Month: May 2016

Week in Review – May 29, 2016

Another year older!  Started the day with a delicious “D” omelet served in bed.  Then proved my brain hadn’t completed deteriorated by completing the New York Times crossword in record-tying time – 9 minutes (but it was a Monday, the easiest puzzle).NYT b-day 9 mins

Apparently Google knows it’s my birthday – see the screen I got when logging in to check the definition of a word in my book.

The heavens opened around 8am with a “bouncing” thunderstorm and it seems we can expect more of the same most days this week.

 

google b-day Rain b-day

taco bell

Diana brought me my favorite comfort food for lunch – the Crunchwrap supreme combo from Taco Bell.  It’s probably been a year or more since I had one and I still love them just as much.

I’ve been playing Sonny Rollins “The Bridge” album while working in my home office today.  It’s sounding great – “God Bless the Child” is a real highlight.

 

D assembling

I wandered through to the living room after lunch and came across an unlikely sight.  Diana was assembling a new end table for my end of the sofa – needs to be a bit skinnier to accommodate the new wine fridge unit that was installed a couple of weeks ago.  I got in trouble for this “unauthorized” picture and was told I should be glad it’s my birthday.

I read this article in the New York Times that I thought was spot on about the need for some arts education in technical fields.  Talks about how liberal arts and music majors make some of the most elegant coders.

Might attribute it to the additional year on my age, but I was doing some minor organizing in my home office today and came across this New York Times article that I had saved from the end of 2015 that made a few great points.  You can read the full article at the link above but here are a few or my favorite paragraphs:

“Literary fiction lives.  You see a lot of Fox news-generated trash and formula fiction on the best-seller lists.  American reading tastes have gone the way of the American diet.  Yes, but.  This year, “All the Light We Cannot See,” Anthony Doerr’s magical, World War II-era story of a blind French girl and a Hitler youth nerd continues to sell like tickets to “Hamilton”.  The prose is luminous, the characters unforgettable, the themes universal.”

“Trump and Putin find each other.  The bromance between two of the most odios, bullying, narcissistic tyrants has been building for some time.  Now, they have professed their mutual affection for each other….Trump sneers at women, the disabled, blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, veterans and anyone who is unattractive.  “He is a really brilliant and talented person”, said Putin.  The vulgarian and the war criminal, together at last.”

I had an amazing surprise birthday dinner – I was banned from the kitchen for a couple of hours – not even allowed to glance in the general direction.  Diana manufactured some meat pies (like the New Orleans ones that I love) with her famous mushroom medley.

K and Meat Pies

Desert was a grape pavlova from my Mum’s recipe – the one that was used to disguise the mailing of the 50th birthday pictures to Diana.  D was very proud of her first ever pavlova – it did turn out really nicely.  And there’s lots of leftovers to enjoy all week.

Pavlova pavlova slice K and Pavlova

The present opening took place after dinner.  Here I am with several of my gifts.  A HUGE martini glass full of Maltesers from Alicia, a Steve Earle album from Melanie, and an Eric Clapton album from Campbell.Steve Earle big martini Clapton

Diana said the imported Maltesers to fill up the martini glass were more expensive than the glass.  We’re taking bets on how long until the glass is ready for an “auto-refill”.

I think I’m as difficult for my Mum and Dad to buy gifts for as they are for me.  They did a great job with a really modern and sleek looking candle set.  The snuffer is my favorite part of the design.

Candle

Diana’s gift was a Go-Pro camera and lots of special accessories to use on our scuba diving trip to Cozumel in July.  One of the accessories is a head-strap so that the camera sees what you see.  Going to have fun using that one around the house and during the Sweet Sixteen party on Saturday.

Giants

When Finn and I spent the day in San Francisco, we visited the Giants stadium gift shop.  I was telling him about the Jerry Garcia night at the Giants game and the special t-shirts they make.  Finn surprised me with one as a gift.

Before dinner we watched the finale of “The Voice” singing competition.  My pick for the winner was Adam Wakefield.  Here he is singing Vince Gill’s “When I Call Your Name”.

catfish

On Wednesday I made Crispy Catfish with Yuzu-Kosho Udon and Snow Peas.  Yuzu-Kosho is a traditional Japanese condiment made from the zest of Yuzu (an East Asian sour fruit), chile peppers and salt.  The Udon noodles and ponzu sauce were great.

