I have Google ads on some of my web sites. The Google Adsense program is free for webmasters to join, and I have found it to be very worthwhile spending the time learning about the advertising system. The money I have earned has allowed me to spend more time working on my web sites.

When some people realize that something is an "ad", they have an immediate reaction to avoid looking at it. However, Google ads are different because they are supposed to be highly related to the page they are on. This works best if your page has a "theme" or a clearly focused target audience. For example, if I were to put Google ads on this weblog, the ads would most likely be about music, computers and jazz.

Learn more at: http://www.google.com/adsense/  ¶ 3:13 PM

Brad Harrison is a Toronto-based jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, band leader, teacher and theatre producer! Check out Brad Harrison's web site by clicking here. He also performs at Toronto weddings.  ¶ 1:01 PM

J.D. Considine writes an article in the Globe and Mail (click here to read) about the changing face of jazz. From the article:

... The other thing that's worth noting about jazz festivals is that, for the most part, they're oriented toward concerts, not club shows, and that format seems much easier for younger listeners to grasp...

...Jazz nightclubs are having a rough time all over, and even New York, generally considered the jazz capital of the world, has seen clubs shuttered. It may simply be that clubs like the Montreal Bistro are dying out for the same reasons touring big bands did. And the industry needs a new business model, perhaps something like the Knitting Factory in New York, or the Ironworks in Vancouver, or the Red Guitar in Toronto, multi-use performance spaces without the jazz-only booking policy...

  ¶ 6:18 AM

Stephen Cooke writes in the Halifax Chronicle Herald (click here to read) about Cuban pianist David Virelles. Ten days ago, Virelles' quintet was awarded the Grand Prix de General Motors Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Regarding jazz school and creativity, Virelles is quoted as saying:

"I try to . . . school is funny sometimes, because when you go to school to study jazz, you start editing yourself. Because they teach you that you have to play this, you have to play that, so you kind of learn certain things and get in the habit of playing those things.

"I don’t think that’s good, because you start editing yourself and start putting a limit to your creativity. So without becoming too impulsive, I try to just go for what I’m hearing in my head, and then put it out there."

  ¶ 6:10 AM

Mike Zwerin writes an article on Bloomberg.com (click here) titled: "Soccer Has Defenders, Jazz Has `Compers'".
From the article:

During the World Cup, soccer critics kept pointing out how solid, experienced defensive players like Lilian Thuram and Fabio Cannavaro, who subordinate their own talents to the good of the team, are the real stars -- how their unsung playmaking holds everything else together.

It occurred to me that the same could be said about accompanists in jazz bands.

[...]

The way Count Basie chose arrangers and cast his instrumentalists and soloists was a similar revolutionary form of 20th-century composition to Ellington's. Basie was the ultimate minimalist, and together with his retiring guitarist Freddie Green, he demonstrated how pianissimo could be very loud indeed -- ``Atomic Basie.''

Sorry to mix metaphors, but going out of your way to hear good compers is also a bit like keeping your eye on the linebackers in an American football game. [...]

  ¶ 1:27 AM

I created some highly experimental music called "This Is Not China Town" (click here to listen).  ¶ 1:06 AM

I recently recorded some solo jazz piano standards at the Art Institute Studio in Burnaby, BC. I am quite pleased with the results!

Click here to listen.

Thanks to Mike G. for doing the engineering, mixing, and mastering.  ¶ 1:26 AM

(Note: After a jazz gig I enjoy listening to pop on the way home, so for this post, this weblog veers briefly into the world of popular music.)

From an interview in Blender Magazine (click here) with Canadian pop superstar Nelly Furtado: (whose album Loose and track Promiscuous are currently topping the charts around the world. Promiscuous isn't as popular in the UK, but another track from the same album, Maneater, is at number 2.)

> You’re 27, which is the age of gruesome premature rock deaths: Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison. Why do you think 27 is such a killer?

I think the rock & roll lifestyle affords you a motorway to midlife crisis, which comes 10 to 20 years earlier than it normally would. You’re dealing with the increased neurosis of becoming an adult and you’ve got to deal with your inner demons in front of everyone.

> How do you exorcise your demons?

Listening to heavy, heavy rock music like System of a Down and Death From Above 1979. I love the rhythms and the loud vocals and guitars.

Read more about Nelly's CD at Amazon.com (click here).

View Nelly Furtado's web site (click here).  ¶ 1:04 AM

I wrote an article on some of my thoughts on Learning Jazz Piano (click here to read).  ¶ 12:06 AM