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！
Friday, April 13, 2018
Thursday, March 15, 2018
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。
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2017
This is an annual event I try to attend if I am in town and free 'coz I'm all for supporting local artists and performances. I paid $40 on Sunday for the "2nd tier" ticket that allowed me to go to not just the main stage but also the other indoor stages, like Cafe Stritch and Hammer Theater. (The former has become my "home" club these days. ) This was the list of musicians I saw that day:
That's probably the best way to spend a weekend afternoon!
- SJZ Summer Camper (main stage): these were our next generation (high school students?) of jazz musicians! Gotta show some support (hey, the main stage was right next to the ticket booth!)
- Dmitri Matheny (Cafe Stritch): anyone that enjoy Art Farmer's flugelhorn playing would certainly like his performance. The theme of his latest project was about 70s 80s movie and show music. To be honest, I don't really care for too much. However, he also paid tribute to the late Chris Cornell by covering Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun"
- California Guitar Trio + Montreal Guitar Trio (Hammer theater): the two trio first play by themselves starting with the latter. And they began the show with some Spanish/Flamenco music, which I have always been a big fan of. Then they played a tune influenced by Indian music. I appreciated the complexity a lot. Compared to the other group, the California Guitar Trio certainly sounded more "West Coast" (actually, Pacific ocean) since one member came from Japan. In fact, their tune that I enjoyed the most was named "Komorebi" According to them, the Japanese word means the sun ray one sees when walking though a dark forest (or something more "poetic" than that!) Then both trio joined force to play as a sextet. Their fusion of Tango and minimalism (think Philip Glass!) was certainly very interesting. Among all shows on Sunday this is the only one I listened from start to finish! (Even bought MG3's latest CD "Danzas - Spanish Guitar")
- Jazz by 5 (main stage): This super group features the biggest name of this festival with Javon Jackson (sax), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Eddie Gomez (bass), George Cable (piano) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) Really an all-star lineup! Too bad the main stage was not the ideal venue: it's outdoor and many people were talking so there's lots of noise. I could barely hear Gomez's fantastic bass solo through the speakers. I think that was a Miles Davis modal tune.
- Taimane (Jade Leaf): I gotta admit I went because of the picture of an attractive lady holding a ukulele. It turned out she and her guitarist were very talented musicians. What a dynamic duo! (Think Rodrigo y Gabriella) Their Michael Jackson cover was particularly impressive.
- Anton Schwartz Sextet (Fairmont Hotel): Schwartz is a very active local sax player (both performing and teaching) and a regular of the festival. I enjoyed their cover of Pink Floyd's Money very much.
- Kurt Ribak Quartet (Forager): this is one of the completely-free-admission stages. This group led by bassist Ribak played very diverse music. And that place is huge and seems to feature live music regularly! The bar serves craft beers, coffee and bar food. (This place used to be South First Billiards, I wanted to play there for a long time but never did and never will!)
- San Francisco String Trio (Fairmont Hotel): I have been to concerts of 2/3 of this trio several times before: Mimi Fox (guitar) and Mads Tolling (violin) are two musicians that I respect a lot. They have technical chops and also not afraid to experiment. This format, with Jeff Denson on bass, is a prime example. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Beatle's Sgt. Pepper, they came up with refreshing arrangements of several tunes for their trio.
That's probably the best way to spend a weekend afternoon!
Tuesday, August 01, 2017
Jazz Radio and Sco
This week's "Jazz Night in America", broadcasted on KCSM Jazz 91.1 8/1 9PM PDT, features John Scofield. Well, that's a time slot I usually not listening to the radio :( Even though Radio Free America hosts archives of the station's radio program up to 2 weeks back, this is not included because it's not KCSM's original. Fortunately, I am able to find it on NPR:
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Music industry in the digital age
As a big music fan and amateur musician who doesn't make a living from the music business (also a tech guy who makes a living in the tech biz) I have always been interested in how tech affected the music industry. For example, everyone must have heard that illegal download was killing the record companies. Most people know about musicians got signed by record companies or work as session musicians and made money from record sales. It seems that illegal download or even legal streaming broke this model completely: musicians earn much less from streaming or downloads. Record companies became more "conservative" and only willing to promote artists that are deemed "safe bets" Even the "frugal" (i.e, not paying musicians enough) streaming service providers were not making a profit! (Well, at least the last one was no longer true for Napster, rebranded from Rhapsody, the service I used for years and just dropped in 2016 when they became profitable!) Some in the industry think high resolution downloads might save the day. It does have a niche market of audiophiles as potential buyers. Check out this article to see if this is for you.
