Feeling bad about your image? Wish your clothes were as neatly pressed as mine? Check out these shocking before and after images from a recent band photo shoot I participated in. Thanks to Bryan McLucas and his adept use of the digital iron, I have been photoshopped into perfection. For more wrinkle free pictures, check out http://thehighballs.com/
KC Commander (cello) and I just recorded and impromptu Christmas Album with all your favorite hits. Tannenbaum, Nutcracker, Home Alone (Main Title), and more. Go download it for Free!
House Concert from Yesterday with Carl Lindberg and Philip Mayer! Enjoy the free download!
Two really great pieces on the late Paul Motian: One from pianist Ethan Iverson and the other from photographer John Rogers. I already knew a lot of his jazz biography, but had no idea he also played Woodstock with Arlo Guthrie! Incredible. In 2009 I had the privilege of seeing Paul play with Bill Frisell and Ron Carter at the Blue Note. I was sitting close to the stage on the side where Ron Carter towered over the two like the giant that he is. Bill seemed to be having a ton of fun, smiling and laughing as the three played songs from their trio record as well as a few I had never heard them do before. Paul played really interesting ideas with incredible conviction and artistry. Fortunately I still have the recording I made that night to relive what it was like to see such giants. Here is the last song of the night “What is this thing called love?”. This whole track is amazing. Check out Paul’s solo at the end. Wow!
Fred Hersch: Just Hear What Happens Next from NewMusicBox on Vimeo.
Absolutely LOVE this interview with Fred Hersch. His music philosophy is great, as is his playing. More of the transcript over here including this quotation, which is basically how my one time lesson with him went:
I hear a pianist for the first time in a lesson situation, and I immediately go for the physical. They might not be aware that they’re tapping their foot, or that they’re off balance, or that they’re leaning back, or that they’re pushing so hard that they’re slamming down on the bottom of the key bed and making a crappy sound. So what I try to do is create for them a piano embouchure, if you will, that allows the pianist and the piano to be friendly with each other and connected.
From an interview with Jimmy Cobb:
DeRiso: Later, you, Chambers and Kelly backed Wes Montgomery. Perhaps the high point was the live albumSmokin’ at the Half Note. Were you surprised when Wes later took a turn into more pop-influenced styles?
Cobb: He did that because he was talked into it, probably by (producer) Creed Taylor, who told him: ‘You could make some bigger money. You could be more public, playing all of those tunes.’ He didn’t like it. He was doing it because he needed the money. He had about 9 kids, so he figured he had to go for it. While he was still home, he had three gigs! He worked all day and all night — never got any sleep. It made his heart bad. One was construction; I think he worked on a jack hammer. The second one was as a guard for a milk company. And then the third was playing music! That took its toll on his energy and his life.
