This video is from their 'Souvenir of Tokyo' concert. I've often said how much I appreciate Masato Honda as a saxophonist and a performer. So for those of you uninitiated, consider yourself schooled.  :o)

You can view the Cowboy Bebop videos associated with this theme song. The Cowboy Bebop: Blue CD is my favorite and includes some killer bass clarinet jazz solo work.

LOS ANGELES - Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" and composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.

Read more...

Earle is a cult hero figure in many music circles. And I suspect there isn't a saxophonist alive who doesn't enjoy playing the solo from Harlem Nocturne. It sounds like he led a very full life, full of music, friends, and interesting work. His home page is at http://www.earlehagen.net/home.htm where you can read more about this fascinating fellow.

As requested here is Harlem Nocturne as performed by the inimitable Earl Bostic.

A friend of mine has this Frankenstein guitar that uses two pickups. One is for two strings and plays bass and the other four strings provide guitar. He then arranges songs so that he can play both parts with the one instrument.

So I was very interested when my son showed me this YouTubeage of Charlie Hunter and his truly unique guitar bass hybrid.

If you use three question marks, do they cancel each other out?  ;o)

So Matt let me try a Buescher TT bass sax to low G. You heard me, low G. The instrument has a nickel finish and is a player and plays very nicely in all ranges. The lowest notes can be hard to get to speak. But given time and practice I think it could be manageable.

The bell goes above the tubing to get the extra A, G#, and G notes on the low end of the range. Here you can see Suzy sitting next to the instrument and it is about the right height for her with just the peg.

The extra key work is located in the right thumb area for the low G and the left thumb area for the A and G#. Note the thumb hook has been moved where it is no longer useable except to lift the horn.

The peg screws into the bass of the horn and would need a bigger rubber foot if I were to keep the instrument. The screw mechanisms would need some reworking to. But otherwise the horn is beautiful. Suzy thinks the purchase is not a necessary one and I guess I concur. I was considering trading in my current TT and some cash, but it really doesn't make sense for us to do this right now.

Okay, that's my obligatory blog post for the weekend as I'm visiting my son's family and playing with my new granddaughter Addie!

"It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life, perpetuating itself through all eternity; to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the Universe; and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature." -Albert Einstein

At work today, I'm scrambling to prepare a post for the team blog because so many people have missed their deadlines that I need to cover for them. I was working on a piece called Social Networking Diagrams when I ran across this diagram:

I was stunned by the beauty of this illustration of some obscure networking relationships. And my first thought was along sci-fi vice professional lines of thought. You see, I've been watching 'The Universe' which is a series on the History Channel. And they say the universe is finite--you heard me finite! Now the human race has been able to understand and see sub-particles of sub-atomic particles. What if we were like that sub-particle in the grand scheme of things.

It we were, then we might not know about say JFK or Pluto from the vantage point of a sub-sub-atomic particle. So in this diagram, our universe as we know it might be represented as one the smallest specks. Or we might be even smaller than that. Finite my hindermost!   :o)

BTW, I found that on the Internet many people are using the spelling using infidecimal rather than what I have used above. I have to say I find "new" spellings to be rather interesting.  ;o)

A fellow blogger pointed this post by Tim Barcz out to me last week. Sad and poignant, Selling Your Life For A Quarter at a Time is one of those posts that stop and make you think. My friend also noted, "Unfortunately, the spammers also found the essay and decided to fill it with garbage links. So much for poignant." Don't even get me started about that.

"Last Saturday we again noticed a lot of people over at Carl's house.  This time though there was a new sign out front in addition to the "For Sale by owner",  this one read "Tag Sale".  Sarah and I walked over and looked through the garage and then followed some other patrons into the house.  I was somewhat surprised at what I saw.  Everything was in it's place, where Carl had presumably left it.  Only now, on each item there was a piece of masking tape indicating a price.  We looked around, feeling odd the whole time.  The difficult part for me was entering Carl's room.  There in his closet, a nice suit, for a few bucks.  Shoes, nice, black, obviously cared for by their shining exterior were on sale for 50 cents.  There on the shelf in the closet, a hat.  The kind of hat you don't see anymore and only seems appropriate on men over 70 years old.  The same hat I see my grandfather wearing to church on Sunday mornings in pictures.  The hat, a mere 25 cents."

Humans are collectors, aren't we. Today I thought fleetingly about taking every book down in my library for example. Maybe I would put them back in the categories, Music, Computers, Fiction, and Vintage. Yeah, you bet. But not this weekend because we will be visiting with our son's family and new baby Addie.

I've been collecting sheet music lately in three categories; sax quartet, jazz combo, and big band. The music is in a series of file cabinets. I wonder if anyone would save them and use them after Suzy and I'm gone. And then there's my music method book, CD, and musical instrument collections. I remember when the Leblanc Music company went out of business. They bulk sold most of the instruments from the museum! I'm guessing the vintage but pristine saxes and clarinets went for pennies on the dollar.

