Lots of mentions for good chums and family, comment on politicians' failure, more fun than seriousness and tinctures for all...
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Dave Brubeck R.I.P.
My dad bought the record for my mum, and I spotted it in a cupboard only a few days ago...
It went on a bit didn't it!
I can remember hearing it for the first time ever, and wondering what it was all about - perhaps I was a late arrival!
17 comments:
rvi
said...
Yes, really a one hit wonder. I don't recall offhand anything else that he played that got into the charts. Bloke on the telly this morning said the tune/beat was derived from an Indian (or was it African?) street music rhythm. Don't know about that, but I do know it was a **** to try to play - so I gave up.
I saw the DB Quartet twice at the Free Trade Hall in M'cr in the mid-60s, thanks to a jazz fiend friend of my parents. My intro to jazz, and I still love his stuff; despite being white and preppy, they swung like bejasus.
One of the shows - the FTH had a small section of seating behind the stage - we had front row seats behind them, so to speak, and I was a few feet from Joe Morello. I learnt that evening that there are drummers and there a drummers. Joe was a master. Bless them all for such a heap of good music.
Reevers, I reckoned that the rhythm I heard - or noticed as a sprog, was definitely 'different', and at the tender age of 'just a teenager', it really made a difference, in that someone could repeat a musical phrase for ages, and make something out of it.
Brubeck did this, and I'm thankful that he did, because countless musicians have tried the tecnique, and some have been fantastically successful at it - others maybe haven't though...
Not great on Jazz - like it, don't listen to it enough, but certainly not a beret carrying member of the Jazz community! Hope all well with you & yours
I think you are right about Blue Mondo and agree that the DB Combo sort of jazz was not about top ten ratings. He will be missed in music circles.
That said, I am not a great fan of what is known as 'modern' jazz as to my ear much of it, though no doubt technically brilliant, and despite valiant efforts over the years by friends to make me "understand" it, remains just a tuneless and disjointed noise. The same applies to some 'classical' pieces I have been forced to sit through!
My jazz tastes run to stuff with tunes - ie 'traditional' jazz and the big band stuff of the 1920s - 1950s that make your feet tap and want to get up and do a spot of skip-jiving. Now I am really showing my age; but I can still do it. The kids of the past 20+ years have not known what they have been missing by being not being able - or not knowing how - to dance with a partner! Chubby Checker has a lot to answer for!
PS: Just remembered that as a 10 year old my son indicated that he liked the tune and wanted to buy the disc. We were in a music shop in Cape Town at the time and he had found it on the shelf. He brought it over and showed me the price sticker so I gave him the cash and told him to go and get it. A few minutes later he came back in tears and without the disc so I asked him what had happened. He told me that I had not given him enough money so the cashier lady wouldn't let him have it. When I asked her why, she said that there was a GST element to be added which was not shown on the price ticket. That sort of idiocy drives me up the wall and can be found all over the place. Anyone know why it is so difficult for retailers to state the inclusive price on things? Airlines do it all the time when quoting fares, but forget to add the various taxes, fees, commissions and charges that seem to find their way on to the final (and thus usually doubled) price. The internal accounting procedures of a business are of no concern to the customers, and such lunacy does nothing to enhance the "customer shopping experience".
PPS: Elbs, sorry to see the Citizens get kicked out so early. Fergie will be unbearable for the rest of the competition! Hope your good lady has recovered from the thrashing her lot took last weekend too....:-)))
Miles Davis is worth checking out, Scrobs. I really don't listen to much jazz, but he was a master musician. The Bitches Brew era I love, but is pretty mental - Kind Of Blue is however immensely approachable, also A Silent Way. And Coltrane's Love Supreme.
None of the English clubs would have got out of that group, and United and Arsenal will be gone as soon as they meet a decent side - Real or Dortmund will do them. I thought we wouldn't progress as soon as the draw was made.
The fact is that the seeding for the CL is designed to protect the top clubs (as is the Financial Fair Play setup - we kicked the door down just as they were closing it, and it is worth noting that Abramovich (a big mate of Platini's) and Bunga Bunga man both lobbied for it). Arsenal, for example, who have won nothing in seven years get a far easier seeding than City, who are Champions!
I'd change it so. Top seeds go to the champions of the eight top European footballing countries
England Holland France Germany Spain Italy Portugal And one other
and THEN seeding is done on past performance in Europe. As it is, it is a nonsense. Most City fans see winning the Prem as the main task again this year, and I'm getting Derby Day twitch already.
Up betimes as I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Timed perfectly for the test match tho!
Interesting thoughts. Personally I would do away with all this league nonsense and just revert to actual league-winning champions - ie one team per country. 32 teams. Then drawn individually out of a hat, all in it together(!) and good luck to all in two leg knockout matches.
