Life’s Soundtrack – A better run – music by Prog-Rock band Empty Tremor

ok so I still suck at running but I didn’t really start to feel bad until after the third mile in last nights run so I guess there’s improvement!! But it’s hard to have real improvement until I run more than one day a week!! The lack of running has been a combination of a sore leg and hot temperatures! Overall the run last night was almost a minute twenty faster than last weeks run – about a 10:25 pace! The soundtrack for the run was a prog-rock band from Italy Empty Tremor. The album that I listened to was…

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Into the Night with Gary Stroutsos and his Native American flute!

So this morning I needed to do some writing at work so out came some Native American flute music. It came from an artist that I have never heard before Gary Stroutsos and his 2011 release Inside Tutka Bay and I am a fan! Additionally I have a lot of catching up to do because his career started with Native American music in 1994 when he moved from Washington to North Dakota and includes a gazillion albums! Stroutsos started his musical career after being in awe of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull while at Grand Valley State College in Allendale, Michigan….

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Into the Night with Kenny Burrell on his 81st Birthday!

So after I read this morning that it wasKenny Burrell’s birthday, I listened to a mix of his guitar work this morning and as always it was great! Burrell was born in Detroit, Michigan to a musical family and began playing guitar at the age of 12. From his biography  Kenny, who credits Charlie Christian, Oscar Moore, and Django Reinhardt as influences, as well as such bluesmen as T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters, played on his first major recording session in Detroit in 1951 with a Dizzy Gillespie combo that included John Coltrane, Milt Jackson, and Percy Heath. Not bad for…

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Life’s Soundtrack – A tough run made better by Dreamscape!

The Run Well, if long slow running is good for you I did well tonight, at least the slow part! Since it wasn’t blazingly hot today,  and my legs didn’t feel bad, I thought  it was a good night to run.  I was right as far as the temperature, it did got hot in the sun and was ok in the shade, and my legs felt ok throughout, but I was damn slow, at least over the last couple of miles. Overall I completed the 3. mile run averaging 10:47 per mile-ouch!  But hell, I think I’ve run two times over…

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Into the Night with Booker T.: Road From Memphis and “Born Under a Bad Sign”

So thoughts of Booker T & the MGs sent me to the iPod this afternoon to listen to The Road from Memphis Booker’s latest release, which in fact won a Grammy for Best Pop – Instrumental Performance. So let’s go into the night with a track from that album T, “The Bronx” featuring Lou Reed! and as a bonus here’s the classic “Born Under A Bad Sign” music by Booker T Jones, lyrics by William Bell, made famous by many people!!

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Lunchtime Jazz – John Coltrane (1926-1967)

I mentioned this morning that today is the day that John Coltrane passed away in 1967 from Wikipedia: John William Coltrane (also known as “Trane”; September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967[1]) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz. He organized at least fifty recording sessions as a leader during his recording career, and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, notably with trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious…

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Nighttime Jazz- Mike Freeman , Zonavibe “The Vibesman”

So this afternoon I was doing some work in the office so I turned to some jazz on the iPod. Last week I had added a  jazz vibes player Mike Freeman Zonavibe The Vibesman to the iPod so that was what I turned on. Once again if you’ve read any of my past posts you know that vibes are one of my favorite instruments, making Gary Burton and  Milt Jackson among others favorite artists, and now I may have to add Mike Freeman to the list!. Mike is known for his recordings of original music (ranging from jazz, Latinjazz, salsa, Brazilian,…

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Does Jazz have an Audience?? Long Live Jazz!!

NPR Music: Kurt Ellenberger: ‘It Can’t Be Done’: The Difficulty Of Growing A Jazz Audience So in this articles Ellenberger asks the question – “How can we convince people to embrace music that is no longer part of the popular culture?” and I ask the question is that true?  is jazz  not a part of the popular culture? can the same thing be said about folk? certainly within their niches both are still vibrant, but neither have the mass appeal that they once did, can it be restored? or is it like Ellenberger says make the music you love and…

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Lunchtime Music – The Deep Blue Organ Trio!

So last night I was looking at the Roots Music Report for some new jazz and the album at number 13 jumped right out at me! The album was Wonderful by the Deep Blue Organ Trio. If you know me I’m a fan of Jimmy Smith, so any group with a lead organ is good by me. When I listened last night, I was impressed.  As  the Wall Street Journal must have been when they listened, because they  made the album their No 1 Jazz album for 2011. The trio based out of Chicago consists of Chris Foreman on Hammond…

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