Home Articles posted by Ekreader (Page 20)

The Safari Discovers the Jazz Piano of Helen Sung – Anthem for a New Day – and is happy!

Some people are born to play jazz and then others find jazz – at a Harry Connick, Jr concert?? Well at least one did! The one that did would be classically trained pianist Helen Sung!! Helen began her classical piano training in her hometown of Houston Texas at the age of five under the watchful eye of a teacher who did it her way and encouraged Helen to only listen to classical music. Helen walked the straight and narrow until that fateful day a friend took her to that Harry Connick, Jr. concert. It was there that Harry played a…

Continue reading

Promises to Burn – Great Jazz Vocals and Music from The Janice Borla Group!

One of the jazz albums that has been in my rotation over the last week or so is Promises to Burn from the Janice Borla Group. Yes another jazz vocalist but Ms Borla is really a special vocalist Neil Tesser of the Chicago Reader sums up Janice’s vocalizations well…. “She shatters the stereotype of the jazz vocalist as a poseur or wannabe, infatuated with the idea of improvisation but lacking the mettle to carry it off: she’s a musician who happens to play voice…” “…A triumph of vocal improvisation.” From the opening number “Funkallero” which is a Bill Evans tune with words…

Continue reading

Yesterday in Music – March 22, 19??? – Happy Birthday, Jazz Vocalist Darden Purcell – Easy Living!

Most times I don’t like jazz vocalists.I am fine with just the music! So when I went to MOG to check out Darden Purcell’s 2009 release Easy Living, I was already to listen for a couple of seconds and then move on. The reason that I was exploring the album at all was that yesterday was Ms Purcell’s birthday! So the negative minded me found the album and hit play. The album started with Darden doing a little scatting accompanied by some nifty drumming from Stockton Helbing, then I heard her great voice backed by a fine piano, finally a…

Continue reading

Dave Pike – Vibraphonist – Born March 23, 1938!! –

Let’s Listen to “Mather” to Celebrate Dave Pike’s Birthday!!   On this date in 1938 jazz vibraphonist Dave Pike was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is best known for his association with Herbie Mann in the early 1960s. I discovered his music within the last few years and several of his albums are included in my music library.  I always wondered why I never really heard of this guy. The reason is that most of his American recordings were made in the 1960s and 70s and he went to Europe in the late 1960′ Here’s what I read at All…

Continue reading

Archives” Life’s Soundtrack: New Progressive Rock from Houston – Six Minute Century’s Wasting Time!

So the soundtrack for a variety of activities around the house today was a prog/power metal band from Houston,Texas Six Minute Century . The band has been around since 2004 playing mostly locally in Houston. After signing with Nightmare Records in 2008, Six Minute Century released their début album “Time Capsules”. After that release and the positive reviews it received, the band has played many cities in the United States, and been invited to perform  at a variety of festivals including:  Rocklahoma, Rock The Bayou,festival, Nightmare Metal Fest I and II, and ProgPower XI.My soundtrack today was their second release Wasting…

Continue reading

2014 Jazz – Moment to Moment from Pianist Cava Menzies and Trumpeter Nick Phillips

So this morning at Me, Myself , Music and Mysteries I posted three songs that put me in a good mood, and tonight I am listening to an album that puts me in a mellow mood. I want to get home turn the lights out and drift to this wonderful album. Yes, drift to the fine piano of Cava Menzies and the “Chet Baker-esque trumpet of Nick Phillips on their album Moment to Moment. As a matter of fact, I was going to write to you readers if you want an album to settle back with put your feet up…

Continue reading

New Age – Healing Music from Michael Brant DeMaria – The Maiden of Stonehenge!

Healing Music in Title Maiden of Stonehenge - Michael Brandt DeMaria Caption Alt Text Description Set featured image Choose Files

The Maiden of Stonehenge – Michsael  Brant DeMaria So the other day I was browsing through the Zone Music Reporter’s New Age Top 100 Radio Air Play chart. I spotted down at #87 an interesting looking album titled The Maiden of Stonehenge by Michael Brant DeMaria. Not knowing anything more about the album, than that it had both an interesting title and a cool cover (there I go again dating myself). I downloaded it. And I gave it a listen. As soon as I heard the flute on the first track “Lost Village” I knew that I was going to…

Continue reading

Archives:Life’s Soundtracks:The run was a struggle but the music from Day Six was great!

Originally Posted: March 24, 2013 at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries – Please Note my running and music listening are linked so sometimes you have to put up with the running info to get to the music, or then again you can just scroll past it!! So some days you really look forward to your run, you start, you feel good and the run goes very smoothly. Then there are other days, well, they don’t go as well. Saturdays area often a slow day for me. I work all day at Lippincott and then at Target not getting done until…

Continue reading

That PI Day in Music 3.14.34 – “The Queen of the Organ” – Shirley Scott was born!!

So the other morning, after I woke up from the crash that was a result of having had virtually no sleep the night before, as we waited for the birth of grandson,Oliver, I was looking at the jazz birthdays. Now if you remember, the night before I had posted about saxophonist Jeff Hackworth, and how his sax sounds like Stanley Turrentine and how like Stanley, Jeff often plays in an organ trio setting and how I thought that was neat because Stanley had played so often with Jimmy Smith. Well what the un-jazz educated Edward didn’t know was that in…

Continue reading

New Prog from French Avantgarde Metallers – Ethersens – Your Wandering Ghost

ETHERSENS is a Experimental/Post Metal or as they describe themselves on their website “French Avantgarde metallers” from Midi-Pyrénées, France. The core of what was to become Ethersens came together around 2001 when guitarists Johan Bourrut and Mickael André decided to form a band.The idea of a band, moved a step closer to being a reality when drummer Stephane Nestiri joined them in 2002. After several members moved in and out of the band, in 2003, the line-up stabilized when Fred (bass) and Stephan (vocals) joined the band. Because all the members of the band had experience with other bands they proceeded straight to album…

Continue reading