Archive for July 2011
When browsing through an interesting tread in The Jazz Guitar Forum about Nicolas Slonimsky's monumental work Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns in a local café this afternoon, I just had to get my second cup of Americano to drum up my musical audacity to face again this gargantuan topic. Phew, what a book! In the field of modern Jazz, Slonimsky's Thesaurus has been the Gigantor among all twentieth-century pattern...
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The KoKo session was one of those just-about-supernatural recording dates seemingly shrouded with overflowing magical elements.....The impact of this recording session was far-reaching as the commercial release of Parker’s music soon accelerated the revolution of modern jazz. Teddy Reig, the producer of this recording date, comments on the influence of the release, stating that “in maybe six months it was like The Bible.”
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I have some unexplainable affections toward print/publication-goodies from Japan and European countries. I adore cute illustrations found in Japanese novels and have spent hours browsing through works by artists belonged to Tokyo Illustrators Society. Seriously, it'd take at least three X-large African bush (savanna) elephants to tow me away from Japanese paperback novels section in a specialty bookstore, as I'd be happily camping in front of them for two light-years. ...
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Jazz music, during its comparatively brief history of one hundred years, has continuously manifested its unparalleled energy by progressively reinventing itself and generating new variants that directly or indirectly reflect the development of music in general; the advancement of music technology, and the social interactions, conflicts, and inevitable transformations. Bebop, in particular, exhibits a substantial impact that antagonizes its community internally and consequently challenges the identity and value of the subordinate social groups and their collective assembly.....
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Reading through the thread about incorporating/creating dissonance in jazz improvisation in Café Saxophone forum, I was thinking about contributing some of Michael Brecker's gorgeous treatments on Coltrane Changes to spice up the discussion. For several days, that idea has dangled in my mind like a gigantic sneak magically sent by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (or, aka Lord Voldemort). But, when I finally got some time to really sit myself down and began itemizing...
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Jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker was not only the representative figure in the Bebop movement in terms of his musical exploration, but also in his continuous struggle with substance abuse. Evidently, the problem of substance abuse was pervasive during that period within the jazz community, as Burton W. Peretti elucidated that "while World War I, Prohibition, and the first flush of the adolescent subculture had prompted alcoholism among some early white jazz musicians, a deeper disappointment fueled the bebop turn to drugs......
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