托斯卡

繼兩年前看三藩市歌劇團演出《紅樓夢》，終於重返戰爭紀念歌劇院，今次看的是歌劇中的「長青金曲」經典作《托斯卡》，作為普契尼的傑作之一，各大女高音的版本我肯定聽過不少，不過一直不知故事內容，原來如此暴力：女主角托斯卡是有點天真的歌手，其愛人是畫家，因包庇革命黨被警察局長捉去嚴刑迫供，托斯卡為救情郎接受局長「不道德的交易」，最後文藝大悲劇收場。以下摘自祖國媒體的分析：

美貌女高音歌唱家托斯卡，原本智商就不很高，篤信宗教，熱戀一位同情革命失敗者的畫家，又被邪惡淫蕩的警察局長給看上了，很難不生發出勾引觀眾的色情和兇殺情節。普契尼在音樂上著力塑造的其實是兩個人物：年輕美麗愚蠢的歌唱家托斯卡，年老醜惡狡詐的警察局長斯卡皮亞。托斯卡差不多總是在尖叫，就像她這類型的女人的普遍特征；斯卡皮亞則沈穩有力又乏味，正是年紀大、欲望強烈卻能力有限的老男人的通常表現。畫家卡瓦拉多西是個男高音，輕松完成兩個旋律姣好的詠嘆調，即使在受刑、臨刑時的唱段，也是輕松的，這樣就可以調劑一下蠢女人和壞老頭之間的緊張對抗。

據朋友解釋本劇沿用三幕劇傳統模式（即莎翁常用手法），第二幕末會來一個point of no return，真是獲益不淺。另一樣令我深感興趣的是劇中數次提到拿破崙戰爭成敗，卻僅輕輕帶過不知有何關係，結果讀了此文方明白其歷史背景：原來故事發生的1800年之前一年，來自拿玻里的波旁皇朝進軍並佔領羅馬，警察局長就是保皇黨，而畫家和他所包庇者就是共和國人，也是支持拿破崙的「反對派」，兩方當然水火不容！第一幕教會人士誤傳拿破崙戰敗，所以保皇黨興奮不已；而第二幕拿破崙戰勝的真相被揭露，輪到畫家歡呼。（而後來的歷史會令畫家相當失望，皆因拿破崙和西班牙皇室講和同意波旁勢力（教皇）重掌羅馬。）

San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2018

I went last year and was thinking I should go every year provided that I am in town but I almost missed the 2018 edition. Glad that I checked Jazz Datebook in the morning! I paid $45 on Saturday for the "All Stages" ticket that allowed me to go to not just the main stage but also the other indoor stages, like Cafe Stritch and Fairmont Hotel. I ended up listened to more than 7 hours of jazz. Great deal! This was the list of musicians I saw that day:

• Sylvia Cuenca Quartet (Cafe Stritch): The drummer led her group to perform at Cafe Stritch from time to time but this time featuring Bassoon virtuoso Paul Hanson. Hanson also plays another instrument from the other end of the range: Soprano sax! As a fan of modern jazz, I enjoyed their music very much.
• SJZ Collective (Fairmont Hotel): they played Thelonius Monk's music re-arranged for the group. Monk has a sound that is so unique that I think non-jazz fan could tell immediately he's different. I went there in the middle of a lengthy Hristo Vitchev guitar solo. He certainly rocked the house!
• Nick Panoutsos Quartet (San Jose Museum of Art): this is a free stage that I could have attended without ticket and it's promoting newer musicians. The members of this quartet certainly looked very young. On the other hand, the group sounded very experienced and the original compositions were mature. I could certainly hear influences by Coltrane. 
• Aaron Lington Plays the music of Astor Piazzolla (Fairmont Hotel): I bet most music fan have heard Piazzolla's Tango music one way or the other, especially Libertango, which was the first tune of this show. Of course they played a lot of less famous but not less interesting pieces by Piazzolla. Dr. Lington told us a bit of Piazzolla's story: when he was studying music, he struggled a bit with composing but then his mentor listened to him playing some tango from his home country of Argentina. His mentor asked him what was the music and encourage him to focus on tango. And the rest is history! As a member of the academics, of course Dr. Lington has great technique, demonstrated in his jazz improv as well as a classical (no improv) duet between his Baritone Sax and his wife's piano. The rest of the band was equally amazing with an unusual mix of instruments: accordion, violin (by Mads Tolling), guitar and drums. 
• Brian Charette Trio (El Taurino): This performance was part of the 10th anniversary of the Jazz Organ Hall of Fame. I still remember going to the first one! In addition to playing his own compositions, he also played some classics as well as a less well-known piece by a legend: 8 Counts for Rita on Jimmy Smith's Unfinished Business album.

I saw some of the acts briefly between stages but I was really impressed by the Cuban musician Yissy Garcia and her band Bandancha. They played some very dance-able fusion jazz.

Here is the link to the pictures from the festival.