If others want to compete in a lesser comp (Europa cup style) they can but keep the champs just for the champs and fight like hell to get into it again next year. No carrying over because you are the current holder (a la Chelski who robbed the rightful contender this year). If you don't win the your league the following year, tuff, you miss out until you do some time in the future.
Like you, I'm looking forward to the match on Sunday. No preferences, but expecting a few fireworks!
Yeah - I always preferred the old format, especially when watched on an old B& W telly through an apparent snow storm! UEFA cup was of course the catch all for the other clubs. Sunday should be fun. After so many thrashing by United (it got so bad in the 90s I would go out for walk in the country! That after I kicked a dent in the freezer after we gave up a two goal lead and lost) I do get twitchy, but their defence is so piss poor that I feel reasonably confident. Even tho' we are not scoring with the freedom we did last season - that was just a bit special!
Elby: Impinging on Scrobs's hospitality again [Thanks pal] especially as he is not particularly keen on 'soccer'..
Tough luck! Told you I was expecting a few fireworks, but I was speaking figuratively - didn't know you could get blue coloured smoke bombs in the UK. I've seen orange ones from other countries and in this neck of the woods those mini-lasers are the problem. How do these idiot and dangerous devices get past security on the gates? Not very friendly either to throw money at players; they have more than enough already anyway!
Plus, just how the hell does that referee get to keep his card/licence? He was appalling. The quicker instant video replays are allowed for independent 4th referees in the stand to adjudicate malfeasance the better for all concerned. Better luck next time.
Yes - Ref mad appalling decisions for both sides; both should have had penalties, United had a good goal disallowed for offside. Our great black monster, the wondrous Yaya Toure was clean through when the ref blew up for Rooney fouling him; it could have been 3-2 to us, 3-3, or 3-2 to them as it ended. We played our best football of the season in patches so I'm not too downhearted. Indeed, we haven't played anywhere near as well as we did in the run up to Xmas last year - maybe we'll be fantastic after Christmas! Am sure we can catch them up. Lasty, sadly, Balotelli has to go. It was a risk playing him yesterday but he does rise to big games and was huge against them last season.
17 comments:
Yes, really a one hit wonder. I don't recall offhand anything else that he played that got into the charts. Bloke on the telly this morning said the tune/beat was derived from an Indian (or was it African?) street music rhythm. Don't know about that, but I do know it was a **** to try to play - so I gave up.
Scrobs,
I saw the DB Quartet twice at the Free Trade Hall in M'cr in the mid-60s, thanks to a jazz fiend friend of my parents. My intro to jazz, and I still love his stuff; despite being white and preppy, they swung like bejasus.
One of the shows - the FTH had a small section of seating behind the stage - we had front row seats behind them, so to speak, and I was a few feet from Joe Morello. I learnt that evening that there are drummers and there a drummers. Joe was a master. Bless them all for such a heap of good music.
rvi
His albums all sold well, and I think that Blue Rondo may have made the charts. Jazz wasn't ever really about singles and - pop picker - the charts!
Reevers, I reckoned that the rhythm I heard - or noticed as a sprog, was definitely 'different', and at the tender age of 'just a teenager', it really made a difference, in that someone could repeat a musical phrase for ages, and make something out of it.
Brubeck did this, and I'm thankful that he did, because countless musicians have tried the tecnique, and some have been fantastically successful at it - others maybe haven't though...
Elbers, you're probably the best known expert on jazz and superior rock I've ever met, and I will bow to your info here!
All I have to do is Gurgle the names, and understand what you're saying, and after that, well, I become an expert too!
(Not as good though, especially on The Grateful Dead'.)
Not great on Jazz - like it, don't listen to it enough, but certainly not a beret carrying member of the Jazz community! Hope all well with you & yours
Elby and Mike, Thanks for your responses.
I think you are right about Blue Mondo and agree that the DB Combo sort of jazz was not about top ten ratings. He will be missed in music circles.
That said, I am not a great fan of what is known as 'modern' jazz as to my ear much of it, though no doubt technically brilliant, and despite valiant efforts over the years by friends to make me "understand" it, remains just a tuneless and disjointed noise. The same applies to some 'classical' pieces I have been forced to sit through!
My jazz tastes run to stuff with tunes - ie 'traditional' jazz and the big band stuff of the 1920s - 1950s that make your feet tap and want to get up and do a spot of skip-jiving. Now I am really showing my age; but I can still do it. The kids of the past 20+ years have not known what they have been missing by being not being able - or not knowing how - to dance with a partner! Chubby Checker has a lot to answer for!
