Happy Halloween! Here's a pumpkin sculpture link for you.  ¶ 12:58 AM

From an interview with John Medeski (from Medeski Martin and Wood):

"A great gig can come from a fancy dinner, or from brown rice and miso soup. Food inspires me. Fuel is always important. But a great gig could even come out of being sick. There are so many different ways to be inspired. For me, it's not about having a formula; it's about tuning into what needs to be done for that particular moment. It's not always easy. Sometimes you try something that worked in the past and it doesn't work in the present."
  ¶ 11:54 PM

A jazz festival in Vietnam! Cool!  ¶ 12:52 AM

Interesting collection of scanned sheet music from the turn of the century.  ¶ 12:40 AM

Site worth checking out: The Hard Bob Homepage.

Other stuff: you can sign up for Blue Note Radio and listen to a collection of their records.

Every day of the week there is some NPR Radio Station playing that week's recording of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, where Marian interviews great jazz pianists. You can listen to it online by following the links to a NPR Station that is playing it.  ¶ 1:59 AM

I went surfing for interesting stuff, and found the Surfing Jazz Quintet. Their After the Rain Samba has a pretty killer Rhodes solo.  ¶ 1:44 AM

The Jazz Corner puts together web sites for "less well known" but very amazing jazz musicians...

...such as Jimmie Amadie, a pianist who "suffers from acute tendonitis, an inflammation of the tendons that marks every note he plays with searing pain. As a result, Amadie, who often keeps his hands in braces, has rarely been heard at the keys. Although a prominent presence in jazz education (his harmonic concepts have gained faithful adherents worldwide), the man has barely played in public at all over the past 40 years. Amadie's previous albums -- the fine solo piano outings Always With Me and Savoring Every Note, in 1996 and '98 -- were assembled piecemeal, painstakingly, track by track. His newest release involved an even more rigorous process, taking a full five years to complete. The crucial difference between this and his previous efforts is apparent in the title. In A Trio Setting documents Amadie's first-ever record leading an ensemble."
  ¶ 1:15 AM

One of the coolest jobs would be to write music for movies like the Matrix. Check out the site of Don Davis, a prolific cinematic and television composer.  ¶ 10:13 PM

From an article about jazz in Korea:


"When it comes to jazz in Korea, the outside is splendid, but the inside is empty," Yoo said. "Many people who are really avid about jazz can't even afford to see the celebrated acts that come here."

The SNU Jazz Festival, organized with the pure passion of students, has proven to be the longest-lasting. Performing at the event will be other student bands, including GrooV from Sungkyunkwan University, Flat 5 from Dong-Ah Broadcasting College and Jazzing You from Hankuk Aviation University. The event is free and open to all.

"Jazz is supposed to be casual and free. It's the only musical form where improvisation is so crucial, where the performer is at the same time the composer," Yoo said. "I want to create an environment where jazz can be casual, free and appreciated by all."


Also check out this article on the Seoul Jazz Academy.
  ¶ 12:36 AM

Charlie Hunter’s top five desert island discs:

“Unity” - Larry Young
“Mingus Ah Um” - Charles Mingus
“Boss Guitar” - Wes Montgomery
“Tango Zero Hour” - Astor Piazzolla
“Funk Power” - James Brown

... from this inteview with guitarist Charlie Hunter. He also recommends listening to Grammy Award-winning bass player John Benitez.

Top 5 recordings of all time in Jazz, according to Brad Turner (from a jazz camp I attended with him):

Kind of Blue, Milestones (miles davis (Late 50's )) - Columbia
Crescent - John Coltrane (Impulse) 1964
Live at Newport - Duke Ellington
Live at the Village Vanguard - Bill Evans
VGetsu - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers   ¶ 12:59 AM

Jamie Cullum is a British jazz pianist and vocalist who recently signed a deal with Universal for a million pounds. The kicker is that he is only 23 years old. Wow, with the recent "mega success" of Vancouver's 25-year-old crooner Michael Buble and of course Norah Jones, it seems that a whole new young generation is starting to enjoy jazz. What a wonder that jazz becoming "popular" music again. Exciting times, definitely!  ¶ 12:09 AM

You've probably heard Kid Koala on CBC Radio 2's late night show Brave New Waves with Patti Schmidt. Check out some of his recent exploits. Very creative and talented DJ and artist. (not that DJ's aren't artists - he's just so much more than a DJ)  ¶ 10:58 PM

From a conversation with pianist Kenny Barron:

I think the audience is ever-expanding. Although you wouldn't believe that, record companies are saying, "Well, instrumental jazz doesn't sell, so we are only going to sign singers." It's just what they have been doing. So, in terms of record sales, it would seem that things are a little desperate.

But, if you go to many clubs, especially in New York, they will be crowded, and not a singer among them. I don't mean that in a negative way; we are just talking about what the record companies see and what's really out there live. But, the audience is there for the music.

