Category Archives: Music Thoughts
Coltrane. Offering’s “Offering”: An Offering
One of the highlights of the new Temple University concert is Coltrane’s late composition Offering. The only other version of this fascinating meditation on harmonic cells is on Coltrane’s final official record Expression. Since the piece so seamlessly weaves … Continue reading
This is my brain on crumbly yellowed paper
I collect scores and sheet music. By collect, I mean that I acquire music beyond what I can strictly justify as things I want to study. Having the Beethoven quartets and symphonies, the Wagner operas, Brahms right and left – … Continue reading
John Schott interviews John Schott about Dream Kitchen
On the occasion of Dream Kitchen re-uniting to play at Jupiter in Berkeley on June 28, I sat down for a chat with bandleader, guitarist and vocalist John Schott. John Schott: You’ve spoken several times in therapy sessions of your … Continue reading
Guitar Player Reader’s Poll
Now, I don’t want to beat up on ol’ Guitar Player magazine, which I’ve read since I was a kid, and still read today at the library. They publish great things, and naturally, some less than great … Continue reading
For Guitarists: Classical Shred Shed
The concert I wrote about a couple of posts ago has come and gone. Among the pieces on the program was the World Premiere of Sebastian Currier’s Artificial Memory. How exciting! Guitar-wise, I was stepping onto a new … Continue reading
The Blues and “Voice Throwing”
Last year the venerable Chicago independent label Delmark released Magic Sam: Live at the Avant-Garde, a recording of a gig in the summer of ’68, Milwaukee. This is the 7th CD I have of Magic Sam, and I … Continue reading
Lighting the fuse
As much as I enjoy the exceedingly complex music of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Carter, et al, as an electric guitarist, my enjoyment is strictly limited to listening and studying scores. I’ve rarely had the pleasure/terror of performing it, of … Continue reading
I Remember Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin died last month. He was Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist from the time Wolf came to Chicago around 1954 to his last performances in the mid ’70s. Those twenty years on the road, in the clubs and on record are … Continue reading
Thank You Paul Motian.
My wife is a Scrabble fanatic. She’s very, very good. I tried, when we first started going out, playing with her a couple times. She whupped me so bad, I quit. In one of our only games, … Continue reading
Speaking of Trios:
I had never seen footage of Paul Motion playing with Bill Evans before (which doesn’t mean there isn’t any, I’m far from systematic about watching jazz videos). But it’s wonderful to see him, here with Chuck Israels in … Continue reading