Monday, February 22, 2016

Movie Music Monday: 'Fantastia'

Alright, alright, alright... today's movie music pick isn't technically movie music. Or, maybe it is technically movie music. Either one. Whatever.

Disney's timeless animated musical, Fantasia, features the performance of classical music tunes that have become - at least in part because of the popularity of the movie itself - some of our culture's favorites. The Nutcracker Suite. Ave Maria. The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. These are all pieces that most people recognize and love, regardless of their exposure to or education in classical music. They have simply become part of our cultural understanding of what the genre sounds like.

The soundtrack for Fantasia features Leopold Stokowski directing the Philadelphia Orchestra through these masterpieces (and more) in what is surely one of the most popular classical music recordings in modern history. For fans of Disney, for fans of soundtracks, and for fans of classical music, this collection is one to own. It's a deep and moving progression, as well, even if you haven't seen the film. This one's a treasure, people. Be sure to check it out.

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This is your brain on music.

The people at TED have put together an interesting video about the effects of both musical performance & simply listening on the brain. Basically, playing an instrument is like a full-body workout for the muscles of the brain and enables people to deploy those muscles in other ways that have nothing to do with music, too. Check it out:



How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain
A look at the neurological wonders behind playing a musical instrument: http://ow.ly/SDkts
Posted by TED-Ed on Saturday, September 26, 2015


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Monday, February 15, 2016

Joel's Annual Grammy Renunciation Post

Seeing as how tonight millions of people will no doubt tune-in to watch the annual travesty that is the Grammy Awards, I couldn't help but share with you the following relevant passage from Llosa's Notes on the Death of Culture:

Art preceded all other expressions of cultural life in laying the foundations for the culture of the spectacle, by establishing that art could be fun and games and nothing else. ... [Today is] a time in which insolence and boastfulness and empty provocative gestures are sometimes enough, with the collusion of the mafias that control the art market and with complicit or half-witted critics who confer false prestige, giving the status of artist to illusionists who hide their poverty and emptiness behind counterfeit insolence. ... In our times, artists are not expected to show talent or skill but rather affectation and scandal, and their daring statements are nothing more than the masks of a new conformity. What was once revolutionary has become fashionable, a pastime, a game, a subtle acid that erodes art... In art this frivolity has reached alarming extremes. The disappearance of any minimal consensus about aesthetic value means that in this field confusion reigns and will continue to reign for a long time, since it is now not possible to discern with any degree of objectivity what it is to have talent or to lack talent, what is beautiful and what is ugly, and what represents something new and durable and what is just a will-o'-the-wisp. This confusion has turned the art world into a carnival where genuine creators, sharp operators, and conmen all intermingle and it is often difficult to tell them apart.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Buy This Album - 'The Epic' by Kamsai Washington

Those of you who have been keeping up with this blog know that I am all about promoting jazz. But, in an attempt to be sensitive to both my audience and the spirit of the times, when it comes to modern jazz music, I'm always on the lookout for one of the genre's more elusive qualities: accessibility. I understand that a lot of jazz these days just goes over people's heads and recommending it probably does more to damage people's impressions of the art form than to bolster them.

The album I'm plugging today is one of those rarest of examples: one that is both innovative & original while retaining an accessibility for the vast majority of interested listeners. The Epic by Kamsai Washington is real jazz. Make no mistake. But it is not a difficult album to listen to. If you're at all interested in the genre or just wondering what great contemporary jazz music sounds like, than you should give this album some serious attention.

I don't think I'm alone in thinking that Washington could very well be one of the next huge names in American jazz music. He's already compiled a resume of gigs that reads like an old veteran's (including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Harvey Mason, for instance, as well as arranging the horn parts for Kendrick Lamar's latest release), and his Epic record has certainly been turning heads for the past 6 months or so (his snub for a Grammy nomination is just the next in a long list of facepalm-worthy nonsense from the association). But, dig it: $11.99 on iTunes gets you 17 songs and just a shade under three hours of music. When he named it The Epic, he wasn't being facetious.

