Buy This Album - 'Every Man Should Know' by Harry Connick, Jr.

It's not every day an established, reputable, and masterful artist releases new material that reveals a completely new musical direction. And when it does happen, the results are not always palatable. 

Nevermind about any of that here.

Harry Connick, Jr. has made a musical career out of keeping the crooning tradition established by the Sinatra's, Martin's, and Darin's going strong. His first musical offerings were most definitely cut from that same cloth: big band swing and orchestral jazz. Connick has since occasionally diverged, and in impressive fashion most every time: anywhere from New Orleans funk with Star Turtle & She to hardcore jazz with Occasion & After Hours (alongside the indomitable Brandford Marsalis). 

Book Reviews on a Music Blog

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's probably hard to argue that Michelangelo's painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is a part of history everyone should know, but that doesn't mean it's not fascinating in its own right. King's descriptions of the temperament, disposition, ambiguity, and ego of the artist's artist seem both honest and compelling - Michelangelo comes across as a sort-of Dr. House of the Renaissance. The geopolitical events that surrounded the construction of the world's most illustrious fresco are in and of themselves plenty riveting for the history buff, as well - names as luminary as Midici, Borgia, Machiavelli, and Luther accompany other Renaissance giants like Da Vinci, Raphael, Donatello, & Bromante in making appearances throughout this account. This book serves as another sterling example of how historical fact can many (perhaps most?) times be more interesting than fiction, as well as a reminder that the same tensions, pressures, politics, scandals, and depravities that contaminate our world are, in fact, nothing new. And yet, in the middle of humanity's relentless pursuit of self-debasement, almost unfathomable beauty can somehow manage to make its way into the world.

Thank God.

View all my reviews

Photo of the Day

LA, Overcast

My last day in Los Angeles (for now, anyway) is a cloudy one. Not a bad view from up on the lip of Runyan Canyon, though.

Album Lockdown - Day 10 (One for the artists.)

Alright, readers. Today's post comes from a book I've been reading during my downtime out here in the City of Angels. It's called Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, and, as you probably already surmised, it's a historical account of the events surrounding Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel. (It's a magnificent read if you're at all interested in the history of art or the Renaissance; buyer beware, though, it might be a little dry if you're not already curious about those topics.)

Anyhoo, what I thought I'd pass along to you all today is something that jumped out to me as I reflected on the story in relation to what we're attempting to achieve here in LA with the recording of this album. Namely, that artistic and creative ventures are hard, and we should never be discouraged by the fact that they are so.

Best Of The Springs with Sean Waldron

Before I came out to LA to work on Tyler Ward's new record, I joined forces with Joshua Corbett to support Sean Waldron at a concert celebrating some of the best musicians in Colorado Springs, as voted by the readers of the local city newspaper. A pretty cool honor & accomplishment, to be sure.

The internet has kindly provided us with a few recordings of the show, and as long as you don't mind a bit of home video/camcorder quality, feel free to take a few minutes and dig on this here performance of ours.