Audacity and Mac OS X Catalina

I just updated my Mac to Catalina last week. (Long story short: my charger was acting up and all suggested methods to fix it were hit-or-miss so I thought I might as well update everything to latest, including the OS) The update warned me that Audacity would no longer work, which could be an issue since I use it for slowing down music during practices quite a bit. However, I guess there must be workaround to that so I ignore the warning and proceeded. Well, Audacity did refuse to launch after the Catalina update (I think my version was too old and still was 32-bit) So I installed the latest version, which runs but as users have already reported, recording via microphone didn't work, which required this workaround. Basically just need to run it like this at the Terminal:
open /Applications/Audacity.app/Contents/MacOS/Audacity

And grant microphone access to the Terminal.

Of course I put that in an executable shell script.

NAMM 2020

幾年前曾有過衝動去結他show看看，找到以下文章，始終沒有去，本年初卻因為朋友邀請有幸去了音樂界最著名的trade show NAMM! 一月份的NAMM在南加州Anaheim一連四天舉行，我只有空去一天，就選了星期五，之前一晚「熱身」節目是看了Women of Fingerstyle guitar這個音樂會，除了大名鼎鼎的Muriel Anderson, 名氣稍遜的表演者如Yasmin Williams, Amber Russell和Becky Langan也帶來極多驚喜！畢竟這是相當冷門的一種音樂風格，我以前也看得不多（最有印象是在Moraga看了只有三個觀眾的Adam Miller演出）。星期五早上向場館進發，發現車只能泊在Angel Stadium再坐免費Shuttle過去（其實也甚方便），入場後看看主場館地下管樂器部份，聽到不少高人示範展商產品，後來方知那位光頭有型Saxophone手就是Greg Osby！之後在Yamaha的專區看了Grace Kelly表演Saxophone及一展歌喉，又看了朋友音樂中心的得獎學生演出，當真後生可畏！下午是「貢獻」給各大結他品牌了：主場館二三樓都以結他為主，很明顯地，和其他樂器比較下，結他廠家是NAMM的台柱，兩大品牌Gibson和Fender各有自己的「大房」，連PRS和Takamine等沒有那麼出名的品牌也有big presence!
而我印象比較深刻的是Godin的房，因為我自己彈開Godin 5th Ave, 結他手Edi Rogue的示範相當出色；還有Taylor，在那裡又有緣欣賞以前看過多次的著名爵士結他手Mimi Fox的精彩演出。

Takamine Factory Tour

雖然接觸了結他幾十年，其實對其製作過程一知半解，今天看了這條介紹Takamine這個著名日本結他品牌工廠的片，實在增加了不少認識：

片尾展示那支Thinline是Takamine的新產品，有型又好聲，請看看此系列中的Archtop的demo：

東京爵士

曾聽說過在美國以外爵士樂手最活躍的城市是東京，今次東京之旅必定要體驗一下！去之前做了一點功課，從Dug這間「村上春樹迷bucket list」酒吧的FB頁找到一個全日本爵士樂場所的地圖，再找到一個東京爵士節目表，按圖索驥去了以下：
- NARU，此店位於御茶之水這個以二手樂器店聞名的區，當晚演出者是色士風手加納奈実的四重奏，演奏以Straight ahead jazz為主，除了每set第一首都玩了流行曲味道較重的作品（還主唱了一首，幸好只此一首）Cover charge 是2500Yen, 我們又點了好一些小食及非酒精飲品，埋單萬三Yen, 以美國標準算中上價，不過支持音樂人及場所也沒所謂。（後來在saxophone店看到日文雜誌內有加納小姐，可見頗有名氣呢）
- Manhattan，這是位於Asagaya的一間樓上吧，如果在紐約Manhattan的Small's也算是小的話，這間可以叫做袖珍，目測大概只有三百多尺，吧台佔了四分一，可坐五人，吧台以外可多坐五人吧，我去那晚只有三個聽眾！平了我有生以來去過的音樂會最少聽眾的紀錄，上次聽Adam Miller和更早的Alex Skolnick Trio也是小貓兩三隻：

今次還有四位樂手分錢呢！我肯定他們不是以這種演出為收入來源吧，雖則如此，由北川拓(結他),中野阿貴(鋼琴),小塚泰(小提琴),服部泉(bass)組成的四重奏的水準絕對專業！入場費包一個drink, 我點了阿佐谷品牌的清酒，埋單二千八yen。
- Sunny side, 一間位於高田馬場對出大街的樓上jazz Cafe, 面積大概是Manhattan的兩倍吧，觀眾絕大部份是大學生模樣的後生仔，我竟然是全場第三年紀最大！和美國的觀眾層相當不同，不過我想他們都認識表演者（石澤右樹，中林俊也，小西佑果，赤瀨楓雅），應該是同學呢。我對這個以色士風手主導的四重奏相當欣賞，不過友人就嫌色士風獨奏略欠音樂感，鼓手也太炫技。

HOWTO play like bands from the Florida Metal Scene

十幾年前曾經很想組一隊Death metal樂隊但結果不成事，那時如果組得成的話，此文就派上用場了，文中用八個練習介紹了佛羅里達州當年經典Death metal勁旅（包括Obituary, Morbid Angel, Death和Deicide）的結他部份彈奏技巧。

Ranking metal

幾年前讀到兩篇文章，都是講搖滾史上最有影響力的唱片，首先，滾石雜誌出了一百大名單，Thrash metal四巨頭Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer和Motorhead都在十大之列，New Wave Of British Heavy Metal代表樂隊Iron Maiden和Judas Priest則佔了第三第四名，Black Sabbath更威水，獨霸第一及第五（第九也算，那是Ozzy的首張solo作品）

提起Sabbath這隊先驅，對早期金屬的形成有興趣的朋友不容錯過此文及文中連結的YouTube片。

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。

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:

• 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!

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:

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. 

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!

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:

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. 

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!):

• 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.

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

However, probably for licensing reason, the "default" installation for XLD does not include FLAC as an output format (which is chosen under "Preference") To add FLAC as a format, one needs to download the plugin, unzip it and mv the whole "bundle" (a dir) under ~/Library/Application Support/XLD/PlugIns/ For other XLD tips, please read this. (I changed the file naming convention to my favorite one: %T_%n_%t)

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.

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!