So, what type of music company/service looked promising and profitable in the digital age? Here is an example: Bandcamps, which allows musicians to upload their music for free. They make money by taking a cut when fans buy downloads from musicians they enjoy. I guess it's really a win-win-win situation, isn't it? Not using traditional record companies as a middleman is definitely a trend. Jazz guitar master Martin Taylor has gone this route. In fact, this "route" is century-old, the same one used by Mozart! Basically his music was funded by his patrons: who got to watch Taylor's video and listen to his tracks.
Another jazz musician has also found his way to make money as a multi-faceted performer, recording artist (running his own label) and educator. That is trumpeter Dave Douglas. Bloomberg wrote an article about him (available to professional subscriber only)
I guess if you are savvy and good at music, you could still make a good living.
So, what type of music company/service looked promising and profitable in the digital age? Here is an example: Bandcamps, which allows musicians to upload their music for free. They make money by taking a cut when fans buy downloads from musicians they enjoy. I guess it's really a win-win-win situation, isn't it? Not using traditional record companies as a middleman is definitely a trend. Jazz guitar master Martin Taylor has gone this route. In fact, this "route" is century-old, the same one used by Mozart! Basically his music was funded by his patrons: who got to watch Taylor's video and listen to his tracks.
Another jazz musician has also found his way to make money as a multi-faceted performer, recording artist (running his own label) and educator. That is trumpeter Dave Douglas. Bloomberg wrote an article about him (available to professional subscriber only)
I guess if you are savvy and good at music, you could still make a good living.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Happy International Jazz Day
Today is the International Jazz Day and I had a sort-of International Jazz month of April as I had a family vacation/cruise in Australia. I visited Cafe Stritch the night before I flew to see the Essiet Essiet Quartet featuring the fabulous Sylvia Cuenca on drums. And as the cruise (Royal Caribbean International's Radiance of the Seas - 8 day Queensland) was mainly geared towards old folks, I got to hear a lot of jazz by ways of oldies/easy-listening music. Of course there won't be any "pure"/free jazz (borrowing the terms from "La La Land") as it's opposite to the relaxing atmosphere. I am amazed by how versatile these cruiseship musicians are! Almost all of them could play some jazz standards and improvise over the changes. I could hear them relying on a few "cliche" licks but that's par for the course. (I would consider myself graduated from the Jazz High School if I play anywhere near that!) Over that week I hear almost every tunes I practices: Blue Bossa, Summertime, Autumn Leaves, Fly Me to the Moon, Satin Doll...... performed by:
- a guitar/violin duo: they handled the "easy listening department." For the first few days the guitarist strictly accompany the violinist who would take improvised solo. However, one night the violinist was MIA (I guess he went to rehearse with the Radiance of the Seas orchestra at that time for the Tango show later that night) and the guitarist played over accompaniment from his phone and I finally heard him soloing. It was very enjoyable.
- a guitar/singer duo: they sang oldies, country and standards
- a 4 man band: they could easily be a Eagles cover band but they play everything from the Rolling Stones to jazz.
After the cruise ended I stayed at Sydney for that Tuesday night and I visited Australia's most famous jazz club: 505. Even though its website mentioned it's Old School Funk Band's night, I figure I should just give it a try and the band was way more than OK! Everyone was playing with a ton of energy. The bass player surely knew secret of laying down a good funky groove. And everyone launched off from there. It was not "pure" but definitely "jazz", and high-quality one.
Gotta praise Air New Zealand for playing local jazz cats on their in-flight entertainment, including Ron Samsom's Ace Tone, The Rodger Fox Big Band Plays New Zealand's X and Phil Broadhurst Quintet's Panacea. I enjoy them a lot on my way home.
