The Chat Thread

[Brian]

Just left Rob Newman for good. I encourage others to do the same. We can use this as a hangout.

[knight66]

Brian, Nice to see you here. I still will have kindergarden duties to perform over in the other place; but one compensation. I have been listening for the first time to Martinu's beautiful fragments of his opera Juliette. What a stunning score, wild in places, filigree in others and passionate. A real find.

My boss is very musical, she plays piano to concert standard. This week she is the repetiteur for Dorset Opera. They are putting on Cav and Pag, she has got tickets for my wife and I to go. So, Wed we head off to what I hope will be sunny Dorset for a couple of days.

We went in December to hear her play Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto. We hit wonderful weather. Here the gardens in Stourhead, full of colour even in winter.





Mike

[Elgarian]

We can use this as a hangout.

It's a good hanging-out kind of place, particularly for anyone attempting rehabilitation after exposure to too much Newman.

The fact is that Things Happen here in this thread. Big things. Things that make a difference. Things that Change Lives. Truth is spoken. Wisdom is sought, and dispensed.

[knight66]

Also, clubs are formed!

Mike

[Lethevich]

I have been listening for the first time to Martinu's beautiful fragments of his opera Juliette. What a stunning score, wild in places, filigree in others and passionate. A real find.

As a composer, the guy can't put a foot wrong. Remarkable considering how much he wrote.

sunny Dorset

I really hope it stops raining with impunity as it has been doing in this whole region for several weeks...

[DavidRoss]

It's a good hanging-out kind of place, particularly for anyone attempting rehabilitation after exposure to too much Newman.

The fact is that Things Happen here in this thread. Big things. Things that make a difference. Things that Change Lives. Truth is spoken. Wisdom is sought, and dispensed.

Wow.

Can haz cheezburger?

[Elgarian]

Stourhead

Stourhead. Astonishing place. Like walking around inside a giant 3-D painting by Claude Lorrain.

[Elgarian]

Wow.

Can haz cheezburger?

Exactly the sort of thing I mean.

[knight66]

As a composer, the guy can't put a foot wrong. Remarkable considering how much he wrote.

I really hope it stops raining with impunity as it has been doing in this whole region for several weeks...

Sarah, I don't know any other Martinu...what do you suggest? Re the rain...yes, a break, a reliable one, would be nice. We had a visitor from Jordan for the weekend. He was astonished at how green it was. Where he lives, it has rained three times in 12 months; but he quickly got fed up with the rain here....no runing out into it in delight!

Mike

[DavidRoss]

Stourhead. Astonishing place. Like walking around inside a giant 3-D painting by Claude Lorrain.

Wow.  Must visit sometime.  Am reminded of Ilnacullin, in Bantry Bay near Glengariff.

[Elgarian]

I really hope it stops raining with impunity as it has been doing in this whole region for several weeks...

Rain? Don't talk to me about rain, up here in the northwest. Where you'd take an umbrella, we take a snorkel.

[Lethevich]

Sarah, I don't know any other Martinu...what do you suggest?

His success in every form (SQ, instrumental, violin or piano concertante, symphony, chamber, opera, ballet) makes picking one or two discs so difficult that I may as well dive right into something obscure: The Epic of Gilgamesh. It's a neat oratorio that fortunately is gaining in advocates if not recordings. I haven't heard the Naxos one, but I don't think it's a new recording and is probably licenced from Marco Polo (so may be a little less than ideal, sound-wise). The Supraphon one is great, but a little more expensive.

[Opus106]

We've been having evening showers, yesterday and today. And it's not even the season yet.

[knight66]

A couple more of Stourhead, larger format this time.






Nearby Shaftsbury



And Sarah, thanks for the suggestion.

Mike

[Brian]

Wow; beautiful photographs! Are you trying to give me the 'travel bug'? 

[knight66]

Thanks....they are deceptive in that even in Venice or Rome, I can make the place look uninhabited.

Those were all taken in December, there was hard ice on the lake. But what lovely light.

If you want to PM me, I can give you my photobucket ID, be warned though, there are a lorra, lorra photos there.

Mike

[Franco]

Just buried my jazz cd's. Though I like jazz, the annoying thing about it is you usually can't follow all the individual instrument doing all different things (it's not really harmonized), the bass playing often can't be heard at all. This makes me bury my jazz collection (expect the vocal stuff), with pain in my hart I have to say. If someone has a different view on this please let me know, it may change my mind.

I have hundreds of jazz recordings; I played acoustic bass professionally when I was younger and have probably spent more time listening to jazz than any one kind of music, though these days it has taken second place to Classical music.  I haven't played bass professionally in close to 20 years, and while I am tangently still in the music business, my focus has changed considerably.

Having said all that, I just want to say that I think you are listening for the wrong things in jazz.  The idea is NOT (at least IMO) to follow ALL the instruments.  Yes, there can be dialogs going on, but in general, I think you should follow the lead improviser, and only notice the others as they respond in a noticeable way to what he is doing.  Listen for patterns, and sequences which make up most of a improvised solo, and listen for the overall arc of the solo.

Sonny Rollins is a good guy to do this with since he organizes his solos in a very structured manner.  Also, Miles Davis will often dialog with the drummer and this is fairly easy to follow.

Don't worry about not hearing the bass, speaking as a bass player, our role is almost entirely supportive and it is not important to hear exactly what we are playing as much as it is to sense our presence, and to appreciate the bassist's partnership with the drummer.  The specific notes the bassist is choosing are a lot more important for the musicians playing with him than it is for the audience.

Also, listen to piano trios such as Bill Evans or Keith Jarrett, or on the other hand pianoless trios such as Sonny Rollins did on his Live at the Village Vanguard.  A trio offers an easier way to appreciate the interplay between the players, esp. the bass and piano or bass and horn, than in a quintet setting.

Happy listening.

[Brian]

Wow! The Mozart thread got closed again - what's the word?

[Gurn Blanston]

Wow! The Mozart thread got closed again - what's the word?

Read back a few posts, Brian, and you will see that you managed to run Newman off. No point leaving it open with its master gone...

[DavidRoss]

Read back a few posts, Brian, and you will see that you managed to run Newman off. No point leaving it open with its master gone...

Todd left, too?