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Posts Tagged ‘jazz’

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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Boss Guitar

Posted in Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , on January 22, 2014| 2 Comments »

Wes montgomery- Boss Guitar album coverIt’s a frigid winter morning with  temperatures below zero and a fine gray mist of snow filling the view from my studio windows.  It would be easy to mope around on a morning like this but I am in the mood for something light.  Airy and alive.  I flip around looking for something thta fits the bill and settle on a little Wes Montgomery, the late jazz guitarist who died way too early and was one of the most influential players ever, spurring on guitarists of many genres with his distinct playing.

You can easily see the unusual stance of his right hand as he plays, splayed out and set in one position against the body of the guitar while his ultra-flexible thumb does all the dancing on the strings.  It was said that he had a corn-like callous on his thumb that acted as a pick, the hard parts of providing sharper tones and the softer parts the more mellow sounds.  It’s the style of a self-taught artist, which I appreciate.  That and the fact that he, much like BB King, could not read music. Amazing.

Wes Montgomery died in his home in Indianapolis from a heart attack in 1968.  He was only 45 and at the peak of his career.  Makes you want to take advantage of every moment, not knowing what you will leave undone when your time comes.

Here’s a track called Jingles from Wes Montgomery in 1965.  Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQfpirHv-w
 

 

 

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Every Time We say Goodbye

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , on July 15, 2013| 3 Comments »

Chet BakerMaybe it’s the morning here.  Dark and somber sky with an unyielding flatness in its gray.  Very quiet morning as though nothing really wants to stir and begin this sultry summer week.  A fans hums, trying to move a little cooler air through the studio and I am sitting with my coffee.  Chet Baker‘s Every Time We Say Goodbye is  playing above it all, accentuating the gray mood with its deeply spaced tones.  I’m not the biggest jazz guy but there I do like what I like and for certain moods, like this morning’s, nothing fills the bill like Chet Baker.

I think it’s one of those instances of pure expression, where the art and the individual meld.  It’s not put on, not contrived.  It’s real and felt deeply, his own truth– all that you can ask from any artist.  I think we all aspire to a true expression of ourselves, to create something that we can say genuinely represents who we really were during our time here.

I know that has been a driving force for me.  Sometimes, it seems close to telling my truth and sometimes it feels just a bit shaded or slanted away from reality.  Maybe it’s a case of hoping that the motivation, the goal,  becomes the reality.

I don’t know.  Maybe, that’s just a bit too much thinking for any Monday morning, especially a sleepy gray July one.  Here’s Chet.

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Benton

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , , on November 7, 2008| 4 Comments »

benton-ballad-of-the-jealous-lover

These are a couple of paintings from one of my heroes, Thomas Hart Benton, the Missouri-born painter of the last century.  I was immediately drawn to the rich colors he used and the complexity of that color.  By that I mean, when I look at his colors I see one color but get the feeling of the colors that comprise it.  That’s a hard thing to really explain but when I finally understood the concept I found my own work growing stronger and more alive.  His colors are always strong and bold, deep and rich.

The first painting also has a great title, The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley, which is something that means a lot to me and my work. I think that the title can play an important part in the life of a painting.

The other element that I love in Benton’s work is the obvious rhythm ( a term that I use a lot in describing my work) that runs through his paintingsbenton-trail-riders1.  In the lower piece, Trail Riders, there is a great flow in the landscape from right to left, that to me is pure music.  I have seen Benton’s work described as “Jazz painting” which I fully understand.  There is a real musical quality in the way his landscapes roll and even in the positioning of his figures.

His use of deep color and rhythm are two things I took and tried to make my own, which is something I think all artists do with their influences.  The trick is making it part of your own artistic vocabulary and not merely derivative.  I can only hope I’ve done that.

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