And I conclude the month of jazz with another visit to Cafe Stritch for the SJZ Camp Faculty Sextet. (This is the San Jose Jazz camp, not the Stanford Jazz Workshop camp that I attended before) The show started with a sad announcement though: local jazz bassist and SJSU professor John Shifflett has just passed away. The members of the sextet were all local musicians who were close to Professor Shifflett and we had a moment of silence before they played a set dedicated to him. I finally get a chance to see Brian Ho on piano/organ. (Saw his name listed on many local gigs before, including one at the Casino, but never get to see his performance) Trumpeter John Worley is a staple of the local jazz scene. So is guitarist Hristo Vitchev. It's a wonderful thing that we have so many world-class jazz musicians living, teaching and playing right in the (figurative) neighborhood!
- a guitar/violin duo: they handled the "easy listening department." For the first few days the guitarist strictly accompany the violinist who would take improvised solo. However, one night the violinist was MIA (I guess he went to rehearse with the Radiance of the Seas orchestra at that time for the Tango show later that night) and the guitarist played over accompaniment from his phone and I finally heard him soloing. It was very enjoyable.
- a guitar/singer duo: they sang oldies, country and standards
- a 4 man band: they could easily be a Eagles cover band but they play everything from the Rolling Stones to jazz.
After the cruise ended I stayed at Sydney for that Tuesday night and I visited Australia's most famous jazz club: 505. Even though its website mentioned it's Old School Funk Band's night, I figure I should just give it a try and the band was way more than OK! Everyone was playing with a ton of energy. The bass player surely knew secret of laying down a good funky groove. And everyone launched off from there. It was not "pure" but definitely "jazz", and high-quality one.
Gotta praise Air New Zealand for playing local jazz cats on their in-flight entertainment, including Ron Samsom's Ace Tone, The Rodger Fox Big Band Plays New Zealand's X and Phil Broadhurst Quintet's Panacea. I enjoy them a lot on my way home.
And I conclude the month of jazz with another visit to Cafe Stritch for the SJZ Camp Faculty Sextet. (This is the San Jose Jazz camp, not the Stanford Jazz Workshop camp that I attended before) The show started with a sad announcement though: local jazz bassist and SJSU professor John Shifflett has just passed away. The members of the sextet were all local musicians who were close to Professor Shifflett and we had a moment of silence before they played a set dedicated to him. I finally get a chance to see Brian Ho on piano/organ. (Saw his name listed on many local gigs before, including one at the Casino, but never get to see his performance) Trumpeter John Worley is a staple of the local jazz scene. So is guitarist Hristo Vitchev. It's a wonderful thing that we have so many world-class jazz musicians living, teaching and playing right in the (figurative) neighborhood!
Monday, April 24, 2017
Audacity and Mac OS X
I have used Audacity on PC for a long time so it's among the first batch of software I installed when I bought my Mac. I noticed a couple of functionality I used often is missing from the Mac version though. It turns out it has to do with file permission. Glad that I found the solution from this forum post.
files in the Audacity app have the xattribute "xattr com.apple.quarantine" set. This means that Gatekeeper blocks them. To fix it, open a Terminal (Applications > Utilities : Terminal.app) then type or paste:
and hit ENTER on your keyboard. Type your admin password (you won't see it on the screen) then hit ENTER again.
files in the Audacity app have the xattribute "xattr com.apple.quarantine" set. This means that Gatekeeper blocks them. To fix it, open a Terminal (Applications > Utilities : Terminal.app) then type or paste:
- CODE: SELECT ALL
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Audacity/
and hit ENTER on your keyboard. Type your admin password (you won't see it on the screen) then hit ENTER again.
Monday, April 03, 2017
我的爵士雜記：Jazz tunes to learn (revisited)
Three years ago I posted this about my first tunes played at the Stanford Jazz Workshop Guided Jam. From simply improv with the blues, we moved on to modal, major ii-V-I, minor ii-v-i and finally rhythm changes. I recommend checking out this article on Guitar Player by one of my favorite online guitar teacher Matt Warnock about 5 tunes beginner should learn (with great video examples from YouTube too!):
And if you check out this list from my other fav Jamie Holroyd, you would find similar tunes:
Yes, you really should learn to play Summertime: the melody, improv and comping. Matt Warnock taught several commonly seen jazz voicing for Summertime here.