On Thursday Adamo (Diana’s youngest brother) and Diana’s Mum (Clorinda) arrived in the evening.  We were busy with preparations including moving a bed downstairs into Diana’s office and this entertaining hot tub repair – a seal had to be replaced so that the hot tub didn’t drain in the evenings when the pool pump is off.

Pool repair

The big sixteenth birthday on Friday started out with Alicia’s driving test in a city an hour away called Bonham – apparently the only place that she could get an appointment on her actual birthday.  It was raining heavily and the hour drive to the test office was quite trying for Diana and Alicia.  In the end it was worth it.  Here’s Alicia with her temporary license after passing her test.

 

A license

After that excitement, Adamo and I picked up Kris and Cat (Alicia’s godparents) from the airport.  On Friday evening, the group plus 3 of Alicia’s best friends had a special birthday dinner at Gregory’s Bistro in Adriatica (a development styled after a Croatian village in walking distance of our home).  Gregory’s recently moved to this location and we’re very happy to have them so close.  Everyone loved their meals and Lydia and Gregory were very gracious hosts.

Here I am with Penelope and Clorinda arriving for dinner.

P and clorinda

Here’s a series of pictures taken in Adriatica before dinner.  Three generations, Alicia with her godparents,  the whole crew of girls, and my favourite (Alicia with her Grammie).

3 generations A and god Alicia and dinner crewA and Clorinda

Gregory made his famous (and rarely created these days) chocolate souffle for everyone.  Here’s the birthday version:

A and gregory soufle

After all that excitement, it was time to get organized for the big party at the house.  Decorations were hung, a photo booth with streamers and silly accessories assembled, flowers distributed, snacks set up, the outdoor inflatable movie-screen erected, balloons blown up and tied to the mailbox, and the largest project – photo boards of Alicia’s life – assembled with great precision.

We had 25 kids and somewhere around 20 adults for the evening.  Cavalli’s set up their portable brick pizza oven in the driveway and everyone got to choose their personal pizza.  The pizza and appetizers were a big hit with all.  The party ended up being a huge success.  Here’s a video that Alicia’s friend Andrews (headed for film school now that he’s graduated from high school) put together:

On Sunday Clorinda and Adamo headed home.  We took Kris and Cat to Deep Ellum (an eclectic neighbourhood just East of downtown Dallas) for drinks at the Twilite Lounge and dinner at the Freeman (a fantastic New Orleans restaurant).  There was a great jazz band playing during dinner.  Diana and I split the shrimp etouffe (spicier than usual but still amazing).  On the drive home we replicated the infamous J.F.K drive through downtown Dallas past the school book repository and the conspiracy laden grassy knoll.

 

 

 

 

 

Week in Review – May 22, 2016

I made a last minute trip to New York on Monday for a 6 hour meeting that ran from 1-7pm.  It was difficult to find a flight that got there in time, so I tried Virgin America for the first time.  Virgin was a pleasant change from American Airlines – the seats seemed a bit larger and the in-flight entertainment was good – including the ability to order food and drink from the seat back entertainment screen.  I watched a remake of the movie “Point Blank” on the flight – it was like a Warren Miller ski/snow board adventure film – great stunts and scenery with a weak plot and acting – good material to pass the time on a plane.  Here’s what I thought was an over the top demonstration of law enforcement as I was pulling up to my hotel to change for the meeting.

Wall st enforcement

The conference room that I was confined to for 6 hours at least had a very nice view.

175 Water view east river

After the meeting I attempted to visit the Village Vanguard jazz club in Greenwich Village.  On Monday nights the Village Vanguard Orchestra plays – they and the club are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and are world renowned.  When I got there the show was sold out but there was a short line for no-shows.  I got in line and unfortunately was the first one in line that didn’t get in – the last group of 4 taken was right in front of me.

Village Vanguard sign Village Vanguard selfie

Here’s a video of the orchestra so that you can see what I missed.

I was pretty tired at this point (car service picked me up from home at 5am) and so just headed back to the hotel with the help of the New York subway iPhone app.

Subway

On the walk from the subway station to the hotel I passed “bookend” restaurants for my time with Mark DeBenedictus at AIG.  Bailey’s is where I had breakfast with Mark when he first pitched me on the idea of leaving HP and joining AIG.  Giardino D’Or is where we had Mark’s last supper on the evening that he left AIG.

bailey mdb giardino

Tuesday began with a few meetings and then a flight back to Dallas.  I read a bit of my “All the light we cannot see” book – the setting has now moved to St Malo which reminds me of our family vacation in Brittany and several visits there.  I also discovered some new music on the Virgin in-flight music channels.  Here’s some things I enjoyed listening to:

Hearing the band “Pearl Django” made me think of the jazz music played at cafes in Paris – apparently it’s known as “French Jazz” or “Gypsy Jazz”.  The Pearl Django music is inspired by the jazz guitarist Django Reinhard.  Here’s some of their music and an excellent French Jazz playlist that I found on Spotify.

