Today in Music – 1924 – Jazz Pianist Bud Powell was born!

  On this date in 1924 “Bud” Powell was born. I wrote the other day about pianist Benny Green whose style has been compared to Bud Powell, but I don’t know that much about Bud. I image that the reason is because he died 1966. Additionally, he spent the years between 1958 and 1963 in Paris. In 1963, he returned to the US, and on July 31, 1966, he died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism. Some background from Wikipedia: Earl Rudolph “Bud” Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was a jazz pianist who was born and raised in Harlem, New…

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Life’s Soundtrack – Another encouraging run aided by Thought Chamber’s Angular Perceptions

So I am considering a new rule that all run soundtracks should be progressive rock albums! Well maybe not each run, but at least the tempo runs! I was going to run last night, but I spent most of the day trudging around farm fields and woods in Mansfield Township looking for wetland flags and when I came home I just didn’t feel up to it. I went back to the same site today and finished up, but I was able to move the truck a little closer to where I needed to locate the wetland flags and as a…

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Today in Music – 1930 – “Saxophone Colossus” Sonny Rollins is born!!

  So while today is a sad day for the rock world, losing Keith Moon, it is a happy day for the jazz world, because on this day in 1930 Sonny Rollins, the “Saxophone Colossus” was born! From his biography page at his website: Theodore Walter Rollins was born on September 7, 1930 in New York City. He grew up in Harlem not far from the Savoy Ballroom, the Apollo Theatre, and the doorstep of his idol, Coleman Hawkins. After early discovery of Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, he started out on alto saxophone, inspired by Louis Jordan. At the…

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Life’s Soundtrack A Good Slow Run with Katatonia!

So I ran again last night. I was going to go Sunday but the temperature topped out close to 90 degrees. The forecast for Monday had the high at 81, which is more in my comfort zone,so I waited. Before I ran I created a new loop course that was around four miles and took of with Runmeter marking the miles and Katatonia, a progressive metal band in my ears. Overall the first three miles weren’t too bad then my heart rate. started going up, so I cut my pace back to keep it under 170! While the run seemed…

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Today in Music – Happy 80th Birthday, Wayne Shorter (Aug 25, 1933)

So you can probably count on you fingers how many musicians are still performing beyond the age of 80. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are  B.B. King and Tony Bennett, and when Wayne Shorter, plays the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday of this week, he will have join that group! Wayne was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25,1933. For some unknown reason, I know Wayne’s name, but have not really listened to any of his best albums. I know I have heard his sax before, I have some Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers,…

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Today in Music – 1967 – John Coltrane passed away (not)…. and the jazz world still mourns..

According to About.com/Oldies Music, on this date in 1967, the jazz world lost a legendary figure when John Coltrane died from liver cancer at the age of forty. (The actual date of his death is July 17th) Coltrane was and still is one of the most influential jazz musician, ever. I have never been a big fan of the sax, most of my jazz listening revolves around guitar, organ and vibes, but every time I hear Coltrane’s music I love it. From Wikipedia: John William Coltrane, also known as “Trane” (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967[1]), was an American…

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Life’s Soundtrack – A tough run – but an Introduction to Pendragon makes it better!

This year has been a bad running year, I just find myself finding other things to do than ponding the pavement. But today I talked myself into getting out there and running for only the second time this  month! I don’t know if it’s because my knees don’t feel right or I’m disappointed in how slowly I run. What I really have to do is just remember that Nike slogan and “Just Do It!” Like I’ve done over the last few runs is plot out a new course one where I get to run over the same roads, just in…

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Life’s Soundtrack – A Good Run with Prog Rockers Spock’s Beard!

So last night I came home last night and wasn’t sure whether I was going to run. I expressed that sentiment to my wife who reminded me that I feel better when I run! So that was the nudge that I needed to get me on the road. When I started my legs felt really good, and for the first time in a long time I didn’t feel like turning around and going home within the first half-mile! I hit the first mile mark in about 9:45 and the held on to average 10:02 per mile for the rest of…

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Life’s Soundtrack – A Decent Run made better by Bulgaria’s Pantommind!

After coming home from food shopping at Trader Joe’s this afternoon, I came within an eyelash of talking myself out of going for a run! I’ve done that successfully for most of April, between long days and knees that really didn’t feel 100%. But I told myself no, you are going to run. I thought maybe if I go to Runner’s World and create a new route then at least it’s different and then I really can’t compare it to familiar runs! So that’s what I did and overall the run was pretty good the first mile was under 10…

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Prog Exploration Goes to France and finds Delusion Squared II

Delusion Squared -Crossover Prog – France So I’ve written before, I like that Prog Rock bands come from all over the world. For example, Delusion Squared.,the band that was the soundtrack for my ride down to the Garden State Parkway is a French band  The album is their sophomore release appropriately titled II The band, formed in 2009, is a trio composed of lead vocalist and guitarist, Lorraine Young, guitarist, keyboard and drummer – Steven Francis and bassist/keyboardist – Emmanuel de Saint Meen. Their music can be classified as Crossover Prog (or Art Rock). If you are a novice to the…

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