Speaking of comping and voicing, I do have a counter example. Another online teacher put up this video and was promoted by GuitarPlayer: 3 Easy Jazz Songs - For People Who Don't Play Jazz! Don't get me wrong: I really appreciated his effort in getting more people to play jazz. However, jazz players simply don't play that! First of all, his video taught the chords of the songs (without the melody) so I'd say it's a bit misleading. Second, it's one thing to know and learn to play those chords (Drop-2 and Drop-3 chords in Berklee's terminology) In a real jazz jam situation you won't play those chords like that though. When you jam with a piano and/or bass, you won't play the low notes on your guitar since it would clash with them. Guitar players should stick with those "upper voicing" when comping.
- Summertime: improv with A minor pentatonic (yeah, every guitar player knows)
- Maiden Voyage: with dorian mode
- Cantaloupe Island: dorian and mixolydian
- Autumn Leaves: major ii-V-I
- Sunny: minor ii-v-i
This set (and in this order) pretty much mirrors what we did at SJW (add your choice for a rhythm change tune: Oleo or Anthropology!)
And if you check out this list from my other fav Jamie Holroyd, you would find similar tunes:
- Summertime: same as above
- So What: dorian
- Tune Up: This is actually my go-to tune for practicing ii-V-I changes
Yes, you really should learn to play Summertime: the melody, improv and comping. Matt Warnock taught several commonly seen jazz voicing for Summertime here.
Speaking of comping and voicing, I do have a counter example. Another online teacher put up this video and was promoted by GuitarPlayer: 3 Easy Jazz Songs - For People Who Don't Play Jazz! Don't get me wrong: I really appreciated his effort in getting more people to play jazz. However, jazz players simply don't play that! First of all, his video taught the chords of the songs (without the melody) so I'd say it's a bit misleading. Second, it's one thing to know and learn to play those chords (Drop-2 and Drop-3 chords in Berklee's terminology) In a real jazz jam situation you won't play those chords like that though. When you jam with a piano and/or bass, you won't play the low notes on your guitar since it would clash with them. Guitar players should stick with those "upper voicing" when comping.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Ripping CD to FLAC on a Mac
I have rejoined the Mac family for some time already and enjoyed the machine a lot. However, I found it lacks free music-related tools when compared to PC. My go-to music file player on PC is foobar2000, which is very versatile (support many formats) I like to simply drag some files from my drives to it and have it start playing. No import/library BS like iTunes. I could also rip CDs into my preferred format (FLAC at this time) Sadly it's not available on Mac. After Googling for a while, it seems to me that I could still use 2 pieces of free software as "replacement" of foobar2000:
- VLC can play many formats and I can drag-and-drop
- XLD can rip to various formats
Monday, March 27, 2017
Smooth Jazz and Metal Weekend
I came to SF less often since the beginning of the year partly due to changes at the office but I went two days in a row during the past weekend. After my tax appt, I visited the Legion of Honor, which I chose over De Young Museum, because of the "Early Monet" exhibition. (The "regular" ticket does not cover this exhibition) I overheard the security guard saying that it has been crowded even since it opened more than a month ago! I also read that Monet is one of the painters who can always draw big crowds. Impressionism gotta be the most popular art style (maybe Surrealism is #2?) Even though "early" implied that the pieces were not from Monet's "peak" period, there were still good and interesting enough to be appreciated in their own rights (not to mention the values of seeing how he evolved as a painter) For the evening, I had a choice to make: whether to see a Joshua Redman led quartet ("Still Dreaming") playing avant-garde jazz inspired by Ornette Coleman and Dewey Redman. videos) at SFJAZZ or the smooth jazz master Richard Elliott at Yoshi's in Oakland. Well, the box offices have decided for me as I wasn't able to buy any tix for the former. And to be honest, the music from the videos are not exactly very attractive either . Even though I often found that the beauty of the "ugly" sounding music shines at live performances, watching Richard Elliott live was definitely a great choice: if I want to play smooth jazz on tenor, he is THE guy I should imitate. He also played an Akai EWI at the show. (I play the USB version of it) I especially enjoy the tunes he played from his latest album "Summer Madness" (in the middle of March Madness, pun intended)
I rarely go to concerts two nights in a row these days but I just don't get to listen to great Death Metal bands live that often so there's no way I would miss Obituary's performances at the Fillmore on Sunday. Again, if I want to play death metal, this is the band I would cover. They are promoting their brand-spanking-new album, which is a strong effort, on this tour. The headliner is actually the legendary thrash metaler Kreator, who also had a new album out in 2017. The other opening acts are also worthwhile to mention: the show started by Horrendous, a two-guitarist/vocalists plus bass and drums lineup. Their sound reminded me of the Death Metal pioneer, Death, with very technical playing. I dig it a lot. The next band was Midnight, which I have also never heard of before. I could hear strong influences of the "punk"-side of Motorhead and also early Venom. They played with their head covered by a black-cloth-mask. And they no only got the look but also the chops. Both bands started the show strong for Obituary. If I remember correctly, I have never been to their show before. (And to be honest, I have probably seen all metal bands that I really dig after this one) Some of their songs are considered to be "easy" to play for "beginning" death metal bands. Don't underestimate their skills because of this though. Their guitarist used the whammy bar very well and played a lot of dive-bombing solos. And finally, it's Kreator's turn and they reminded me once again that they are as good as any of the Big 4 of Thrash Metal. Thrash and death metal are still going strong after all these years.