Okay now, I know that the value of any person can't/shouldn't be added up based on her/his belongings. But still the idea of people pawing through the belongings of a recently deceased person is kinda depressing. So I guess I need to give everything away before I die so that maybe a sax player will inherit my sax and a collector will cherish that vintage clarinet from the 1800s. That assumes that I have some warning before I kick the bucket.

From xkcd "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

I've purchased this clarinet that is over 200 years old.  Here's the description:

A rare 6 keyed ivory mounted boxwood clarinet in Bb stamped on all joints: Cahusac, London. Unrestored condition. Pinned and repaired bell, barrel is missing, one key and one half of a key are missing. Interesting owner's initials engraved in one of the keys: RW. Measurements: - total length without barrel 55.7 cm - diameter of bell 8.4 cm .

The piece is not playable which is a departure from my other vintage instrument purchases but it really is a curiosity piece. I was looking at the Early Musical Instrument Web site when I found this instrument. It looks like most of the instruments are sold now which is kind of sad in a way. But I'm sure they went to the hands of fine musicians or instrument collectors.

This instrument will join my collection of metal clarinets and such. I might even get Suzy to turn a replacement barrel just for fun.

This is one of the best pieces on the subject by Jeff Anderson, Musical Director, Indianapolis Jazz Orchestra

Often, the inexperienced director gives little thought to the placement of students within the jazz ensemble. Typically the “tried and true” concert band method is used. That is, the best student on the first part, the next best on the second part, etc. While this strategy may work well for the concert or marching band, it’s not always effective for addressing the special needs of the jazz band. Unlike concert and marching band arrangements, jazz ensemble charts are designed to sound best with only one person on each part. Also, because of tradition and practice, many positions within the jazz ensemble have developed specific roles and expectations. These roles tend to differ substantially from other large instrumental ensembles. The scholastic band director must keep all of this in mind when trying to develop a young jazz ensemble.

The following positions are listed in their relative order of importance to the modern big jazz band. They’re listed from most important to least important. It’s critical to fully understand this general hierarchy before trying to develop a young jazz ensemble. Although this hierarchy certainly applies to all big band jazz ensembles (professional and otherwise), this particular version is tailored to fit the high school or young college band.

1. Lead Trumpet and Drum Set
These two positions are unquestionably the most important parts of any big band jazz ensemble. Without strong and mature players in both of these spots, it’s almost impossible to have an outstanding performing group. Any director of a developing jazz band should expend maximum effort in nurturing, developing, and maintaining these positions.

The lead trumpet establishes the sound, style and direction of the ensemble. When choosing a trumpet player to lead a big band, range should not be the sole (or in some cases even the primary) factor to consider. A young lead trumpet player must first be a leader who has a good overall understanding of (or the ability to learn about) differing musical styles. Next, the young lead trumpet player must have a strong and mature sound that can easily command the attention of the group. Good sight-reading ability is also extremely important. Jazz improvisation ability should not be a major factor in choosing a lead trumpet player.

Read more...

MSNBC reports that "The AAA auto club says the average price of a gallon of gas in Washington is a record $3.80. That's up 26 cents in the past month and 38 cents in the past year. It's also eight cents higher than the national average."

Now that's no where near my prediction that some where in Washington state gas will hit $5 a gallon this summer. I made that prediction last year when that happened to California. But it is getting closer.

So my decision eight years ago to move closer to work and, oh by the way, closer to my parents too, looks better all the time. And that moped I bought last year will return the investment on the price much faster than I'd originally calculated. But I'm seeing some other changes too.

The diet pizza my mom buys was $5 last year and it's $8 this year. My daughter sez that most of the food she buys has gone up significantly in price. Since I don't shop, I haven't noticed this but I expect I will when the price of a cup of custom coffee goes up.

So my parents and daughter have given up extra driving so far. And I suspect a vacation or two will be canceled too. A family has got to pay the bills and eat. For musicians this means that gigs that are far away will cost more. By time you pay for fuel to move you and your instruments, meals, and in some cases lodging... Well that $50 gig has no return. For a hobbyist musician, that might work. But if you're trying to feed a family, you could be rethinking your career plans about now.

Can you say recession? Even if the politicians won't say it, it's here.

I was working with Nicky on the bass clarinet solo he has for the sixth grade concert this afternoon. As we made our way through some tricky measures with, zoots alors, sixteenth notes, I got to thinking, "Making music is hard. Making beautiful music in sixth grade is almost impossible." Nicky has a good sound in the lower registers of the bass clarinet but his sense of rhythm could be better. That's when it hit me Music is a verb, an action verb.

So we hammered on the solo for about a half hour. Over and over again, with the metronome ticking merrily away. The we worked on another piece of music that the band will be playing. After the lesson I showed Nicky the solo that I had been trying to transcribe (with the help of my sax teacher who did most of the work). We listened to the solo on CD and then listened to how it sounded when I played it.

I often wonder what would have happened if my grandpa had been a musician and worked with me. At the elementary school level most of the the music is very pedestrian. But it is challenging for the child and so easy to make sound good. Then there is the thought that if I'd become a better musician, maybe I wouldn't have gone into business and been as successful as I have been. Music is a very tough profession to make a good living in.