Guy Clark, a classic Texas songwriter, famous for “Desperados waiting on a train” and “LA Freeway” passed on Tuesday.  I remember watching a great cover of this at Tolbert’s restaurant in downtown Dallas over 20 years ago – can’t for the life of me remember the name of the musician performing it.  Here’s Guy Clark’s original version.  I also recommend the versions by The Highwaymen and Jerry Jeff Walker.  It was interesting to read that Guy was also an excellent guitar maker and made a living doing this while writing songs in LA prior to his move to Nashville and the release of his classic albums.

Wednesday was a quiet work from home day.  I managed to catch up with a few backlogged crosswords as well.  The Blue Apron delivery arrived and I made Red Curry and Coconut Shrimp Stir-Fry with Rice Noodles and Pea Shoots for dinner.

coconut curry shrimp

On Thursday I braved the commute to Roanoke after a few meetings at home.  A pleasant stop on the way was at the coffee shop in Grapevine where I finished the USA today crossword in reasonable time.

Thurs USA xword

I escaped for a quick lunch at my favorite local New Orleans style restaurant, “Bayou Jack’s” – a bowl of their delicious crawfish bisque.  I heard a number of good new musical artists on the commutes.  Snarky Puppy is interestingly from Dallas and is playing at the Granada theater tonight.

I have to do some research to find out the name of the drummer on the Joey Defrancesco track – he sounded amazing.

I switched from Jazz and the Jam_On Sirius station over to B.B. King’s Bluesville station and came across Eric Bibb – sounded a lot like really good Robert Cray.

I arrived home to find the pool busy draining all its water out into the street.  We’re having the re-plastering redone to remove the streaks and inconsistent staining.

pool

Another Blue Apron dinner on Thursday night.  This time soy-glazed meatballs with jasmine rice, Swiss chard, radish and scallion.  Another great tasting meal.

meatballs

On Friday we headed out to the Four Seasons golf course in Irving, TX to watch the 2nd round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament.  We try to head out for at least one day each year.  It’s not as luxurious these days since EDS isn’t the sponsor – no luxury boxes, food and drink.  Here are Diana and our friend Vinod enjoying the action on the 17th green.

17th hole Vinod and D

We walked most of the course, educating Vinod on the basics of golf as we went.  We watched Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia (getting ready to tee off below), Matt Kuchar and several others along the way.  Sergio ended up winning on Sunday after a sudden death playoff with Brooks Koepka from Florida.  It was an exciting finish with several players having a chance to win.

Sergio

New albums were released this week by 2 veterans – Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan.  So far, I much prefer the Bob Dylan classic song covers.  Eric Clapton’s is pleasant with great musicianship but doesn’t keep my attention the way his older albums still do.  It’s very much of a J.J. Cale tribute continuation with 2 covers and several of the Tulsa musicians that played on all J.J.’s classic recordings.

Sunday dinner was the last of the Blue Apron deliveries for this week – Seared Chicken and Verjus Pan Sauce with mashed potatoes, mushrooms and kale.  I had to look up Verjus Blanc (white grape juice) – the tart, fresh juice of unripe wine grapes.  It is a culinary ingredient indigenous to the world’s wine producing regions that is used in sauce making, for poaching fish and meat, and to dress lettuces, vegetables and fruit.

chicken verjus

I was finally able to track down a near pristine used copy of an album that I loved in University – “Bright Size Life” by Pat Metheny.

metheny back metheny front

This was released in 1976 and was one of the first recordings by both Pat Metheny and my favorite bass player, Jaco Pastorius (of Weather Report fame).  I used Jaco’s solo album to audition hi-fi speakers – 90% of them rattle during his “Portrait of Tracy”.  This album is for Pat Metheny what “Kind of Blue” is for Miles Davis.  All music lovers should hear this music.  The collaboration of Pat, Jaco and Bob Moses on drums is amazing.  The music has a lot of empty space that highlights the way Jaco plays electric bass like a lead instrument and really enhances Metheney’s playing (which almost has a country twang sound in places – a sound rarely heard in jazz).  Moses’ explosive but very detailed drumming is quite unique and adds a very interesting texture to the music.  There’s a new documentary out about Jaco that I’ll have to watch soon.

