Kansas City Lightning

It was around X'mas 2013 and I wanted to know what were the best recommended books from 2013. Found this list but it was all novels. Then I went on Amazon and it recommended this book by Stanley Crouch about Charlie Parker's days in KC. I downloaded the intro and eventually borrowed the book from the library for two months. (It's ~330 pages and not exactly a page turner so it took me a long time to finish :P I did read 130 pages in 5 days right before the due date) To be honest, I am kinda biased against the author's work because he has a tendency to relate everything to race, e.g. what happened to whom because he was African American or not. And it affected how he favored some jazz musicians/music over others. With that in mind, I still find it valuable to know what happened in USA during the 1st half of the 20th century in the social context of African American. It did explain the origins of some elements of jazz, and the social background from which jazz was emerged: a politically corrupted city allowed entertainment venues to thrive, which in turns allowed musicians to prosper (and honed their craft via experimentation with others.) There were tons of dramas in Charlie Parker's life too: drug addiction, how he met his first wife (whose family subleased from the Parker's) and how they separated, his move to Chicago and New York and back. My timing of reading this book couldn't be better since I am also studying Parker's improvisation lines.

BTW, I read some reviews recommended that audiobook was ideal for it. In fact, I think Hollywood could make a good movie out of it (starring Bruno Mars as Charlie Parker? I don't think Crouch would approve :P)

Superstar Quartet, the Strat Pack

After a busy week of recording our jazz trio, my life is back to normal, i.e., more listening to others than ourselves. I was free on Friday night so the first choice was a good jazz concert and I heard on the radio that legendary vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and saxophonist David Sanborn were performing together (along with organist Joey DeFrancesco and drummer Billy Hart) at SFJAZZ. Small problem though: I have not been able to purchase tickets on SFJAZZ's official website (had the same problem when Paquito D'Rivera played there last time) The error message was ambiguous: something like tickets were for members only or soldout. Unlike last time though, the box office opens on Friday so I called and bought (according to the ticket office guy) the last ticket available. It was expensive but I went with my impulse and it turned out to be good seat: first row of the 2nd closest section in the middle! And of course the sound was unique: I am familiar with each musician from different sub-genre: Bobby Hutcherson from modern jazz, David Sanborn from smooth jazz/R&B, and Joey D from soul jazz. Most importantly, they sounded great together! I'd say the sound was more fusion-oriented but that's certainly my cup of tea. A couple of funny things from the concerts: 1) they were billed as the 'Superstar quartet' What an unimaginative name for such a creative group! 2) when Joey D introduced the tune they just performed, called "You" and said he wrote it for Hutcherson. The latter acted surprised and delighted. What was funnier was next: one guy from the audience asked about the previous tune, this time Sanborn responded 'coz it's written by him. Hutcherson asked whether it was also dedicated to him. Sanborn said no though :)

I was flipping channel on cable on Sunday night and the Palladium channel was showing a program called Strat Pack. I was curious and switched to it and saw the late Gary Moore covering Jimi Hendrix's tunes. As always, he's got the blues! I found out it's a concert with various musicians for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. Oh well, I'm not sure what singer/pianist Jamie Cullum has to do with the Strat. His band didn't even feature guitar! Next was the late Amy Winehouse. I had no idea she played too but she did play a red Strat (just like my buddy!) and accompanied herself on one tune. Not exactly great playing but as usual, she's got style! The other part of the concert that I liked was when David Gilmour played a few old Pink Floyd songs, including "Sorrow", which was my favorite Pink Floyd tunes during the 80s. It was one of the hardest rocking Pink Floyd tunes IMO. I didn't know a lot of fans like it too. To be honest, I was not impressed by the rest of the performers. They've got the guy from Bad Company and the Eagles. Even Brian May (but he's not known for playing the Strat!) This year is the 60th anniversary and hopefully they've got a stronger lineup to celebrate this. Maybe some of the guys mentioned on Fender's page!