I rarely go to concerts two nights in a row these days but I just don't get to listen to great Death Metal bands live that often so there's no way I would miss Obituary's performances at the Fillmore on Sunday. Again, if I want to play death metal, this is the band I would cover. They are promoting their brand-spanking-new album, which is a strong effort, on this tour. The headliner is actually the legendary thrash metaler Kreator, who also had a new album out in 2017. The other opening acts are also worthwhile to mention: the show started by Horrendous, a two-guitarist/vocalists plus bass and drums lineup. Their sound reminded me of the Death Metal pioneer, Death, with very technical playing. I dig it a lot. The next band was Midnight, which I have also never heard of before. I could hear strong influences of the "punk"-side of Motorhead and also early Venom. They played with their head covered by a black-cloth-mask. And they no only got the look but also the chops. Both bands started the show strong for Obituary. If I remember correctly, I have never been to their show before. (And to be honest, I have probably seen all metal bands that I really dig after this one) Some of their songs are considered to be "easy" to play for "beginning" death metal bands. Don't underestimate their skills because of this though. Their guitarist used the whammy bar very well and played a lot of dive-bombing solos. And finally, it's Kreator's turn and they reminded me once again that they are as good as any of the Big 4 of Thrash Metal. Thrash and death metal are still going strong after all these years.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Obituary interview
The only reason that I'm still subscribed to the Rolling Stone magazine's Two-time-a-day newsletter is because once in a very long while they would write about music I'm interested in (most of the other times they just trash DT) Today they published an interview of Obituary, about their three decades of history and the upcoming new album, which is supposed to sound like 1990's Cause of Death (my all-time-favorite) I am surprised the Tardy brothers were influenced by Southern rock/blues back in the days! These days they are recording at their own studio, which is also a "man-cave" with pool table and TVs. Yeah, that's the dream of every male musician!
Wednesday, February 01, 2017
Jaco
Like most kids from my generation, we learned the recorder from school music classes. I also took Chinese music lessons after school learning dizi and erhu, on which I could barely play a few tunes. And my mom bought me a harmonica which I enjoy its sound a lot. However, bass guitar is the first instrument that opened the door for me to play some "serious stuff", especially with other friends, and in a rock band setting. Compared to other years in high school, the last year was a relaxing one and I got to spend quite some time to have fun outside of studying. And nothing was cooler than starting a band with my buddies. I started out as a drummer which was a struggle for me. And our bassist bailed on us a lot so I was encouraged to sub for him: "it's so easy to pickup" (which was partially true as I got by with always playing the root of each chord as 8th notes for all songs!) I was already a metal head at that point and had quite a few favorite bands and their guitarists as my heroes. After starting to play bass, I felt that I have joined an even more exclusive "club", bass hero worshipers! The most heralded bass players at that time included Steve Harris from Iron Maiden. However, I got curious about the two guys who won all those magazine polls as best bass players: Billy Sheehan and Stu Hamm. Sheehan's live recording with his old band, Talas Years, was so hard to buy but I eventually get to listen to his highly regarded bass solo masterpiece: NV4 3345. And Stu Hamm's "King of Sleep" was one of the first cassettes I bought after I entered college. I dug his jazz fusion style very much. And surprisingly, at this point I still hadn't listen to any music of Jaco Pastorius, who had of course influenced most bass players after him, including Sheehan and Hamm (he mentioned how impressed he was after seeing Jaco's performance) As I became of jazz fan, it become inevitable for me to hear some cover version of Jaco's tunes, e.g. Portrait of Tracy, and then a whole tribute album. Still, to be honest, I never really tried listening to his albums, like his ground-breaking self-titled album from 1976 or "Word of Mouth" from 1981. I guess my taste is too conservative for his music. I am most familiar with his playing on Pat Metheny's debut album "Bright Size Life". And I did enjoy the playing of his son, Felix, on his lone recording with the jazz fusion group Yellowjackets. These days I am going through Jaco's live recordings with the Weather Report.
