This Day in Music – May 25, 1960 – In Philly – Jazz Trumpeter Wallace Roney was born! (video)

Today is the great Miles Davis‘ birthday. He shares his birthday with the only trumpet player that he ever mentored Wallace Roney. Wallace was born in Philadelphia in 1960 So he is too young to have experienced 1960, which was the year that former Whiz Kids manager re Eddie Sawyer resigned as the hapless Phillies’ manager after a 9-4 opening day loss to the Reds and said.: “I’m 49 years old and I want to live to be 50.”  But I digress so it’s back to Wallace. It was discovered when he was 4 years old that Wallace had perfect pitch…

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This Day in Music – May 24, 1941 – Jazz Organist Charles Earland was born in Philly!!

I browse the daily listing of jazz birthdays each day not only for whose birthday it is that particular day, but also to discover new music. Many times I select who I read about by the instrument they play. Other times I select someone with a foreign sounding name, figuring that will lead me to explorations of jazz music beyond America’s shores. Tunisian born Wajdi Cherif is a perfect example of this type of choice. I read about, and spent time listening to Charles Earland’s music this morning, based on the instrument he plays – Hammond B3 organ!! Charles Earland…

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This Day in Music – May 20, 1975 – Tunisian Jazz Pianist Wajdi Cherif was born. Happy Belated Birthday, Wajdi!

So May 20th was a holiday in several nations including, Cambodia, East Timor and Cameroon. It was also the birthday of a Tunisian jazz piano player, Wajdi Cherif!! Knowing nothing about his music, other than that he played piano, I went to Spotify and listened to his 2009 release Fuzzy Colours and I didn’t have to listen long to become intrigued by and enjoy his music. Returning to All About Jazz, I discovered that at five years of age Wajdi was learning to play tunes he heard on the radio in his homeland of Tunisia on his little piano. Wajdi…

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Progressivo Italiano from Italy’s Conqueror – Stems…no seeds

Conqueror – Rock Progressivo Italiano Italy So yesterday, I was trying to organize some of my stuff around the computer and my work desk. My that’s tall order!! Anyway, I went to progstreaming and looked over the albums and chose the album Stems by Conqueror. As usual, I knew nothing about the band, except that the album cover looked kind of interesting. It took a few minutes before I stopped and said, “Hey, this is pretty good”  And as I listened, the album proceeded to get better and better. About Conquueror Conqueror is an Italian progressive rock band whose music…

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New Jazz from NJ Saxophonist Tom Tallitsch – Ride!! (Video)

So this morning I loaded up two new jazz albums on the iPhone to serve as the soundtrack for my trip to Trader Joe’s, and then proceeded to listen to neither of the albums!! What I did listen to on the way over was Ride the great new release from New Jersey resident Tom Tallitsch!! The album has been on the iPhone for a week or more now and the more I listen to it, the more I like it!! Tom is another one of those busy busy people who seem to thrive on having a lot of irons in…

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The Old Runner Gets Going Again… with Music from Ontofield …Sleeping with Fractals!

So Tuesday was fairly hot here in New Jersey and then yesterday it cooled off a little, and the fair weather runner inside me said yes today is the day!!Checking Runmeter on the iPhone I see that with half the month gone this is my first run in May, My last run was April 28th, that sucks, I should be ashamed of myself! Anyway I did feel pretty good yesterday so I did some light yoga stretching and took off. I felt good through the first two miles and averaged 10:06 per mile, then I slowed down over the 3rd…

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This Day in Music – May 3rd – Happy Birthday Jazz Flutist Andrea Brachfeld!! (Video)

On this day May 3rd in the year ??? (Hum, we don’t really need to know that) flutist Andrea Brachfeld was born! From All About Jazz…. Flutist Andrea Brachfeld, is a graduate of The High School of Music and Art and Manhattan School of Music. Over these past 20 years she has recorded more than a dozen CD’s with many artists including, Africando, Noel Pointer, and Timbalaye. Her breakthrough performance as the flutist for the popular Latin band Charanga ’76, catapulted her into Salsa history and fame as the first female flutist to play this music in the United States….

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This Day in Music – May 1, 1982 – Jazz Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire was born (Video)

On this day May 1st in 1982 Ambrose Akinmusire (ah-kin-MOO-sir-ee) was born in Oakland California.  His latest release The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint  has been in my listening rotation and I have enjoyed it! This was not my first meeting with Mr. Akinmusire, winner of the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, two of the most prestigious jazz competitions in the world. No, I first listened to his trumpet back in August of last year when  I  spent A Night of Exploration – Contemporary Jazz Trumpeters! Since then I have listened to his second album…

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Life’s Soundtrack – The Safari’s Workday flows better with the Music of R Carlos Nakai and Peter Kater

Sometime in the late 90s, I discovered the music of Native American flute master R Carlos Nakai. Since that time many of his albums have made their way into my music library. Carlos flute, along with the vibes of Gary Burton keep me sane! Many times when I am stressed or worried at work, I say that it is TIME for some R Carlos Nakai and within minutes of the music’s start I am headed back to sanity!! Nakai has some wonderful musicians who work with him to create the music that I love and often need, including William Eaton…

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The Safari finds another gem – Tenor Saxophonist Javon Jackson! Did I hear an It’s about time!

Yesterday and today I was back to work at my regular job. Because I spent the day performing soil borings, logging the borings and collecting soil samples for permeability testing,(sounds like fun doesn’t it!) the work did not lend itself to music listening.  Today’s work the laboratory permeability testing was suited for music listening. The best music for that type of work is jazz  or New Age. So I started off with the album that was # 5 on the JazzWeek Chart- Expression by Javon Jackson. Dare I say, that I do not know Javon Jackson? Oops, I guess I just did! A…

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