In this modern age of science and discovery, our scientists and researchers continue to attack and de-mystify the remaining unsolved wonders of the natural world. Take for example the limitless marvels of the human body. It seems that for everything that is unknown and marvelous, our curiosity drives us to unravel, pick apart, and analyze every last inner detail. The process of figuring out how something works can sometimes yield new ideas and insights, but it usually brings us no closer to the capacity to create the wonderful object ourselves. Thankfully Mary Shelley's vision of Frankenstein has not come true (but of course, some would argue that it has).

Our valiant attempts at understanding the human body, and our resulting failure to create artificial life, is a prime example of this theory. Or on another extreme, take the jazz concept of "swing".

One of the best compliments a jazz musician can get is a remark that he/she really "swings". So, not surprisingly, some scientists in Sweden decided to analyze a set of classic jazz recordings and measure the "swing ratio", which is the ratio between the lengths of the short and long notes in a swinging eight note pair. They discovered that there is a big discrepancy between the swing ratio of a soloist and the swing ratio of the cymbal in the rhythm section. The drummer's cymbal was shown to have a significantly greater swing ratio!

The same scientists have created a computer program which was shown (through trials on people) to produce recognizable emotion and expressiveness in the way it performs. Their project is to find rules for how people perform music expressively, and create computer programs that perform music using these rules.

What I really wonder (and kind of doubt) is if these scientists can actually "swing" themselves. They are like the engineers who created IBM's powerful chess-playing computer "Deep Blue" - not amazing chess players themselves, but just good at programming.

On the other hand, it's interesting how many great musicians don't consciously know how they make the music that they create. Unless they are teachers, a lot of musicians simply know that they start playing, and then music comes out! I attended a workshop with the amazing Canadian saxophonist P.J. Perry, who was at a loss for words when asked to explain how he uses his tongue when playing quickly articulated notes.

However vexing this perplexing contradiction actually is, there is no real problem here. Scientists can still keep advancing science, and musicians can still keep playing music. The interesting part is when the two groups start to collaborate and combine their ideas, skills, and knowledge. That's when the real magic happens.  ¶ 1:31 AM

Bruce Dudley is a Nashville-area jazz pianist and music educator. You can read a glowing review of his 1997 CD, Semblance, and then listen to four RealAudio excerpts from that same CD. I'll let you decide for yourself, but my mind is made up. (He's good!) In case you're in Nashville, go down to hear him perform this Saturday (details here).  ¶ 12:09 AM

As an experimental project, I've started recording my piano practices and posting them on my web site. How boring! But people are doing crazy things on the Internet these days, me included!  ¶ 12:41 AM

I got into a creative mood and recorded a new audio track, this time an instrumental rock song entitled "A New Day". It's available on my Musical Sketchbook. I hope you enjoy it.  ¶ 2:22 AM

Stumbled upon this collection of reviews about pianist Jon Mayer and his jazz trio. That includes a recording of his Piano Jazz interview on National Public Radio (NPR) with Marian McPartland (part 1, part 2, part 3). This month Mayer released a new recording entitled "The Classics", and some sample clips are available. Also check out a one minute clip of On Green Dolphin Street. Most of these links come from Jon Mayer's personal web site.  ¶ 11:00 PM

If you live in Phoenix, Arizona, you probably know about the 8-piece blues band called "Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns". Mp3 samples are available on their CD Page.

From an article in the Arizona Republic:

The eight-piece band, which started as a four-piece blues band, has been together for 13 years and during that time expanded both in size and the style of music they play.

"We try to cater to our audience," manager and rhythm guitarist Rich Brydle said. "Because we have been in so many different situations, we have had to play more of a variety of music like funk, jazz, R&B and Motown. We became a roadhouse blues band with horns. We're sort of a band for all seasons."

The band released its first full-length CD last year, If You Got the Blues, which features a handful of original compositions as well as a few cover songs.

"We present the music in a B.B. King, big band fashion with horns," Brydle said. "We've held true to that format for over ten years now."

  ¶ 1:04 AM

Steve Gorn is a jazz flautist, accomplished saxophonist, and a "Bansuri virtuoso". The Bansuri is a kind of Indian flute. Originally trained at Penn State as a jazz musician, Gorn travelled, toured, and lived throughout India.

From Steve Gorn's bio:

Steve Gorn is creating a new idiom, a music that combines the essence of classical Indian tradition with a contemporary world music sensibility. The strength of this music is grounded in a virtuoso mastery, generating a vibrant fusion, alive and accessible to western ears. In his astounding new solo album, Colors of the Mind, Steve infuses great mastery with a haunting, lyrical sweetness to bring the healing breath of the sacred to our demanding contemporary lives.

From an article about Steve Gorn in the Times of India:

Mr Gorn is singularly fascinated by the intricacies of the flute—the ‘komal re’ and the ‘komal gaa’, for instance. “It’s a tad difficult—this ‘komal’ (half-tone) business. You have to half-shut the holes of the flute with tact. Again, the ‘phoonk’ (throw of breath) and the lip control are dicey things,’’ says Mr Gorn.

He offers immediate proof of his exquisite craftsmanship on the ‘bansuri’, even as his guru and noted flautist Pandit Raghunath Seth looks on admiringly. Mr. Gorn is worried that the U.S. has been exporting “junk culture’’ to other countries, thanks to globalisation.

“It’s not only sad, but revolting that the U.S. is offering fast food and vulgar music to the world. However, the media revolution has, I must add, brought all kinds of music within our reach, just a mouse-click away. This is most certainly heartening.We should learn to discriminate between good music and crap’’.

  ¶ 12:51 AM

Want to be a DJ? Jeff Mills, a "techno wizard" as described by the Paul Jackson of the Daily Yomiuri, has put together a new CD and DVD showing how Mills plays his turntables like any other musician would play his/her instrument. You can check out still shots from this DVD on Jeff Mills' Axis Records web site.  ¶ 11:18 PM

A good article on brain-machine interface experiments a research lab is doing with monkeys.  ¶ 12:07 AM