wilson's pop covers, Closer To You: The Pop Side
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Wide-Awake in the Hotel
Tonight I sit upright in a hotel in Austin, wide-awake after sleeping during the gloaming and eating obscene amounts of pasta hours later. It could have gone differently. I…