Week in Review – May 15, 2016

I worked in New York from Monday through Wednesday this week on business.  Home base was the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City.  The water taxi is a great way to get from the hotel to Wall St.

jersey city water taxi freedom tower from hyatt jersey city

The hotel bar/restaurant area has a great view of the new Freedom Tower that sits very close to Ground Zero.  Here are the night time and early morning views:

jersey city night viewjersey city sunrise view

The extensive travel allowed me to read quite a bit, listen to some new music and revisit some old favorite music.  I finished reading Kate Atkinson’s “A God in Ruins” – an enjoyable novel centered around the life story of a WWII bomber pilot and 4 generations of his family – I’ll be posting a detailed review later this week.  I started reading Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” and am looking forward to digging into it.

On the music front, I’m really enjoying new releases from Keb Mo’ and Sturgill Simpson – see my separate post in the music category.

I stumbled across a great video deconstructing Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues” – again more detailed in my separate post.

The same “Daily Music Break” that led me to the “Deacon Blues” video also reacquainted me with Ry Cooder’s excellent early albums – particularly “Paradise and Lunch” and the song “Jesus is on the Mainline”.  I’m off to write a separate post on that song and his albums from the same early 70s period now.

The flight back from New York on Wednesday night was smooth and on time (albeit a bit hot and stuffy on board).  I watched the movie “Pawn Sacrifice” to pass some of the time.  The plot was a bit slow (since we know the outcome) but a good historical perspective on the Cold War told through the 1972 World Chess Championship.  Tobey Maquire (always get him confused with Jake Gyllenhal) and Liev Schreiber both give strong performances as Bobby Fisher and Boris Spassky.  The most interesting part was watching Bobby and the Peter Sarsgaard character play mental chess – all the masters are apparently to carry the picture of an active chess board in their minds and manage multiple moves ahead without the need for a physical representation.

On Thursday our friend Tim was in Plano on business from Pennsylvania. He treated us to dinner at Harry’s on the Harbor and then we hung out on the patio, caught up on families and listened to some music.  It’s been around six months since I was able to catch up with Timmy in a relaxed environment – a very enjoyable evening.

The magnolias in our back garden are in a blooming frenzy – several new blooms open up every morning.

magnolias

I was reading a New York Times article about Paris and this picture of the blossoms made me wish I could head there for nice long weekend at this time of year – not until August.

 

 

 

Spring in Paris

Saturday was our normal morning dancing lesson.  I worked really hard to get the “cross body lead” step in the Bolero down – it feels really unnatural and awkward.  After some practice at home in the afternoon it’s getting better.  We also learned how to do a 180 degree turn in the Texas two step and then how to flip back the other way.  Our instructor, Kathleen, commented that I had a “predisposition to small circles” for the two step.  I explained that comes from avoiding various pieces of furniture when we’re practicing.

On Saturday afternoon we went to see the move, “Sing Street”.  We really enjoyed it and were reminded of “The Commitments” from 20 or more years ago – also based on kids in Ireland and music.

It’s directed by John Carney who did “Once” and “Begin Again” – both movies that I really enjoyed, “Once” being a top 10 movie for me.  The main character, Conor, starts a band to impress a girl who claims to be a model.  The relationship between Conor and his older brother is one of the highlights of the film – particularly as Conor is educated on the best new 80s music that we grew up listening to.  The other highlight is the music videos that the kids create to accompany the new songs they write – all very clever and funny.

I should watch “The Commitments” again this coming week – it’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed it.

Sunday morning was quite busy.  I made us one of my signature veggie omelets with special additions of some sliced Brie and pancetta.  Then headed to my health club for a swim, a soak in the hot tub, and a steam.  After that we made a Home Depot trip for various light bulbs and some flowers for the front garden.  We spent a happy couple of hours getting everything arranged and planted.  Thankfully we’ve had a lot of rain and the ground is very soft and easy for planting.

flowers

My 6’5″ nephew, Struan, earned his Queen’s Boys Brigade award and it was presented to him in St Columbas church in Stewarton today.

Struan

From the Boy’s Brigade website:

The Queen’s Badge is the highest award that may be gained by a member of The Boys’ Brigade. It’s a real opportunity; it aims to challenge and equip the individual, provide new opportunities and expand horizons while remaining accessible to young people of all abilities.

qb_info

A young person wishing to work towards their Queen’s Badge must first have completed their President’s Badge. The Queen’s Badge offers the chance to engage with the local community, take on responsibility, set personal goals, build self confidence and experience a sense of achievement.

