Malcolm in the middle theme

Have you ever seen Malcolm in the middle? The crazy and funny family which should be an ordinary family but maybe they have too much eccentricites. Yes, Malcolm is in the middle but just because he's telling us their story, the story of his parents and three brothers.

I've liked the intro for the very first time. Pictures of their life as seen in an older version in tv, pictures of cartoons and so on. Starting with the unmistakable "Yes, no, maybeee... I don't know... can you repeat the question?" lyrics. It's Boss of me by They might be giants. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Za8HggalY

And here's a very nice video made for another song by this band. It's Meet the elements.

The Billie Holiday Story...

Earlier I've written about the album Billie Holiday - Recorded from Carnegie Hall live but then I didn't know that it's a piece in a series called The Billie Holiday Story by Verve Records. Especially that's the one before the last one in the edition. I really love it, and listening to the samples of its neighbours, those also seem to be cool: containing her finest songs, in well constructed selections.

vol.1.: Jazz at the Philharmonic

vol.2.: Solitude

vol.3.: Recital by

vol.4.: Lady sings the blues

vol.5.: Music for torching

vol.6.: Recorded from Carnegie Hall live

vol.7.: All or nothing at all

If I was president

Staying in Wyclef's word, now I'll show you his new song, If I was president. As everybody could know, Wyclef nominated himself on the prime minister election of Haiti. Then, in the end he changed his mind. On his website we can read:

“After weeks of quiet but painstaking reflection with my wife and daughter, I have chosen to end my bid for the presidency of Haiti,” said Jean. “This was not an easy conclusion to reach; but it is one that was thoughtfully made, taking into account many, many competing factors and weighing the course that will best advance the healing of the country and help it find the quickest path to recovery.”

But the song turned out to be very good. Especially its lyrics took effect on me:

If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday,
Assassinated on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
Then go back to work on Monday...

Hope you'll work for the welfare of Haiti, and make music as well (his new album will come out soon).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pq_3OheqzU

Wyclef Jean - The preacher's son

A few years ago in late afternoon I got an sms from my father: please turn on the amplifier , I'm taking home some black music which rocks. That was this album. He arrived home and we immediately put it in the cd player, and the deep sounds filled the room. Wyclef Jean moved into our life...

... and he's still with us, especially when we want to do some loudness, hear some black rhythms and cool music. He presents this album by the following words:


In the history of the world, something significant happens every 2000 years. Behold the testimony of time, behold the music of the next millenium, behold the revelations of "The Preacher's Son". The date of my birth, October 17th, marks the date of the death the Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This link to such a profound and powerful man has helped me to understand that I too can be a revolutionary, that I too can use the tools and gifts that I have been given to affect change in the world. This is my tribute. And your invitation. Welcome to "THE PREACHER'S SON".


And yes, this album is created carefully, taking attention to its little elements as well. As Steve Harvey tells us in the intro, it is soothing, it's grooving, it is the truth, it's old, it's new, it's for everybody. 

Every song is a little world, with many singing voices, dense arrangement, deep basses, awesome rhythms and melodies. Many musicians participated in the making of this album, for example: Missy Elliott, Carlos Santana, Sharissa... and the result is a colourful, interesting bunch of songs. Songs about love (I am your doctor, Baby), memories (Class reunion), our future (Next generation), and so on.

I'm your chiropractor

Please lay down on a sofa

And let me massage your back

So I can tell you what's wrong...

Don't forget to check The carnival also by him, with the awesome and never-again-repeatable Guantanamera, and visit his website, where you can watch the concert videos addressed to twitter and facebook.

I am your doctor:

Autumn in New York

... and not just there but everywhere in the Northern hemisphere. Except Autumn leaves, Autumn in New York is the most famous jazz standard about the time of fall. In this song the lyrics isn't about the lost love and the sorrow, it's about the status when a big town is getting surrounded by a new, magical season. And because in NY everything is the most-most-most, autumn is also had to be wonderful there, and the song is an additional proof for it. It was written in 1934 by Vernon Duke and also performed by many musicians and singers.

Jazzstandard.com tells us "Vernon Duke’s composition was written for the 1934 showThumbs Up! and introduced by J. Harold Murray. Thirteen years later it rose to number 27 on the pop charts thanks to a fine vocal version by Frank Sinatra."