PS: Just remembered that as a 10 year old my son indicated that he liked the tune and wanted to buy the disc. We were in a music shop in Cape Town at the time and he had found it on the shelf. He brought it over and showed me the price sticker so I gave him the cash and told him to go and get it. A few minutes later he came back in tears and without the disc so I asked him what had happened. He told me that I had not given him enough money so the cashier lady wouldn't let him have it. When I asked her why, she said that there was a GST element to be added which was not shown on the price ticket. That sort of idiocy drives me up the wall and can be found all over the place. Anyone know why it is so difficult for retailers to state the inclusive price on things? Airlines do it all the time when quoting fares, but forget to add the various taxes, fees, commissions and charges that seem to find their way on to the final (and thus usually doubled) price. The internal accounting procedures of a business are of no concern to the customers, and such lunacy does nothing to enhance the "customer shopping experience".
PPS: Elbs, sorry to see the Citizens get kicked out so early. Fergie will be unbearable for the rest of the competition! Hope your good lady has recovered from the thrashing her lot took last weekend too....:-)))
Miles Davis is worth checking out, Scrobs. I really don't listen to much jazz, but he was a master musician. The Bitches Brew era I love, but is pretty mental - Kind Of Blue is however immensely approachable, also A Silent Way. And Coltrane's Love Supreme.
None of the English clubs would have got out of that group, and United and Arsenal will be gone as soon as they meet a decent side - Real or Dortmund will do them. I thought we wouldn't progress as soon as the draw was made.
The fact is that the seeding for the CL is designed to protect the top clubs (as is the Financial Fair Play setup - we kicked the door down just as they were closing it, and it is worth noting that Abramovich (a big mate of Platini's) and Bunga Bunga man both lobbied for it). Arsenal, for example, who have won nothing in seven years get a far easier seeding than City, who are Champions!
I'd change it so. Top seeds go to the champions of the eight top European footballing countries
England
Holland
France
Germany
Spain
Italy
Portugal
And one other
and THEN seeding is done on past performance in Europe. As it is, it is a nonsense. Most City fans see winning the Prem as the main task again this year, and I'm getting Derby Day twitch already.
Up betimes as I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Timed perfectly for the test match tho!
Interesting thoughts. Personally I would do away with all this league nonsense and just revert to actual league-winning champions - ie one team per country. 32 teams. Then drawn individually out of a hat, all in it together(!) and good luck to all in two leg knockout matches.
If others want to compete in a lesser comp (Europa cup style) they can but keep the champs just for the champs and fight like hell to get into it again next year. No carrying over because you are the current holder (a la Chelski who robbed the rightful contender this year). If you don't win the your league the following year, tuff, you miss out until you do some time in the future.
Like you, I'm looking forward to the match on Sunday. No preferences, but expecting a few fireworks!
Yeah - I always preferred the old format, especially when watched on an old B& W telly through an apparent snow storm! UEFA cup was of course the catch all for the other clubs. Sunday should be fun. After so many thrashing by United (it got so bad in the 90s I would go out for walk in the country! That after I kicked a dent in the freezer after we gave up a two goal lead and lost) I do get twitchy, but their defence is so piss poor that I feel reasonably confident. Even tho' we are not scoring with the freedom we did last season - that was just a bit special!
Elby: Impinging on Scrobs's hospitality again [Thanks pal] especially as he is not particularly keen on 'soccer'..
Tough luck! Told you I was expecting a few fireworks, but I was speaking figuratively - didn't know you could get blue coloured smoke bombs in the UK. I've seen orange ones from other countries and in this neck of the woods those mini-lasers are the problem. How do these idiot and dangerous devices get past security on the gates? Not very friendly either to throw money at players; they have more than enough already anyway!
Plus, just how the hell does that referee get to keep his card/licence? He was appalling. The quicker instant video replays are allowed for independent 4th referees in the stand to adjudicate malfeasance the better for all concerned. Better luck next time.
Have a good week.
Yes - Ref mad appalling decisions for both sides; both should have had penalties, United had a good goal disallowed for offside. Our great black monster, the wondrous Yaya Toure was clean through when the ref blew up for Rooney fouling him; it could have been 3-2 to us, 3-3, or 3-2 to them as it ended. We played our best football of the season in patches so I'm not too downhearted. Indeed, we haven't played anywhere near as well as we did in the run up to Xmas last year - maybe we'll be fantastic after Christmas! Am sure we can catch them up. Lasty, sadly, Balotelli has to go. It was a risk playing him yesterday but he does rise to big games and was huge against them last season.
Bon chance. Toodle pip!
Take 5 was based on 5/4 time with a dotted note in the middle.
Scrobs: A little something (snitched from Guido) for your - and your other 3 readers' - delectation.
Here
Might even be worth a post of its own!
I still need extra tuition where music notation is concerned, Elecs.
I always get lost somewhere between my quaver and my G Flat...
They're in demand so I understand Reevers - thanks for the link!
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