Also there is the considerations about if your hobby becomes your job, will you not enjoy playing as much. I'm guessing the answer is yes, but then my experience are based upon me being a hobbyist. Nicky and I finished off the two hour session by playing chess. All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon.

Here's some jazz flute that'll make you wanna learn to play the flute.  ;o)

I ran smack dab in to Scott Hanselman's Blog Interesting - 32 Ways to Keep Your Blog from Sucking and was pleasantly surprised to find many of my recommendations there. I especially appreciated numbers three and five. I find that if a blog is too negative I tend not RSS it or go back. I thought the 'Use Spell Check' - 'Nuff said." was funny.

Suzy's taking me to the movie of the second in Chronicles of Narnia series. I've always enjoyed reading C. S. Lewis and this series sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages. Would you believe there *are* people who don't believe that:

• Animals can talk
• Magic exists
• Good battles evil

It's kinda sad me thinks, but per Scott's recommendations above we'll move on. "Move on, folks. There's nothing to see here." 

Finally I ran across Perk of Good Job: Again Mind is Sharp that maintains that having a complex job may slow age-related mental decline. Part of me, the statistician, wonders how you prove this as people with complex jobs already might be genetically wired to battle age-related problems. Still it has a nice, feel good ring to it:

"Jobs that have elements where you need to solve problems, plan and organize, and think flexibly and on your feet appear to carry cognitive benefits throughout your life. You can potentially draw on them later as reserves," Duke University psychologist Guy G. Potter, PhD, tells WebMD.

I guess I better get back to work.  ;o)

A friend of mine at work is a guitarist and photographer. I saw this picture on his desktop and found out that he is an award-winning photographer who didn't actually follow that career path. So I thought I'd share the picture that caught my attention. Maybe some day he will put more of his artwork out on the Internet.

This is an example of where the art genres become mixed; is it a photograph or a painting? Isn't it interesting how the rock above the waterfall appears to be floating in the air? It has an almost 3D effect. By contrast the waterfall almost appears at first glance to be two dimensional.

Makes ya wanna visit Disney World doesn't it? Tell the truth.  ;o)

And it's not Space Mountain that is calling your name, either.

I thought Jeff Foxworthy did Southern humor but he seemed to nail this one. This email is making the rounds and it would seem he has spent time in the Northwest.  :o)
                
1. You know the state flower (Mildew).
2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.

3. Use the statement 'sun break' and know what it means.
4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
5 You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.
6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant.
7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the 'WALK' signal.
8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it's not a real mountain.
9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Tully's.
10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho and Sockeye salmon.
11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima and Willamette.
12. You consider swimming an indoor sport.
13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.
14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark while only working eight-hour days.
15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.
16. You are not fazed by 'Today's forecast: showers followed by rain,' and 'Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers.'
17 You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.
18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.
19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you  cannot see through the cloud cover.
20. You notice, 'The mountain is out' when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it.
21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka.
22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on.
23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain.
24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists.
25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time.
26. You measure distance in hours.
27. You often switch from 'heat' to 'a/c' in the same day.
28. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.
29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer &  Elk season (Fall).
30. You actually understood these jokes and will probably forward them.

This is rather an educational view of the very complex world of copyrights and copyright infringements. I want to remember this and review it periodically so, of course, I place it in my blog.

I've three brothers and a sister. Most of them I really like. (Just kiddin'.)  This picture was probably taken in Sigourney, Iowa in the mid-sixties. This was the first *new* car that my father had owned. The shadow head is from my mom who did the camera honors. I really like the framing of this picture.

I'm not sure what we were doing, but we always seemed to have fun. The youngest was being faux choked by the oldest. I'm not sure how I got involved, but I was and still am the second oldest. So there you have it, the two eldest kids plotting a fiendish plan against the youngest. Although I must say, it looks like he's enjoying it. I now return back to your regularly scheduled program.

Here we are in 2003. We haven't changed much have we.

I'm late for work after a luscious lunch with sweet Suzy Jo. Seems I had a screw in the tire of my ride which has been leaking for a week now. After refilling it once I found the damage. Damn. So I grabbed Suzy's way cool ride and was on my way to work listening to her CDs. She has taken to listening to some jazz saxophonists that she might want to emulate. Truth be known, I think she we develop to be a more lyrical player than I. Like Paul Desmond, she started on the clarinet.

And there it is, Boney James doing my C2 to C1 with the octave key Bonk Bop Bonk Bop. Clear as day, there it is. And this got me to thinking. I know a lot of great musicians who can do stuff that I may never do. But I bet they could give me a couple of new effects to work on that are as easy as the Bonk Bop!

So if you're out there and stumble across this, what is your favorite jazz effect that I might add to my vocabulary. Mind you, being easy to do is a good think in my book. I'm hep to the turn-arounds, bends, and trills. I'm not too good with with growls, reed tongue clicks, and extreme slides from one note to four or more up the stairs. 

So dish, what's your fav sax or reed effect.