Autumn in New York
Why does it seem so inviting?
Autumn in New York
It spells the thrill of first-knighting

Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds
In canyons of steel
They're making me feel
I'm home

It's autumn in New York
That brings the promise of new love
Autumn in New York
Is often mingled with pain

Dreamers with empty hands
May sigh for exotic lands
It's autumn in New York
It's good to live it again

Lovers that bless the dark
On benches in Central Park
It's autumn in New York
It's good to live it again

Some albums on which you can hear it:

• Ahmad Jamal Trio - Ahmad's blues
• Billie Holiday - Lady in autumn - The best of the Verve years
• Bud Powell - The amazing Bud Powell, vol. 2.
• Buddy Defranco - Mr. Clarinet
• Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker with strings -the master takes
• Chet Baker Quartet - Jazz in Paris, vol. 53.
• Dexter Gordon - Autumn in New York
• Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis again
• Frank Sinatra - Come fly with me
• Jo Stafford - Autumn in New York and other classics
• John Stetch - Heavens of a hundred days
• Kenny Barron - New York attitude
• Mel Tormé - Songs of New York
• Phineas Newborn Jr - Phineas' rainbow
• Shelly Manne - The three and the two
• Sonny Stitt - Autumn in New York
• Stan Kenton - Portraits on standards
• Sun Ra - The Sun Ra Sextet at the Village Vaungard
• The Hi-Lo's - Love nest / All over the place
• The Modern Jazz Quartet - Django

Some videos - Autumn in New York, performance by:

• Ella and Louis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50zL8TnMBN8
• Billie Holiday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS3ZTVeqJjA
• Frank Sinatra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WohRBN5oflE

Read more about it here.

More standards about autumn: Autumn leaves, September in the rain, September song.

Preparing for autumn

Autumn is my fave season. Especially September. Then the colour of light changes, the dark yellow turns into pale yellow, the warmness decreases a little, and silence sets. Beautiful landscapes are being created then. And a new season gets new music in our minds, too. Autumn is for me about the revival of jazz and progressive rock, which I rarely listen to in the summertime. Soul's got to move into the background.

For example, as Septembers defeats August, I always listen to Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' else. On that album you can hear the best performance of the jazz standard, Autumn leaves. In the autumn I really like jazz standards. I recommend Billie Holiday's Recorded from Carnegie Hall live, that's cool for early autumn evenings, when the Sun disappears sooner and sooner each day. Horace Silver's Song for my father and Herbie Hancock's Maiden voyage are also connected to fall in my thoughts. The first because its cover and also the slight mysterious mood that crawls into the melodies and cause uncertainty, the second because that's really contemplative*. Coltrane's music has to be listened to again, too, starting with for ex. Ballads then heading on more serious pieces. I'll also pick Chick Corea and Return to forever's Light as a feather, and of course, the season autumn, more precisely the colder, darker kind of it is also the ECM season, as I called it earlier. But the transition between summer and winter isn't only about people turning inside and becoming contemplative, more silent, and calmer. The calmness often walks with doubt, uncertainty hand in hand, and that side of autumn is represented by progressive rock for me. I think about King Crimson's Lizard, Islands, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's ELP, some Pink Floyd albums...

More:

Gabor Szabo - Spellbinder

Al Di Meola - Elegant gypsy

Sophie Zelmani - Love affair

Kuupuu - Unilintu

* "Autumn in poetry has often been associated with melancholy. The possibilities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Skies turn grey, and people turn inward, both physically and mentally." (Wikipedia)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

(John Keats - To autumn (first verse))

Have a nice autumn.

Farewell to summer

As you could get used to it, seasons play a big role in my life. Each with its different atmosphere, different thoughts, weather, and so on. Therefore the first and last days of each season are always kept in mind - those are the days when something ends or starts.

Now the summer mood has to be over, and we have to say goodbye to it somehow. Last year, I did it by posting John Mayall's Turning point. Another cool post to say goodbye is in the few days at the weekend house section, Just a song before I go. Now in the last days of summer, the songs from Black Moses kept running in my head.

Isaac Hayes - Black Moses

I've been thinking what the next post will be about, and one of the possibilities was Black Moses by Isaac Hayes. The only thing which kept me back was that I've posted two albums by him recently, and this act will decrease the colourful style of this blog. But I kept thinking and the melodies came into my head again and again, and thought: now is the time when this album takes real effect on me, so this time has to be the most suitable time for it.