To appreciate his genius, I strongly recommend watching his biopic "Jaco" (produced by a huge fan of Jaco and former Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo) It went through his years as a talented kid to joining famed fusion group "Weather Report" to becoming one of the most highly regarded musicians in the jazz/rock/fusion circle to his demise. Now I understood why he was considered to be the bass equivalent of Jimi Hendrix: he completely reinvented how music could be played on this instrument.
The outro of the movie included his tune "Continuum" covered by another favorite group of mine: Rodrigo Y Gabriela. I was so inspired that I had the urge to play some music (for some reason I picked up my soprano sax first probably influenced by the footages of him and his Weather Report bandmate Wayne Shorter) I found a good tab on "Continuum" here.
To appreciate his genius, I strongly recommend watching his biopic "Jaco" (produced by a huge fan of Jaco and former Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo) It went through his years as a talented kid to joining famed fusion group "Weather Report" to becoming one of the most highly regarded musicians in the jazz/rock/fusion circle to his demise. Now I understood why he was considered to be the bass equivalent of Jimi Hendrix: he completely reinvented how music could be played on this instrument.
The outro of the movie included his tune "Continuum" covered by another favorite group of mine: Rodrigo Y Gabriela. I was so inspired that I had the urge to play some music (for some reason I picked up my soprano sax first probably influenced by the footages of him and his Weather Report bandmate Wayne Shorter) I found a good tab on "Continuum" here.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
我的爵士雜記：Play jazz like Jim Hall
差不多廿年前住在Manhattan的時候去jazz club識了一個朋友（一生人僅止一次！）Ken, 我們都是爵士結他發燒友，當然他的認識比我深得多（我才剛開始彈結他，對爵士樂理認識等於零）他告訴我他最欣賞的結他大師是Jim Hall（我一直最欣賞的則是Pat Martino），所以我不時會找些Jim Hall的唱片來聽聽；在雜誌Premier Guitar的newsletter介紹下讀了一篇關於Jim Hall的演奏手法的文章，十分值得推薦給各位爵士友。五個例子展示Jim Hall如何用chord tone來solo或comping，還有從一條弦到兩弦之外（略過中間一弦）的單音solo，以及chord melody soloing（想提一下：雖然flash player播放該頁的音樂有點問題，更方便的是下載該頁上連結的zip檔案，有齊tab及錄音）
Friday, December 23, 2016
Akai EWI-USB Experience...... on a Mac
This post is more about computer than music. Call this my endorsement of Mac if you will. So I wrote about setting up my Akai EWI-USB on PC 1.5 years ago. Basically it worked out of the box but not that well (sound came out too late with the standard audio driver so I needed to download and installed ASIO4ALL) And to play an additional audio track from the computer (usually a backing track) I will have to use another sound card (like an external USB one) so the audio will come out from 2 different outputs, which I can live with but not ideal.
When I got my Macbook Air, this is one of the first peripherals I tried. Basically it worked out of the box. Really, no delay and additional driver/sound card is not necessary. It can play my backing track at the same time.
No wonder artists and musicians like Mac (We already knew many software developers like Mac 'coz it's running a flavor of Unix under the cover)
When I got my Macbook Air, this is one of the first peripherals I tried. Basically it worked out of the box. Really, no delay and additional driver/sound card is not necessary. It can play my backing track at the same time.