I can't say enough about this album, people. Whether you're a serious jazz fan or you're simply interested in beginning to learn what it's all about, check this record out. It's a great one.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Peter Gabriel & the point of music.

Alain de Botton over at The Guardian has a written a very interesting piece considering the question, "What's the point of music?" In it, he draws from the example of one of my all-time favorite artists, Peter Gabriel.

The article contains some great thought food on the purpose music plays in our lives and highlights two of Gabriel's great songs, one of which I've posted below. It's always good to consider just why it is we give so much credence and attention to the things - like music - which are so ubiquitous in our culture. Thinking deeply about music makes music more to us than simply a background soundtrack to all of life's other activities. To really experience the beauty of music, we need to start thinking about it like this writer at The Guardian:

[A] clearer handle on the theoretical role of music may at times enhance rather than impoverish our capacity to appreciate music. Knowing what music does for us can give us a sharper sense of which of its varieties we might be in particular need of, why and when.

And, hey, you could do a lot worse than analyzing an artist the caliber of Peter Gabriel. Check it out here.




Monday, February 8, 2016

Movie Music Monday - 'Burnt'

The wife and I checked out the Bradley Cooper flick Burnt a few days ago, and, while we both felt like the movie was alright (not great, not bad, but worth watching), the soundtrack definitely had some notable highlights. There's some beautiful, introspective, and melodic pieces throughout this film, and I took to iTunes to grab some of the tracks that I couldn't ignore. The piece posted here is included on both the soundtrack album (which features some of the instrumental score along with some other tracks from various artists) and the score album (which is comprised of only Rob Simonsen's music), and adds a wonderful texture to one of the best scenes in the movie.



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Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Book Reviews on a Music Blog

Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better LifeResilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life by Eric Greitens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The question is not whether you have a philosophy. Everyone has a philosophy. ... The question is, are you aware of the philosophy you have – the assumptions, beliefs, and ideas that drive your actions? Are you aware of the way those assumptions, beliefs, and ideas add up to shape your life? Can they stand exposure to the light of day?"

A book about philosophy and worldview written by a former Navy SEAL? Yep, this one is right up my alley.

The good news is that this book delivers. In everything from its structure (letters exchanged between the author and another former SEAL friend of his), to the topical ground it covers, to its accessibility, this book provokes thought, challenges, and inspires without the usual hand-holding that usually seems to accompany most contemporary books written about worldview and purpose (RE: 'self-help').

This is not a self-help book. This is not a book interested in communicating to each of us just how special of a snowflake we all are. This book does its level best to convey the wisdom of the centuries in light of the reality of how the world works and how difficult life is. Greitens is interested in the time-tested, the ancient, and the bonafide, not in the flavor of the month or the flash in the pan.

As I so often like to say, stop trying to reinvent the wheel - give me the old stuff.

There are some things here I disagree with. For instance, I like much of Stoic philosophy (of which Greitens seems to be a big fan), but I find it incomplete. That's ok. It's good to think through why you disagree with something - especially when you're reading a philosophical work. This is the one and only reason for my lack of a perfect 5-star review. Not quite everything in this book can be completely imbibed, but maybe that's good, after all.

Nevertheless, despite my lack of complete, 100% endorsement of every point and conclusion reached in this book, I can't imagine anyone to whom I wouldn't recommend it. We are all going to go through seasons of life in which we will find this kind of wisdom and philosophy invaluable. Getting our minds right on why we think what we think in the midst of the chaos and noise of modern life is an important venture for everyone.

Do yourself a favor and read this book.

View all my reviews

Monday, February 1, 2016

Movie Music Monday - 'Nightcrawler'

I watched Nightcrawler inside Bob Hope Airport waiting for a delayed flight. It is a provocative film, definitely not for everybody, but from the moment the opening credits begin to appear, the thing you absolutely cannot miss or deny is the power of the music. James Newton Howard's score is vibey, cool, atmospheric, and melodic. It's one of the most listened to soundtracks in my collection and definitely worth checking out regardless of whether you have any intention of even seeing the movie. Great, great stuff here.





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