In 2014, young people completing their Queen’s Badge contributed over 75,000 hours of volunteering within The Boys’ Brigade and their wider community.

Music Rediscovered – Boz Scaggs “Georgia”

As I was posting the Last Waltz New Orleans review which mentions the performance of “Georgia” by Willie Nelson’s son, I was reminded of the Boz Scaggs song “Georgia”.  Here’s a great performance from the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco (great small venue) in 2004.

This took me down memory lane to a wonderful Scaggs concert that I attended at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA many years ago.  The highlights were his performances of “Sierra” and the rarely heard live “Harbor Lights”.

 

 

Jazz at Lincoln Center – Essentially Ellington High School Competition

In my April 4 Week in Review posting (“Best Music Week Ever”) I talked about how much I had enjoyed my visit to Jazz at Lincoln Center to watch Steve Miller.

During my visit I read about the upcoming “Essentially Ellington” contest.  This is a competition featuring the best High School jazz bands playing Duke Ellington music.  Wynton Marsalis (Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center) participates and presents the awards.

This took me back to my days participating in High School brass band competitions and I enjoyed watching some of the performances here:

http://livestream.com/jazz/FinalConcertAwardsCeremony/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EEfundraisingemail&utm_content=version_A

 

Offbeat review – The Last Waltz New Orleans

Here’s a good review of the Last Waltz show that we saw in New Orleans during jazzfest from Offbeat magazine:

last waltz

Review: The Last Waltz New Orleans Offers a Satisfying, Heartfelt Tribute to The Band

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In a certain sense, Don Was has done this before.

On stage at the Seaenger Theater the last Saturday night of Jazz Fest, April 30th, Was, holding with his bass guitar and wearing a most funky felt Fedora-style hat, was introduced as musical director for The Last Waltz New Orleans, a celebration of the fabled farewell concert (and landark rock-umentary) by The Band occasion of its 40th anniversary. A Grammy-winning musician and producer, Was served as musical director last Jazz Fest for “Nevilles Forever” at the Saenger plus, in tandem with Blackbird Presents, similar all-star tributes to Dr. John, Gregg Allman and Kris Kristofferson.

Despite some disappointment over the announced “special guests” not including special guests in town for the last weekend of Jazz Fest—original Last Waltz performers including Neil Young, Mavis Staples, and Dr. John—Was and Warren Haynes and company, equipped with superb musicianship, love of the material and a swinging joie de vivre, succeeded in evoking the timeless sound and mythic vibe surrounding seminal roots-rock The Band’s swan song held over Thanksgiving 1976 at the Winterland in San Francisco.

Renowned for absurdly complex arrangements in a sprawling, organic rock groove, The Band made music for the masses and the sophisticates. To tackle this considerable canon, Was teamed up with Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers Band) to recruit a band consisting of New Orleans native Terence Higgins (drums), John Medeski (keys), Michael McDonald (keys, vocal), and for that “Down South” flavor crucial to The Band—comprised of Canadians but anchored by the soul of the late Levon Helm, born in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas—Jamey Johnson, an outlaw-country crooner and guitar-shredder. A superb horn section highlighted by local trombonist Mark Mullins was featured throughout the show. As befitting a Last Waltz tribute, marked in stage décor by two large, elegant chandeliers hung above the stage, a parade of special guests continued throughout the night.

Jamey Johnsoon, unfamiliar to many in the preppy hippie, neo-groover crowd, showed he came prepared and ready to rock when he took lead vocals on the opening “Cripple Creek.” Haynes declared, “I know we’re in Louisiana, but it’s still appropriate,” before a cover of Ray Charles’ “Georgia”—one of a handful of tunes not in the original Last Waltz—with McDonald and McDonald trading verses on lead vocals. An expected, but most exuberant, “Down South in New Orleans” by Bobby Charles followed, propelled by guests Cyril and Ivan Neville and which featured the night’s first explosive jam. Willie Nelson’s son Lukas Nelson (in town with Neil Young’s back Promise of the Real) sang “It Makes No Difference” next. Haynes then described how they approached the Band’s song with the intent to mix up arrangements, proving so with up-tempo gusto as Dave Malone’s voice and axe-handling on the early-Elvis romp, “Mystery Train.” With Johnson back on vocals, a thunderous “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” closed.