No wonder artists and musicians like Mac (We already knew many software developers like Mac 'coz it's running a flavor of Unix under the cover)
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
2016 Ten Best Music Books
This is the list according to the Rolling Stone Magazine. Too bad I am not interested in any of them, except maybe Slim Harpo, the blues singer and harp player. He is among one of the influences of the Rolling Stones (band) whose latest release this year is a blues cover album, which I enjoy quite a bit.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Opera: L'Amour de Loin
自從上次聽完紅樓夢，已有一排無聽歌劇，幸好本地古典電台每逢週六中午會播放紐約大都會歌劇院演出的曲目，這天開車南下辦事途中聽到播出芬蘭作曲家Kaija Saariaho的作品L’Amour de Loin（英文解作Love from Afar, 我姑且譯為遙遠的他:) 和紅樓夢一樣這首算是當代作品，首演於2000年薩爾斯堡音樂節，今個月則是首次在大都會演出，好評如潮，似乎被三位女士搶了不少鏡頭，除了作曲家Saariaho，還有指揮家Susanna Mälkki及也是Susanna的女主角女高音Philips；「男子組」方面要提提黎巴嫩填詞人Amin Maalouf，本劇完整歌詞（法文原文及英文譯本）可見於此網站。對我來講本劇有以下特色：
- 角色數目極少。基本上只有遊吟詩人王子，他素未謀面卻慕名愛上的遙遠公主，穿梭兩者的朝聖者（女中高音），及一眾市民（合唱團）
- 敲擊樂被大量及出色地運用。
- 以法文唱出的詞。我從少就被灌輸一種想法：法文是唱歌劇最好聽的語言，更甚於意大利文，亦當然勝於「岩岩巉巉」的德語；故事背景卻是中東！
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Rediscovering Shoutcast
還記得多年前常常聽Shoutcast.com的不同音樂種類streaming，近幾年卻轉為從Podcast網評或雜誌認識新碟後再上Pandora，Rhapsody或Spotify聽，其實也有時覺得聽得太狹窄，上星期又想起Shoutcast這個source，除了近年聽得最多的爵士樂（包括smooth jazz），特地找點其他種類聽聽，例如Electric blues及Flamenco，以下幾個台值得推介：
今天認識了David Cobo, Eric Hansen幾位Flamenco樂手，待會上Spotify/Youtube再欣賞欣賞！
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Not America
Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra has released 4 albums in the past, only when the republicans were in charge, as a form of protest. I wrote about their previous album, Not In Our Name, when Haden was still alive. And the band released a live album in 2016. That's one year too soon (in case you have been living in a bubble: the Republican nominee Donald Trump has won the US presidential election) It was my go-to album after finding out the result of the election. Awesome music, BTW.
And I was not alone! This DJ played LMO in his jazz radio program along with other tunes with a related theme. His podcast is titled "Not America." Check it out!
And I was not alone! This DJ played LMO in his jazz radio program along with other tunes with a related theme. His podcast is titled "Not America." Check it out!
Thursday, September 29, 2016
紅樓夢歌劇
