From a Minneapolis newspaper regarding Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba: "A glut of piano greats has emerged from Cuba in the past couple of decades, both dazzling youngsters and grizzled, vital veterans. Rubalcaba is no longer a phenom, and hardly an elder statesman, but he surely has distinguished himself as the most subtle, most probing, least flashy Cuban keyboard king, and has a 2002 Grammy Award and a stack of other nominations to attest to his prowess and popularity." One of his albums is Inner Voyage - read a review, and listen to music clips from the album. Another album with music clips is Antiguo. Rubalcaba is good friends with Cuban vocalist Issac Delgado, who is interviewed here.  ¶ 2:19 AM

Gary Larsen, the cartoonist of the famous Far Side series, retired from cartooning 9 years ago to pursue the jazz guitar. Apparently Gary Larsen is a friend of the guitarist Jim Hall. I'm sure Gary has made enough money through his cartooning that he can focus on music without the usual hardships of being a musician.  ¶ 1:01 AM

I don't usually post computer-related stuff here, but this one is cool: the Google Deskbar. Instant shortcut key access to Google and other user-programmable searches. And it's free!  ¶ 2:00 AM

From a review of a recent (Nov. 17th) concert of pianist Keith Jarrett in Seattle: "He seems to have somehow figured out how to bypass the limitations of his hands and let the music flow directly through him and out of the piano." Now that's the kind of level that every musician hopes to attain! In the future, I think we'll have direct brain interfaces to our instruments, but for now the only way to reach such a level is through a lifetime of playing music.  ¶ 12:58 AM

Wow, look at all these PMG (Pat Metheny Group) chords and transcriptions. I've been finding that PMG is very compatible with doing finance homework. Just the right amount of right-brain stimulation. However, I did a bit of reading and the whole thing about the right-brain being more "artistic" is not entirely true.  ¶ 11:40 PM

I just posted a new music track that I recorded, a version of So What by Miles Davis. Hope you enjoy it.  ¶ 1:52 AM

Just came back from a saxophone workshop with the amazing PJ Perry and the incredible Campbell Ryga. My teacher, Chris Sigerson, accompanied them on piano. I was honoured to attend this workshop with so many fine musicians. Perry and Ryga discussed a broad range of subjects in the 3 hour workshop, but what I loved was how Perry describes the freedom he feels when he improvises: after playing the saxophone for 40 years, he no longer has to "think" about the mechanics of playing, but seems to have an almost spiritual connection with the creative source of his music, which flows out effortlessly. He feels that he has only been reaching this level recently, and that his whole career has consisted of a set of "frustrations" or challenges which he overcame to reach the "next level". He said that you should "never leave the house without your saxophone" and described how he was quite aggressive in asking good musicians to sit in with them at gigs, and going backstage to meet them. He also commented that he always tries to extend himself when soloing, which makes him a more inconsistent player than if he always tried to "play it safe". He said that you should "always try to play with the best musicians you can, all the time." Definitely some good advice and inspiration!  ¶ 4:50 PM

Dennis Rollins is a British funk trombone player. Yes, you might not think so, but the trombone can be a pretty funky instrument at times! Read a review of one of his group's gigs. Another funky trombonist is Fred Wesley who toured with James Brown and was bestowed the title of the "funkiest trombone player" by Brown himself.  ¶ 11:54 PM

Tracing early forms of hip-hop/rap lead me to an interesting group, The Last Poets, who recorded "jazz poetry" which is "spoken word over jazz sounds and electronic beats" from 1970-73. Check out samples from one of their CD's. See how they fit into this chronology of hip-hop, which highlights some notable hip-hop groups from the 1970's to today.  ¶ 12:35 AM

"Born in Rio de Janeiro, singer, composer, and instrumentalist Joyce has amassed 31 years in the music business, 21 solo discs, and almost 300 recordings of her songs by some of the greatest names in Brazilian and International music, such as Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, Milton Nascimento, Ney Matogrosso, Emilio Santiago, Zizi Possi, Elizeth Cardoso, Simone, Flora Purim, Wallace Roney, Jon Lucien..." Check out Joyce's web site which has lots of MP3 samples in the Discography section.   ¶ 10:03 PM

The story of the Filmore - an online documentary describing the rise and fall - and rise again - of San Francisco's premier African American community. Includes archives of music from musicians such as Vernon Alley and Sugar Pie De Santo.  ¶ 4:37 PM

I just went to see Barachois, a group specializing in Acadian traditional music. It's sad that this is their last tour before their disbandment. They were incredible to watch - their main fiddle player, Louise, had an amazing way of tapping her feet in Acadian style while fiddling up a storm! In this picture, Albert is using a saw as a percussion instrument.
  ¶ 11:07 PM

