And keep your eye on this up and coming Congressman out of central California. He'll go far. His name is Gary Condit.
My dad was a Lawrence and he watched the Lawrence Welk show from time to time. Big Band music won't every come back but some of those guys could play. Would love to hear a jam session. @Cascarino's Pizzeria reminds me of an old teammate who introduced me to the Ramones, GWAR, Tool, Type O and Metallica (with Cliff). Great guy, we would swap who was in control of the CD player on rides to game and practices in my car. I introduced him to classic r and b, contemporary R and B, Blues, hip hop and rap. Casc you talk about Jazz like it's the Ned Flanders version. Next time you open the Cadillac up for a Sunday drive try listening to Charlie "Byrd" Parker, John Coltrane, The Philadelphia Experiment (has Questlove of Roots fame on Drums) or if you like words, Cassandra Wilson.
Fine. But make it movie soundtracks. Yes, we're keeping Queen. Let's start there and see where we can get you to by the end of the semester
The Welk show was a niche thing even when it was on prime time. I saw it because there was something else coming on right before or after. Might have been Disney. I know it was Sunday evening. It's not something I go look up on youtube, but I can remember the theme very well. Welk didn't even try to deal much with what music had already become; in that way, he at least was less patronizing than Ed Sullivan, who only grudgingly took rock acts onto his show.
This is what people do when they are waiting. What do you think the white supremacists and Antifa are talking about to themselves right now while waiting on opposite New York street corners for the big news to go down? What music is best. The Antifa people are right. So are the white supremacists, only they don't realize the bands they like are making fun of them.
Technically it's 135 mp3s on a single CD. I have one disk for every mood. The current one whips from abandoned shopping mall to death metal to theme song from The Colby's so fast you get slap-happy.
I generally prefer words, yes. I get plenty of jazz at restaurants and on elevators. Sunday drives the Mrs controls things so it's mostly musica latina
I have little to add here, other than to say the wife and have finally gotten around to watching Treme. If the music in that show doesn’t make you want to get your sorry ass off the couch and move, then I don’t think I can be your friend anymore.
The thing about Monk is that his music is so easy to like--you don't need to 'understand' anything to enjoy it. That goes for most jazz, IMHO. This weekend, my wife and I are headed up to Baltimore for the 8th Annual Charm City Django Jazz Fest. Django-style jazz is, for my money, some of the easiest music to enjoy there is. It's just effortlessly listenable, even though the musicians have crazy-good chops. I do think it takes a bit of work to learn how to enjoy some modern jazz--but not that much; not if it's any good. There's gotta be some swing and melody in there somewhere.
FWIW, Coltrane was a bit embarrassed by this one--IIRC, it's the only piece of music he recorded under the influence of LSD. I'll show my cards and admit that I very rarely listen to late-period Coltrane; it pushes past my comfort level more often than not. Some of his Impulse! label stuff is great, don't get me wrong, but I prefer the Atlantic Records years. I gotta be in the mood for A Love Supreme but I can listen to, say, Giant Steps or Coltrane Jazz anytime.
A bit embarrassed? The only thing worse by a major artist may be Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. And that was mostly an FU to his record company...and drugs. Have to say, this has to be better than Folk Mass: Musicians at St John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, San Francisco 2009
It's far better than any other Mass you could attend. John Coltrane's wife had as much musical freedom as he did. And nobody In the CoJC ever molested a kid.
A lot of Coltrane's late-period "energy music" was not completely dissimilar; he was pushing for some sort of transcendent spiritual ecstasy. Even by it's own standards, a lot of the time that sort of music is going to miss the mark, but it would unfair to ignore the purpose behind it. It's certainly not the most listenable or accessible music--and as I said, I'm not a huge fan--but I think you have to at least acknowledge what he was trying to do and adjust your expectations accordingly.