當年聽古典音樂,從器樂入手,從來不算太熱愛人聲,卻也因為華格納的全方位理念吸引聽了他全套指環,後來在紐約居住,更沒理由去看看那裡著名的劇團,還記得第一次奉獻了給喜劇愛情靈藥,在三藩市多年反而從未去過該市的歌劇院,只是數年前在朋友介紹下在柏克萊大學的劇院看過三藩市歌劇團演出的老少咸宜作品秘密花園,此後每年都收到新樂季的戲碼,當中不乏吸引作品,不過令我覺得非看不可的,是今季全球首演,改篇自中國四大小說之首的紅樓夢.老實說,小時候家中一早有齊四大,西遊水滸三國早就讀過,但紅樓夢文縐縐且難懂,是唯一被放棄的一本!但這本天下第一奇書就有一種特別的吸引力，為準備看劇，我一方面開始讀原著（不過在看戲前只讀到賈妃回家探親那回）另一方面查看和歌劇相關的所有資料，包括演員作曲家作詞家等等，又聽了去年預演的少許錄音（那次由女兒參加的樂團總監負責指揮呢！）
終於等到9月28日我買了票的那場！歌劇院人頭湧湧，衣香鬢影，觀眾當中不少是中國人，似乎在中文媒體中的宣傳頗有成效，故事開始大致跟從原著，石和草希望和尚幫他們完成入人世的心願，於是和尚讓他們從警幻仙子的鏡觀看人世間悲歡離合，看到由他們化身的世家子弟賈寶玉和表妹林黛玉相遇，同樣熱愛音樂詩詞的他們墮入愛河，然後出場的是來自富商薛家的另一表親淑女典範的寶釵，賈家話事人賈老太首肯雙玉戀，但寶玉母則力主雙寶配，皆因可借助薛家財力償還賈家欠皇室的債款。這一幕以賈妃回家探親作結，已預示皇上亦屬意雙寶配。
下半場賈妃失寵被賜死，賈老太病殁，寶玉母正式成為新當家，迫雙寶成親，寶玉要脅出家，其母假意讓步，在寶玉以為和黛玉拜堂之時，才發現新娘被調包；就在那時皇室派員到賈府抄家討債，因賈薛已成婚，連薛家亦一拼被抄，大家方知墮入皇上詭計，寶玉回到和尚處剃度出家，原來年輕時的和尚正是寶玉！
長篇的原著濃縮為數小時的劇情，難免會令忠實讀者感到不足，其實作曲家亦對此反應有準備，建議觀眾以一個三角戀故事看待好了。我個人認為，雖然配樂略嫌單調，多首悅耳浪漫的詠嘆調足以補足有餘。而當雙玉發現無法一起，岀現葬花吟行草書法的佈景，更添淒美。
其實以亞洲社會為背景的西洋歌劇不算新事物，兩世紀前已有蝴蝶夫人及杜蘭朵，不過改編中國文學瑰寶紅樓夢，當然又是更深層次了。值得一提的是演出現場有雙語字幕，英文的是歌詞，中文其實非直譯歌詞，倒有很多取自原著，實在有詩意，如：
一朝春盡紅顏老
花落人亡兩不知
Monday, July 18, 2016
The Rippingtons, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band
早幾天看Yoshi's 的newsletter 得知週末The Rippingtons來出show, 實在吸引。在我心目中，The Rippingtons 代表著80尾90頭那種優皮中產的態度，吊詭的是，那是我尚在大學讀書，理應很熱血煲煙隊啤爆粗聽重金屬的年代，可能我當時認為後者是中學生才做，我想行前一步吧。最深刻印象的是Columbia house 寄來一套3CD 的著名smooth jazz label GRP 推出的十週年紀念專集，不幸地內裡有大半歌曲我不喜歡，因為太多vocal, 不過也有好幾個樂手及樂隊我十分欣賞，例如Special EFX, Acoustic Alchemy, Spyro Gyra, Yellowjackets, 當然還有The Rippingtons (題外話：原來2012年是GRP 30週年，他們也推出了雙CD作紀念！）去年終於首次看了不是太smooth但很 jazz的Yellowjackets, 今年亦是首次看The Rippingtons, 他們剛在六月底推出新作True Stories, 今場音樂會重點宣傳新作，感覺上和他們80尾還有Kenny G 客串的悠閒風格已很不同，True Stories內一首King's road 更以很rock的guitar riff 帶起全曲，另一首Build to last (前作標題歌曲）也很扎實，其實這絕不悠閒的風格我也很欣賞，sax和結他並重的編曲在smooth jazz 界不算常見，對我亦有啓發性。
上個月我也看過前Rippingtons 成員和其目前的樂團演出，我指的是Eric Marienthal (他也是我網上學sax的老師)和Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. 無獨有偶，我當年首次認識Marienthal 的音樂也是透過該GRP 十週年專集!至於Big Phat Band就是因為他們的格林美獎,雖然在論壇不少版友認為有其他更出色的Big bands, 我就覺得Gordon Goodwin寫搶耳的旋律實在有一手,如你聽過當晚encore之作The Jazz Police必定會同意.我也頗喜歡他為Quartet San Francisco寫的組曲(收錄於Pacific Premieres一碟),上次看Quartet San Francisco就有Gordon Goodwin做特別嘉賓吹Tenor sax!這位仁兄認真多才多藝!除了作曲及吹sax,他領導Big band時彈琴(有Ellington及Basie之風)又主持電台節目,口才當然了得,和我們爵士友分享了不少心得:他指平日練Sax的時間實在不多,總之出show上台就要對自己多年功力有信心.此文他介紹了一些練習即興的方法.(最後Goodwin介紹他老師Warne Marsh教的移動旋律大法,無獨有偶,兒子的單簧管老師也示範過一次!)
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