According to my version of Windows Media Player, the most popular jazz record this week is "Speakin' Out" by the Seattle trio New Stories. I'm wondering if this is really because this band is a major hit, or is it just because their "Highway Blues" is included as a sample with all Windows XP machines?  ¶ 11:55 PM

Perusing some LA jazz musicians I came across Judy Wexler. Her rendition of My Foolish Heart is interesting - an upbeat bossa-nova feel with some tasteful piano lines. I enjoyed hearing this song's lyrics, as it is commonly done as a slow instrumental ballad (such as the classic Bill Evans version).  ¶ 12:17 AM

If you're a fan of house music, you'll definitely want to check out the DeepHousePage, which has an incredible collection of downloadable house tracks from around the world on its Mix Archive page. It's also a good place to get your feet wet with house music if you're not so familiar with it. [Thanks to Mr Mike]  ¶ 10:23 PM

Aaron Parks - a 20 year old jazz pianist who studied with Kenny Barron and plays with Terence Blanchard.  ¶ 1:23 PM

Nicola Conte is an Italian DJ who is heavily influenced by jazz. Cary Darling writes, "his accidental discovery [of jazz] became the nexus of an Italian jazz-inflected dance-club scene." Listen to this radio feature about him which includes excerpts from an on-air interview and musical clips. Listen to samples from one of his CD's or visit his discography (with more audio samples).

His production company, Eighteenth Street Lounge Music has other artists which are also worth a look.  ¶ 2:19 AM

Golden rule of business (from my ever-entertaining Finance textbook): "Whosoever has the gold makes the rules." Check out an interesting page describing the Golden Rule in various religions.  ¶ 11:19 PM

From an interview with legendary jazz pianist Keith Jarrett (who is giving a concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle Friday night):

Q: You have been described as a musical ecstatic. Can you achieve this state while playing classical music like you can in jazz?

A: Classical music is kind of barren in that respect. I don't think classical players are changed by the music they play. First of all, the music is already old, and even if it's new, it's old. Somebody has been poring over it, rewriting it, erasing it — by the time the music is rehearsed and played, it represents a time that is gone.

As a jazz player, you're asked to do the opposite. You're asked to be emotionally fluid, like a liquid, and that's what we are anyway — we're 98 percent liquid. Because of that, a jazz player can get life-affirming or life-changing experiences that a classical player cannot.

I have never seen a classical player who's happy. Usually they talk so fast that it's hard for me to believe that there's any part of them that's relaxed! I personally think that the stress of learning and interpreting that music is greater than the rewards.   ¶ 6:26 PM

Article on Renee Rosnes, an amazing jazz pianist and former Vancouverite.  ¶ 3:36 PM

PHP Programming Look at the lecture slides from a talk given by Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of PHP. Interesting tips such as how to generate a PDF on the fly with PHP.  ¶ 1:17 AM

Take this quiz: What Key Signature are You?

Here's me: "Cb major - life is full of complications, commitments and organisation. You love to make sure everything is just perfect, but sometimes this can cause you to fall over your own feet. A slightly unsociable key: why Cb major when you could be the identical Bmajor? It has less accidentals."

Thanks to Mandelbear for this one.  ¶ 12:00 AM

String Cheese Incident!! From an article about the band: "Conservative people could be excused if they called String Cheese Incident a band for neo-hippies. The Boulder, Colo., group jams and improvises long songs, which blend rock, bluegrass, jazz and island sounds, deep into the night." I like a lot of their music - Nardis sounds a lot like John Scofield.  ¶ 4:45 PM

Internet radio is wonderful - but sometimes radio shows are on at odd times when I can't be there to listen. The solution? I use my computer like a VCR and set it to record an internet radio program at a specific time, using CyberCorder 2000. You can set it up to record any radio program, and it saves the recording in MP3 format. It's not trivial to set up, but if you like tinkering with settings, give it a try!  ¶ 12:40 AM

Smooth jazz!! Embarrassingly enough, sometimes I get a craving for it, just like I do for mind-numbing house music and greasy-as-heck Kentucky Fried Chicken. Usually I am able to control the craving and avoid listening at all, but once in a while I give in. Sad to say I am the proud owner of a Boney James album (well, it was a gift!). A lesser known smooth jazz artist is guitarist Eric Byak who is self-described as playing "Smooth Brazilian Jazz Funk and Fusion".  ¶ 12:52 AM

William Gottleib is a famed jazz photographer whose most highly regarded works were done between 1938 and 1948. He is still alive, and some of his work is featured in an archive of photographs from the "golden age of jazz".  ¶ 1:42 AM

Check out this news article about me (includes nifty colour photo!).  ¶ 1:15 AM