Midnight Ensemble at Salon 10

Salon10 是中環亞畢諾道一間隠世爵士bar, 我之前去過兩三次，今次是為了聽一場特別的中樂jazz fusion 音樂會。

彈古箏那位才貌兼備👏

Ted Lo又撈過界，今次彈bass

見識了爵士版的「獅子山下」

An Evening with Kenny G

作為一個眾所週知的超級爵士迷，同時也喜歡Kenny G是一件頗為奇怪的事，我倒是因為先聽Kenny G才「亂入」爵士領域的，雖則如此，多年來從末看過Kenny G的現場演出，直至今天。

由於在Yoshi's的餐廳吃晚飯，被安排到的坐位超級接近舞台！

他一出場吹了一小段前奏就在台下繞場一週吹一個超長音，show off他入了健力士世界紀錄的超長氣技巧，不吹色士風的觀眾固然驚嘆他如何能這樣長氣，即使像我知道他是用circular breathing做到的，也十分佩服他的技巧。

上回台後表演了我十分喜歡及吹過的Silhouette, 記得高中時代該唱片在香港的外國唱片榜逗留了多個星期！以一張純器樂唱片來說極之難得。

演唱會中段轉為吹Tenor, 竟然是「正宗（拉丁）爵士」, 表演了大師Stan Getz的名作Desafinado （Kenny G在其唱片中cover過），向大家展示他玩傳統爵士的功力，然後是cover爵士色士風界首屈一指的殿堂級人物John Coltrane的Naima, 進一步表現他對傳統的尊重，這是一首沒有improvised solo的曲，主要表演音色和感情，也算是不能挑剔的了。然後再來一首funky的Pick up the pieces, 這幾首是他經常表演的作品，在YouTube都找得到。

接著再表演幾首他真正「招牌」Smooth jazz，包括來自2021年New Standards新碟的作品，當然少不了應該是他最膾炙人口的曲子Songbird(我家人及鄰居一定不會陌生，是本人經常練習的作品）現場版本更覺精彩。只是那些超長超快如音階及arpeggio練習的solo多了一點點，過份gimmicky了，也說了一些stand-up comedian模式的有味笑話。總括來說，是一場娛樂性豐富而音樂相當高水準的演出。

The Bay Strikes Back 2022

Death Angel

Exodus

Testament

三隊係著名Thrash metal 「元祖」樂隊，其實亦同是來自三藩市小灣區，巡迴演唱會因此而命名，本來在2020年開波，撞正疫情（Testament成員都中了招）延期，21年在Oakland再開了一場，又到Omicron爆發，22年首場在college town San Luis Obispo, 離本人家三小時，掙扎了一會決定去看，皆因Testament固是至愛樂隊，其餘兩隊也是水準極高的；果然，當晚精彩的結他solo不絕於耳，氣氛亦極佳。（當中發生一件小插曲：一名穿小背心凸點女歌迷走過一位除了本人以外也是色迷迷的阿伯時發生爭執，啤酒一倒就開拖，男的被打到頭破血流。之後女的若無其事，還興奮得連小背心也脫去半裸上身，後來才穿上一件band tee) 雖然淩晨三時多才回到家也完全值回票價。

The Decibel magazine tour (Obituary)

Municipal Waste

Obituary 

上次寫重金屬音樂會的帖子提過：全年沒有去過的話就等於那年白過了，其實2020和2021對大部分人來說都算是（除了權貴，畢竟「只准周公放火，不准百姓點燈」）2022終於能夠重出江湖，一眾樂隊表現亦如猛虎出籠，活力十足的還有歌迷，連我這個老人也不禁headbang了半晚（遇到一位人兄說她女友在Obituary "Cause of Death" 一碟推出那年出生，無法不認老）Obituary lead guitarist出色的solo更是意外驚喜，在忽視solo的金屬界，可算是買少見少，感覺上比2017年看他們音樂會時更出色！

Easy guitar chords?

幾年前在網上看到這篇文章的連結，以為是教入門chord的（所以改了這樣的標題），姑且存了下來打算將來仔細研究，今天看看發覺文章仍在但示範的片已消失了（於是在標題加了一個問號），當年結他手Jim Lill拍了兩條教chord的片，Part 1教以下：
C#m7(no 5), Badd4/D#, E/A, D9(no 3), Bm7(no 5), F#m7add4, and Gsus4add6/B.
Part 2則是教：
Fmaj7sus2, Esus2/G#, Dadd4, Eadd9, Gmaj7(no3), F#7add4 and Badd4.
當然，每一個chord有適合使用的key，chord progression/substitution ,我音樂造詣乃有限公司，如果有有心人讀到本文知道答案，請分享。

Playing with soundfonts

As I mentioned earlier, I "revived" my old toy: Akai EWI-USB. With too much free time, I decided to experiment with different instruments ("virtual" of course) I am already bored with the ones that came with the Aria software. This software actually allows user to import new MIDI soundfont in .sfz format. I tried the few available ones. And I realized there are more MIDI soundfonts in .sf2 formats. So obviously I put my Com Sci hat on and look for any sf2->sfz converter, turns out there is a Mac software that can do that (plus more): Sforzando. I believe it actually shares some underlying code/library/engine with Aria and I can play my EWI with it instead of Aria (simply need to choose the EWI as the MIDI input) And adding instrument is easy: drag the .sf2 to it when the software just started. It would automatically convert .sf2 to .sfz.

Enable MIDI Input here

Finally, there is yet another way to play with .sf2 directly, via the free DAW software LMMS (of course I would assume many Mac users have chosen Garage Band as the DAW) According to the documentation, one can add VST instruments to LMMS (which I haven't really tried as I have only downloaded a .dll which is for Windows of course) LMMS has a built-in "instrument" called "Sf2 Player" which I just need to drag to the Song-Editor to use it. Then under the "piano" tab, choose the EWI as the MIDI input. Then load your .sf2 file under the "plug-in" tab and pick your instrument. I experimented with a Chinese DiZi sound that is really nice (I used to play DiZi when I was a kid) The Dizi is actually a VST instrument that I downloaded here. The download is a zip file and it contains a .sf2 file (as well as the aforementioned .dll that I cannot use on my Mac)

Combining my new toys

I guess adults are no different from kids. I recall back in the days when I got a new toy, I would think of ways to play it with the old ones. I dug out my old Akai USB-EWI and connect it to GarageBand on my new iPad to play with the sounds available, which is fun. Next I want to combine the sound from the iPad with the background track played via Audacity on my Mac (where I can import an mp3 and change tempo/pitch, remove vocal... etc) However, my MacBook Air does not offer the headphone jack as a line-in so I cannot output the signal from my iPad to it.  Then I realized I do have a new Tascam US-32 audio interface sitting around that can do the job! So, here are all the glory details of the setup:
Akai USB-EWI to USB hub
USB hub to iPad via the "Camera" lightning adapter
iPad headphone out to Tascam US-32 line-in
Tascam US-32 USB out to Mac
Tascam US-32 headphone out to headphone.

In Audacity on Mac, choose Tascam US-32 as both the input and output device. Play the track and the Akai USB-EWI as the same time and you can hear them in the headphone together. 

Of course that's not a very practical live performance setup but it's fun and cool to know I have the equipments to do it!