Our most recent Guest Offender Dominique’s post reminded me how much I love jazz and that I’ve been so busy recently that I can’t remember the last time I had the chance to do one of my favorite things in the world: pour myself a shot of Jameson with two ice cubes, put on the headphones and just blast a great jazz CD. April is Jazz Appreciation Month and since everyone is always lamenting how jazz is a dying art form these days, I thought I’d do my part to help resurrect this timeless music.
So what I’m going to do is share one jazz number that has a bit of personal meaning for me. It’s a track off the first jazz album I ever owned: Chet Baker’s “My Funny Valentine.” And like most of what’s right in my life, it was a gift from a girl. I don’t remember that girl’s name anymore, but you can bet I still have the CD.
Happy weekend, everyone! And if you have a chance, pour yourself a drink and listen:
[...] Jazz Appreciation Month | You Offend Me You Offend My Family [...]
Holy crap!! Phillip likes jazz? I’m amazed! Do you dig Miles Davis, Coltrane, and possibly, T-SQUARE? T-Square is quite big in Korea and the rest of asia general.
mentioning tsquare in the same sentence as miles and coltrane is definitely an insult to the latter two geniuses.
Hey, what a coincidence. It’s also Confederate History Month in Virginia, and the governor said you don’t even have to feel bad about subjugation of an entire race. I wonder what the Slavery Bunny will bring us!
[...] Jazz Appreciation Month | You Offend Me You Offend My Family [...]
i don’t know how guys like miles, coltrane, baker, monk could still be so productive with their drug problem. sonny rollins is 80 and still touring, which is amazing given how much drugs he took in his youth. hope to catch his concert next week.
anon, a reply like that is indicative of you not only being arrogant, but being narrow minded in thinking that one person cannot possible love various kinds of ‘jazz’ music. Coltrane and Davis are geniuses in their own right, and T-Square simply makes great music. If you think it’s an insult, than I suppose you’re another wonderful asian discouraging other asians to broaden their views on music, especially jazz.
@ anon:
Assuming this is not Phil, I don’t think it is an insult, but that how it goes with a narrow minded point of view. Remember that one of the pioneers of fusion or jazz fusion music in general (the same genre as T-Square) would be Mr. Miles Davis himself, from ‘In a Silent Way’, to ‘Bitches Brew’. Sure they may not be the same style per se, but people didn’t know what to expect from Davis when he made those albums. If you want people, especially asian americans, to appreciate Jazz in general like Phil is trying to, then maybe you should keep discouraging comments like this out of the picture.
Coltrane’s Giant Steps has been a great inspiration for Youtube clips…like visualizing the music for non-jazz lovers a la Fantasia. Here are two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kotK9FNEYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZRnkBK_0no