Organ/piano maestro John Madeski led a chunky, funky keys jam to drive “Rag Mama Rag” to open the second set. Nelson soon returned to lead on “Helpless,” in honor of Neil Young’s haunting contribution (edited-out coke nose notwithstanding) to the Band’s final gig, which fell flat if for other reason than Young’s looming absence and was bludgeoned by McDonald, well, McDonalding all over the vocals. Coming on the 33rd anniversary of Muddy Waters’ death, with promises to “wake him up,” members of Waters’ old bands took the stage for a blistering “Mannish Boy,” with local bluesman Smokey Greenwell fervently working his harmonica to reach both heaven and hell. An annoy euphoria clouded the crowd sing-along of “Forever Young,” a trait that continued in subsequent songs “Caravan” (no Van Morrison), “The Weight” (what was Mavis Staples doing that night?), and the concluding “I Shall Be Released.”

Taking the stage for the encore, Haynes said to the crowd, “I’ve been told this is the last song The Band ever played,” before sailing into a rollicking “Don’t Do It.” A plea for mercy from the one you love, the song sent the sold-out Saenger audience out onto a Canal Street Saturday Night, smiling and satisfied to a heartfelt tribute to the Band  they love and miss that, despite a few shortcomings, was northing short of life-affirming.

Setlist:

Set I: “Cripple Creek,” “The Shape I’m In,” “Stage Fright,” “Georgia,” “Down South in New Orleans,” “Ophelia,” “It Makes No Difference,” “Mystery Train,” “Wheels on Fire,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (67 mins)

Set II: “Rag Mama Rag,” “Life Is a Carnival,” “Helpless,” “King Harvest,” “Mannish Boy,” “Further Down the Road,” “Forever Young,” “Caravan,” “The Weight,” “I Shall Be Released” (65 mins)

Encore: “Don’t Do It”

 

 

Music Rediscovered – Ry Cooder

The “Daily Music Break” reminded me how much I love the early 70s albums from Ry Cooder via an excellent video of him performing “Jesus on the Mainline” from the “Paradise and Lunch” album.

I first heard this album when I was 19 and played it on heavy rotation for a few years.  The mixture of vintage blues, country and jazz guitar styles with modern slide and gospel arrangements wasn’t like anything I’d heard before.  During my commutes today I listened to most of the remastered “Paradise and Lunch” on headphones – highly recommended to enjoy all the different guitars and styles happening on every song.  “All Over Now” and “Fool for a Cigarette” are standout arrangements.

The other albums that I enjoy from this early 70s period are “Into the Purple Valley” and “The Slide Area”.

I’m going to revisit his soundtrack from “Paris, Texas” which has some excellent and very sparse slide guitar and the always amazing “Buena Vista Social Club” which I’m expecting will have a resurgence as Cuba opens up to U.S. tourism.

 

Steely Dan’s Deacon Blues Deconstructed

I came across this amazing short video by the “Nerdwriter” through the “Daily Music Break” newsletter this week.

I learned a new term, the “mu chord”, watching this.  This essentially involves adding either a 2nd or a 9th to a traditional major triad and is apparently mostly attributed to Steely Dan.  The intro to Deacon Blues is perhaps the best example.

mu chord

The video also highlights Larry Carlton’s subtle guitar frills and the compressed mid-range horn arrangements by Tom Scott that allow the excellent saxophone solo by Pete Christlieb to jump out of the mix.  He’s also responsible for the sax solos on Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable” and on “FM (No Static at All)”.

The drumming is provided by Bernard Purdie (the most recorded drummer) who has played with James Brown, Aretha Franklin (musical director for 5 years in the 70s), and a host of others.

His legendary Purdie shuffle (triplets against a half-time backbeat) can be seen in this video and heard on the Steely Dan songs, “Kid Charlemagne”, “Babylon Sisters”, and “Home at Last”.

 

 

New Music – Keb Mo’ and Sturgill Simpson

Two great new albums were released this week.  Keb Mo’s “Live – that Hot Pink Blues album” and Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”.  The Keb Mo album reminds me of the wonderful concert he did at the Kessler last year on my birthday.  Patty and Brent went with us and we all really enjoyed the music.  “Henry” is a real standout on a consistently great live album with great finger-picked National steel guitar solos.

Sturgill Simpson’s album is an amazing stew of R&B/soul horns, country guitar, Joe Walsh style guitar, piano ballads and old school country.  I’ve only listened to the album twice so far – but looking forward to listening more.

I hear great things about the new Radiohead album and am off to see if I can stream it easily.