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Posts Tagged ‘Duke Ellington’

Wanderlust

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on July 3, 2025| 3 Comments »

To the Main Road– At Principle Gallery

I knew that I had ample room in which to wander, since science has calculated the diameter of space to be eighty-four thousand million light years, which, when one reflects that light travels at the rate of one hundred eighty-six thousand miles a second, should satisfy the wanderlust of the most inveterate roamer.

–Edgar Rice Burroughs, Pirates of Venus (1932)

Still feeling a bit off kilter and definitely not feeling celebratory in any way for the Fourth of July tomorrow. In fact, I am a little crotchety this morning. Writing that makes me wonder about the origins of the word crotchety. One of the numerous benefits of the instant information of the InterWebs– we won’t go into its equally numerous pitfalls — is that one can answer questions like this within seconds. No more finding and dragging out the dictionary or encyclopedia or whatever reference book you have stacked on your shelves. I accumulated a bunch of compendiums of knowledge, both general and odd facts, over the years that sometimes answered such queries. Not always which meant writing it on a list to be looked up the next time I went to the library. Information moved much slower then and usually by the time I got an answer I had lost interest.

FYI, crotchety is derived from the word crochet which refers to the craft and hook used in it. The term came to represent someone who was hooked by peculiar thoughts, resulting in a brusque, rude attitude towards others.

Yeah, I fall into that category this morning. Crotchety old man shaking my fist at the sky.

Anyway, the theme today is wanderlust. Maybe by the description of searching for info that should be changed to wonderlust. Is that even a word? I guess I will have to take to the InterWebs once more.

While I am doing that, here’s a tune called Wanderlust from the immortal Duke Ellington and sax legend Coleman Hawkins. This came up on my playlist earlier setting this whole fiasco in motion.

Now, either listen or get out. I got things to do. Like I said, I am crotchety this morning and wonderlust  calls…

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Stuart Davis and Jazz

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Music, Quote, tagged , , , , on February 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Stuart Davis- Swing Landscape 1938

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For a number of years Jazz had a tremendous influence on my thoughts about art and life.

–-Stuart Davis

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I wrote yesterday about how as an artist I am influenced by many things other than the paintings of other artists. I thought I’d share some paintings from artist Stuart Davis (1892-1964) whose work itself is considered a huge influence on the Pop Art movement of the 1960’s. I’ve been a fan of his for many years, particularly after seeing how his work evolved through his career from a Robert Henri trained Modernist whose early work echoed the influence of Van Gogh through a Picasso inspired Cubist period into his own style with its own vocabulary that was largely inspired by the Jazz of the time.

I also always keep something in mind he said when I am at work: Always remember that in a painting, color has a position, and a place, and it makes space. As a result, I try to make color a vital element in my paintings, sometimes more important than the actual subject of the painting.

But, this morning let’s just look at a few of Davis’ Jazz inspired paintings and take a look and a listen to the great Duke Ellington‘s Jazz classic Take the A Train. I get the feeling Stuart Davis might have painted a bit to this track.

I am not sure but the video here looks to be a Soundie, which were short, well produced music films that were played on video jukeboxes in bars and clubs the late 1940’s. They mainly featured popular black Jazz musicians, giving these often musicians, who really didn’t have an many outlets for their music as their white counterparts, an exciting venue that really spread the popularity of their music.


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Caravan

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , on October 30, 2016| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- In the RhythmI can’t really tell you how my show went last night.  I wish I could but my psychic powers have been on the weak side lately.  Actually, I am writing this on Friday because I most likely won’t be back in the studio in time to put up my Sunday morning music and it is such a regular habit for me that it bothers me when I miss a week.

But I will go out on a limb and guess that last night I saw a lot of folks that I haven’t talked to in a while, that everyone at the Kada Gallery treated me great and that it was, all in all, a wonderful night.  Fortunately, with only a rare exception or two, most of my shows have followed that simple script.

I will let you know if there was any deviation from the norm in the next day or two.

Today’s music is a jazz classic, Caravan, composed by the great Duke Ellington in 1936 and performed by a wide spectrum of jazz artists.  There are over 350 recorded versions of this song from Ellington’s band alone.  But the version I chose is from the late jazz pianist Kenny Drew , Jr.  I think it’s a really impressive version.

To accompany it, I chose a painting, In the Rhythm, from the Kada show that I think has a rhythm and feel that matches that of the song.  So give a listen and have a great Sunday.

 

 

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Take the “A” Train

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , , on November 16, 2014| 5 Comments »

Subway TrainI heard a version of  Duke Ellington‘s signature tune, Take the “A” Train, the other day that caught me off guard.  The music was playing in the background and I caught the notes of a tune that made me stop and listen.  It was so familiar but it was so different.  Then I recognized it and realized it was someone other than the Duke and his orchestra.  It didn’t have the urbane and upbeat swing, that joyful feeling of breezing carefree along that marked the original.

No, it was a slow jaunt, a meandering and elegantly peaceful ride.  No horns.  Just a thumping upright bass and gorgeous piano work over some light drum work.  It was still the same tune but it was oh so different in feel.  It was from jazz great Ray Brown and his trio– Gene Harris on the piano.  Beautiful stuff.

GC Myers Call To Waking smallIt reminded me of the times when I had taken the color from my work and work in tones of gray or sepia just to change things up a bit, to cleanse the palette so to speak.  The piece shown here on the left is an example.

I described it as being like hearing a song that you’ve heard a thousand times before then hearing a completely different take on it.  It’s the same tune, same notes and chords, but it just feels different, opens up something new inside.  This version by the Ray Brown Trio is exactly what I was describing.

It is the same but different.  Plus soaking in that bass thump is just a great way to kick off a quiet Sunday morning.  Have a great day…

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