Late Night Jazz from Russell Malone, Christian McBride and Benny Green

Ok so after writing about Christian McBride tonight, I was looking around YouTube and I saw this video of a performance of one of my favorite Wes Montgomery tunes, “Jingles”! The trio performing it was composed of Christian McBride on bass, Benny Green on piano and Russell Malone on guitar. I have recently learned a little about Christian McBride but I don’t know much about Malone or Green. Anyway,I watched the video and I was floored! Malone is outstanding on guitar as is Green on piano, but the driving force behind the whole 14 minutes on the tune is the…

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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 – 1893 – “Blind” Lemon Jefferson was born!!

So aside from his name, I don’t know much about the man, who many label “The Father of Texas Blues” Blind Lemon Jefferson. Since today is his birthday, I figure it’s a good day to find out a little about the man! From Wikipedia Blind” Lemon Jefferson (Lemon Henry Jefferson; September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled “Father of the Texas Blues”.[2]   Jefferson’s singing and self-accompaniment were distinctive as a result of his high-pitched…

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“Into the Night” with some Blues from Mike Zito – Gone to Texas!

Mike Zito and the Wheel’s latest album  Gone to Texas was released on Ruf Records back in June of this year, and has occupied a spot at the top of the Roots Music Report’s Blues Chart for most of the summer. For the last two weeks it has held steady at No. 7! From Mike’s biography at his website: Mike Zito couldn’t help but be great. It was either that, probably, or end up on a wanted poster in the post office. There is something deep down in Zito’s soul that will not stop screaming, pushing him to take life to…

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Life’s Soundtrack – 2013 Prog Rock From Finland’s Lars Eric Mattsson!

So this morning I was checking the new progressive rock album released in September. What usually catches my attention is the country of origin of the artist. There were several bands from Italy, as well as The Netherlands, the UK, the US and one from Finland Lars Eric Mattson When I saw that Lion Music released the album, I thought, hey, I know that company! They released another album that I listened to recently, Marcus Jidell’s Pictures from a Time Traveller. When I went back to their website, there was Lars Eric, looking at me from right above Marcus… When…

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2013 Blues from Phil Gates – Live at the Hermosa Saloon

So this afternoon I listened to some blues from Phil Gates and his band. I had put their new album Live at the Hermosa Saloon on the iPhone the other day and never had a chance to listen to it! Boy did I like what I heard! I’m off to work at Target tonight, and will listen on the way there and back, and can tell you more about the album tomorrow!! Here’s some background from Phil’s website: Phil Gates was born in Chicago Ill., into a family of musicians that helped form his music style, and ability. Phil began…

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Life’s Soundtrack – Another Strong Run with Prog Rock from Sweden’s Cloudscape!

Cloudscape – Progressive Metal – Sweden So while I’m not where I want to be yet, tonight’s run was the first time in a long while that I felt strong through the whole run. The four miles seemed to fly by pretty quickly!! The splits went like this: Mile 1 – 10:01, 2- 10:17, 3, 10:15, 4 10:20 not bad at all! Early in the month, the last two miles were like a 1 minute or so per mile slower than the first two miles. Overall, I was about 1:38 faster than the last time I ran this course!! The…

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Lunchtime Music – Some Native American Flute from Douglas Spotted Eagle!

So this morning I was  doing a lot of calculations and trying to interpret NJDEP regulations. Therefore, I needed music to keep me focused and calm so that I didn’t pull out what little remaining hair I have!! I turned to the New Age genre and heard music from R Carlos Nakai, Mary Youngblood, illy McLaughlin, and Adrian Legg to name a few. Among the artist was another artist whose specialty is Native American Flute Douglas Spotted Eagle From Wikipedia: Douglas Spotted Eagle, is a Grammy-winning musician, noted for his live and recorded performances on the traditional Native American flute,…

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Today in Music – 1926 – “Brother” Jack McDuff was born – jazz organ – who knew!

So this morning the first name that I saw on the list was “Brother” Jack McDuff”, who was born on this date in 1926. It wasn’t until the third site that I checked in the morning that I read the following” Jack McDuff… with his trio, which over the years featured guitarists like Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, and George Benson, McDuff made many of the first so-called “acid jazz” recordings. Woo Hoo!…. a jazz organist that worked with three guitar great!!! I have to check him out. So I headed over to Wikipedia and found this: “Brother” Jack McDuff (September…

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Life’s Soundtrack’s – A Strong Run with B B King – An Afternoon with Trooper and Knopfler!

So I ran today for the third Monday in a row! Now if I can only get two more days in a week, maybe I can get back into some kind of shape. Today’s run was probably my best run since I started back running regularly last month. Like my last run, it’s nice to look down at the iPhone and see paces that are less than 10 minutes per mile. I think I also stayed below 11 minutes per mile going uphill on Pancoast!! On earlier runs, I struggled to stay under 12 minutes per mile going uphill!! Here…

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