New Morning Exercises & Hank Crawford’s Bday!

Ed K (Renaissance Granddad) – Day 23823 (Dec 21, 2016)   Woo! Hoo! Today is the Winter Solstice!! That of course means, today is either the shortest day of the year or the longest night! I prefer to look at it as the shortest day and from here until the Summer Solstice the days keep getting longer!! I used to hate it when it was dark when I went to work in the morning and again when I came home in the evening. For years i ran at 5:30 after work. I always hated it when daylight savings time ended and…

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Shahab Tolouie Master of the Fusetar born Jan 15, 1975!

So last year the FreeWheelin/ Music Safari discovered that on this date in 1975, a very talented world fusion guitarist, Shahab Tolouie  was born! That’s him at the start of this post, he is pictured with a guitar of his creation  an instrumentally speaking a very cool guitar. Well technically speaking,  it is not a guitar it is a Fusetar (eng.“fusion”, “tar” – farsi. “strings” – fusion of strings).  This three-necked instrument represents the culmination of his sound experiments in search of a mode of expression of his new musical concepts. The fusion of Setar, flamenco guitar, and fretless guitar Now…

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Exploring the Jazz Saxophone of Houston Person, following his birthday!!

  Houston Person – Saxophone  (born November 10, 1934) Houston Person is a jazz artist whose name I have seen on the JazzWeek Chart, as recently as this week. His latest release as a leader The Melody Lingers On is now at # 9. I had yet to listen to any of his music until last week. To be more specific,   I listened to two albums on his birthday, November 1oth. The albums nI listened to were Something in Common  from 1989 and Now’s the Time. Now’s the Time, released in 1990, was recorded with legendary bassist Ron Carter. Both albums were released on…

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Today in Music – August 6, 1957 – Harmonica and Vibes Virtuoso Hendrick Meurkens was born!!

On this day, August  6, 1957  vibraphonist and chromatic harmonica virtuoso Hedrick Meurkens was born to Dutch parents in Hamburg, Germany. Meurkens was listed on today’s birthday list at All About Jazz as a harmonica player . When I went to Spotify to listen to his music, I started with his new release Junity, which opens with a nice rendition of The Beatles “Blackbird”. I listened to a few more tracks and then went to the next album his 2011 release Live at Bird’s Eye. As I listened to the album, I thought. boy, he sure is nice to give that…

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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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Today in Music – Nov 26, 1983 – Happy Birthday, Guy Buttery!!

I love checking list of people who have birthday on that day’s date, especially the list at All About Jazz. The list has led to my discovery of many artist that were previously unknown to me!! Yesterday such as I was introduced to the music of Daseul Kim and now today I have discovered a really great acoustic guitar player Guy Buttery. A quick listen to his most recent release told me that this musician from South Africa will soon have a spot in my music library. I will try to write more later, but for now here’s what some…

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Today in Music – Oct 26, 1956 – Vibist Marc Wagnon is born – Happy Birthday Marc!!

As I looked over the birthdays today at All About Jazz the first one that caught my eye was another vibist or vibraphonist (it is an either) Marc Wagnon. But then I got distracted by the career of Eddie Henderson and didn’t take time to write about Marc!! and once again my wife posted this on my timeline on Facebook and claims it relates to me! Now where were we, oh yeah Marc Wagnon – here’s what some folks think about Marc “Forward-thinking composing supported by spectacular musicianship.” John Barron, allaboutjazz.com “this is an exemplary set that delivers the goods on…

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Today in Music – Oct 22, 1957 – Happy Birthday – Canadian Jazz Artist Jane Bunnett

A while back I discovered the music of Canadian jazz musician Jane Bunnett, like usual it was on a night that I was looking for new music and boy did I listened to Cuban Rhapsody  featuring both Jane and pianist Hilario Durán. and if you’ve never heard it give it a listen it’s great! Anyway, today I get to wish her a Happy Birthday Jane was  born on October 22, 1956 and is a Canadian soprano saxophonist, flautist and bandleader known for her Afro-Cuban jazz melodies. In addition to her primary instruments, Bunnett also plays the trompeta china, a Cuban wind instrument of Chinese origin. Born and educated in Toronto, she trained…

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Today in Music – October 17, 1976 – Happy Birthday, Gary Tu!

Among the Jazz Artist who are celebrating their birthday’s today is jazz guitarist Gary Tu, who was born on this date in 1976 and since I was married and living in student housing at that time. I am old enough to e his father and he would e my oldest son and Nick (my oldest son) would be his younger brother by three years! Not that it matters at all to you the reader, but it puts Gary in perspective for me!! Gary is originally from Taipei, Taiwan and now lives  in Chicago, His current release is Last Turn released in…

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