The Summer of Steel Tour

對我來說，一年之中如果沒有去過一場重金屬音樂會（或沒有打一場高爾夫球）的話，那一年就白過了。老實說，隨著年齡增加，近年來看爵士音樂會遠比重金屬為多，要企足三粒鐘不停headbang更是對身體一大考驗！不過這些事情年輕不做，將來難度只有更高！老骨頭在Mosh pit肯定不堪一撞！

雖然SF Bay Area「出產」過不少知名Thrash metal樂隊，但本地經常有重金屬show的場地其實不算多，近年我去得比較多的是Oakland Metro Operahouse. 想到2018已過去了一半，即管到其網站找找有甚麼看，聽過金屬的樂迷，其實看看海報及樂隊名字大概也可以想像到其風格，這場音樂會主打樂隊Exmortus, 玩的果然就是死亡金屬（Mortus一詞解作去死），主音歌手兼結他手技術十分出眾，頗有neo-classical的味道，這場音樂會實在值回票價。

至於主角出場前三隊「熱身」樂隊，水準亦相當高，風格亦相近，我比較欣賞的是很傳統Thrash metal的Hatchet:

而melodic death metal樂隊The Absence則算意外驚喜。以下是這三隊今年新作的playlist:

Squier vs Fender

在2016年讀了一篇關於這兩個「兄弟」品牌的文章，一直想分享一下。其實玩開結他的朋友都知Fender眾多熱門型號均有在「細佬/廉價版」品牌Squier推出。Fender在1982年就已成立Squier, 我也曾是Squier用家：買過一支二手Jaguar, 相當好彈，改變了我對這個品牌的印象；那支玩了一年才賣出並「升級」到現在的「型仔」Fender Thinline Jaguar，其實沒有直接比較過，上述文章有一條片就由專家仔細比較兩個品牌的Telecaster，我和大部份網民的反應差不多：Fender Tele的聲音可能好一點點，但Squier實在平太多了，所以後者認真抵玩！

樂迷奇遇記

熟悉我的朋友都知道我是一個超級爵士迷，也是一個學藝不精的爵士樂手，平日最大娛樂要算是到各間爵士吧觀看現場表演，今天下午在三藩市辦公完畢，心想也不必急於回家，於是決定去「聞名已久」（數個月:P）的「黑貓」，星期四晚的戲碼是來自巴黎的鋼琴家Tony Tixier及其兄弟小提琴家Scott的樂隊，事先在Spotify已聽過兩位的音樂，頗為欣賞，雖然「黑貓」位處不是很太平的「田德隆區」，男人老狗也不用太膽小，找個Valet parking garage夠安全吧。轉過街角再行一個block，就見到位於Eddy及Leavensworth交界的Black Cat的大門，看起來頗有氣派，開門看到吧的裝潢（包括一支alto sax）更是喜歡，表演場地則在樓下（有NYC jazz club feel!) 樓下一邊是舞台，三邊是給食客的座位，中間是吧，圍著吧是酒客「專用」的高櫈，我在一張對正舞台的吧櫈坐下點杯威士忌寫篇字靜待開場，酒保說我選了全場最佳的四個座位之一，我當然無異議，不久旁邊三個最佳座位也被三位女士分別坐滿。第一場玩了一半，遲到的低音結他手終於加入演奏A Night in Tunisia, 客觀地說比之前沒有低音結他那首Misty的確更感豐富。中場休息時間我再以行草重寫晏幾道《臨江仙》一次，居然引來鄰座那位女客搭訕，問我是不是在翻譯甚麼？我簡單解釋了一下我只是練習兩種書體，而草書則有點爵士即興的味道，然後討論了一點表演場地，比較一下大家平常去的地方，原來大家都是首次到黑貓，她更是遊客（陪同同是爵士音樂人來錄音的丈夫到SF）話題一轉：著名屋崙爵士俱樂部Yoshi's太平與否(Jack London Square一帶還可以，但坐公共交通工具的話很難說）而她其實打算由田德隆走到Civic Center坐地鐵轉CalTrain回Menlo的住處，那就真的很不太平了（至少我自己不會這樣做）由於她和丈夫的住處實在太接近我家，作為有紳士風度的我當然offer送女士回去，（事實上也不是第一次，前年去聽完老師表演Flamenco結他，剛好又有一位同枱女士就住在我歸途之上！）途上當真「聞君一席話，勝讀十年書！」她是一位職業爵士音樂人（教育家兼鋼琴演奏家），建議我多點做transcription，及如何把學到的licks變化；作為地頭蟲的我則介紹了本地一些我比較喜歡去的爵士表演場地給她，讓她找找表演機會；也介紹了一點香港的爵士樂壇狀況（順帶提及我在high school reunion表演爵士結他被問到「可否彈點同學們聽過的歌？」那次慘痛經歷。BTW，我其實彈了Michelle，只是無人聽得出那編曲吧）這真是一個特別又愉快的晚上。