When you leave New York, now it's different. There aren't a lot of venues outside of New York like there used to be. When I was with Dizzy, we could work our way out to California and back and it would take three or four months. We would stay two or three weeks in one club. And sometimes those clubs had two bands. I don't know what happened. I don't think that people have stopped listening to jazz.  ¶ 10:46 PM

Check out the web site of Hemme Luttjeboer, a professional transcriber and guitarist, who incidentally plays in Fat Jazz with me. This guy lives and breathes music!  ¶ 12:14 AM

From an article on Wynton Marsalis:

The fourth song was a solo showcase for the trumpeter, who, I could now see, was indeed Marsalis, but who no more sounded than looked like what I expected. He played a ballad, "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You," unaccompanied. Written by Victor Young, a film-score composer, for a 1930s romance, the piece can bring out the sadness in any scene, and Marsalis appeared deeply attuned to its melancholy. He performed the song in murmurs and sighs, at points nearly talking the words in notes. It was a wrenching act of creative expression. When he reached the climax, Marsalis played the final phrase, the title statement, in declarative tones, allowing each successive note to linger in the air a bit longer. "I don't stand ... a ghost ... of ... a ... chance ..." The room was silent until, at the most dramatic point, someone's cell phone went off, blaring a rapid singsong melody in electronic bleeps. People started giggling and picking up their drinks. The moment—the whole performance—unraveled.

Marsalis paused for a beat, motionless, and his eyebrows arched. I scrawled on a sheet of notepaper, MAGIC, RUINED. The cell-phone offender scooted into the hall as the chatter in the room grew louder. Still frozen at the microphone, Marsalis replayed the silly cell-phone melody note for note. Then he repeated it, and began improvising variations on the tune. The audience slowly came back to him. In a few minutes he resolved the improvisation—which had changed keys once or twice and throttled down to a ballad tempo—and ended up exactly where he had left off: "with ... you ..." The ovation was tremendous.   ¶ 3:02 AM

Wow, pretty cool - my GoogleDuel was reportedly used in a live demo by Allan Vermeulen, CTO of Amazon in a keynote presentation at Web Services Edge 2003 West, a conference held in Santa Clara, California.

"In the demo, he allowed the audience to suggest two words for the live submission. To his shock, someone shouted out "Amazon" and "EBay". With some concern, the words were entered and submitted. When the page showed that Amazon was the clear winner, Mr. Vermeulen was as happy as anyone even to the point of giving his assistant a two handed high-five. He declared that this was a perfect example of using this tool. Obviously, this comparison will be the choice for future demonstrations."
  ¶ 10:50 PM

As well as studying music and computing science, I am also taking a joint major in business. Although there is a lot I could say about business school, I almost broke out laughing at the silliness of one of my "Corporate Finance" questions: "Suppose you are still committed to owing a $120,000 Ferrari. If you believe your mutual fund can achieve a 9 percent annual rate of return and you want to buy the car in 10 years on the day you turn 30, how much must you invent today?"

It seems as fanciful as the commercials for the Lotto Super 7 Shopping Network for the Super Rich (click on "Campaign"). (p.s. the answer is $50,689.30)
  ¶ 11:40 PM

I was excited to read about the recent scientific breakthrough where monkeys successfully controlled robot arms using only their thoughts and brain implants. The web site of the research lab involved describes research on areas such as Computer/Brain Interfaces and sports a very slick interface. What surprised me the most was when "Girl From Ipanema" started playing as I was browsing the site, and then I noticed a built-in audio player on the top of the window that features a collection of classic Antonio Carlos Jobim recordings, with Stan Getz, Gilberto, and Jobim himself. Wow, this site ranks right up with Ken Perlin's as a hotbed of creative thought and innovation. Highly recommended.  ¶ 11:15 PM

I've started an online musical sketchbook, where I'm going to post a few "works in progress".  ¶ 1:48 AM

Cease and Desist is a rock cover band based in Vancouver that is pretty darn good at what they do. Their demo MP3 is interesting, because it contains a series of 10 second song clips in a medley format and manages to keep some kind of continuity! I got to their site by searching for Jack Guppy, drummer for Barney Bentall, who is incidentally my grandmother's sister's son.  ¶ 12:04 AM

I've been enjoying a lot of Herbie Hancock's music recently. Check out his amazing discography.

From his biography:
"Hancock was perfectly suited for the electronic age; he was one of the earliest champions of the Rhodes electric piano and Hohner clavinet and would field an ever-growing collection of synthesizers and computers on his electric dates. Yet his love for the grand piano never waned, and despite his peripatetic activities all around the musical map, his piano style continues to evolve into tougher, ever-more-complex forms. He is as much at home trading riffs with a smoking funk band as he is communing with a world-class post bop rhythm section -- and that drives purists on both sides of the fence up the wall."  ¶ 11:13 PM

I've posted a few photos of the SFU Jazz Band.  ¶ 7:59 PM

I've created a new web toy, it's called Geoff's Gender Guesser. Give it a first name and it will tell you whether it is male or female! Try it and see!  ¶ 1:26 AM

Thanks to my friend Boris, I've launched GoogleDuel.com.  ¶ 11:03 PM

Here's a lick I transcribed off a Keith Jarrett recording:
4,5,#5,Maj7,9,5,4,b3.

It leads very nicely into a minor chord. (I'll post the music notes when I have time!)  ¶ 10:17 PM