The first song sets the atmosphere well. It's an atmosphere which emotional, romantic, but never gets sloppy. Amongst the three albums I own (the other two are Hot buttered soul and Shaft) on this one he sings the most time. His velvety, deep singing voice is an elementary factor in his songs. These songs are well arranged, and his voice is ... by female background voices, which sound really cool. The best vocals are in the second track, (They long to be) Close to you. It's a new interpretation of the song which was written in 1963, but the most famous version of it is by The carpenters. Why do birds suddenly appear, every time when you are near? What he did with this song is similar to what he did with Walk on by on Hot buttered soul. A wholly new interpretation which you listen to and the original song is only a little part of it. A brand new performance, but rather a brand new song. I can't imagine how can it be missing from the cover versions of it at Wikipedia. The singing melody has also changed a little, and I think it's even better.

On this album every song is a little single world. They are rather long, so there's time show resolutions, and creating emphasis. For example, in the song mentioned previously, or in the first song, Never can say goodbye as they start the refrain again and again, the song doesn't want to stop. There are more examples of this re-start mood on the album. In A brand new me, the lyrics makes the same. This is my same old coat... and my same old shoes... I was a same old me... and so on, the repeat of the lines create the emphasis well.

It's a 2 cd album and in 2009 Stax released an awesome version of it. As you open the digipack, as you opened the lp, you get a cross-shaped form with large images of Isaac, and a long booklet with additional images. That's my best cd edition I've ever had. See the image below.

Never can say goodbye:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKKVIEZPTYk

(They long to be) Close to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlaA5fkAa-o

Me and the devil

This song deserves a mini-post. As I wrote it in the previous one, Me and the devil is the single song by Gil Scott-Heron, from his brand new 2010 album, I'm new here. It's a rather new performance of Robert Johnson's Me and the devil blues.
His voice turned into a really unique sound. An excellent video was made for this song, too, and here music and picture work together perfectly. We can peek into another world which opens when darkness falls - strange people appear in the streets. Painted faces. Lights in the darkness. Far noises. New kind of nightlife.

In the video, after the song there's a fantastic part where Gil Scott makes a monologue with a deep drum pattern and beautiful string melody (it's another track on the album, Your soul and mine).

"A new record from Gil Scott-Heron, forty years after his first solo album, is a cause for major celebration and something that the world needs now more than ever."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OET8SVAGELA

Video for the album

Visit his website: www.gilscottheron.net

Gil-Scott Heron - Reflections

An unknown face in sunglasses, reflecting a black and white image with Miles Davis. Who could it be?

Gil Scott-Heron's music is not as famous as the musicians' in earlier posts like Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, etc. I have this album in a special release which proves this fact, too (The vibe! - original rare grooves album series). But he is still active nowadays, his latest album, I'm new here, came out in 2010 and I reckon it became a success. The devil and me is a really "deep" song with a cool and little surreal motion picture. The noir feeling and the painted faces do a great job.

I love this 1981 album for a lot of things. First of all, because of the new discovery. When unexpected music steps in man's life. I like as the first song, Storm music sets a loose, somehow carefree mood by the harmonica melody, and the new, special voice which sometimes speaks, sometimes sings - really unique. His voice became even more characteristic on his new album, it's worth to hear, see the video below. I like the contrast in Grandma's hands between the nostalgic topic and synthesizer melody in the background. I like as Morning thoughts are really morning thoughts, the awesome bass melody, its cool lyrics and the perfect atmosphere creating. That's my favourite song on this album. I also like - and that was how I discovered this music - the Inner city blues performance. It became slower and got a lighter interpretation than the original darker Marvin Gaye song. To sum up, it's a very colourful album and a nice start to make his new album a likable one, which is still extraordinary to me. Times will change, I dare to say there'll be a post about it in the future.

I don't think I've ever heard a sweeter feelin' in the whole wide world than that music playin' in my heart. (Storm music)

Morning thoughts:

Move on up

During my soul video seeking I found a cool classic piece which is really worth to show. It's Move on up by Curtis Mayfield, one of the old big names of soul. You can listen to this song on his first album, Curtis which was released in 1970 (I also recommend The other side of town on that album). It's almost nine minutes long, and with the inimitable "move on up" singing it's cool from its first sound to the last. At 4:00 a drum and percussion pattern appear and later a beautiful guitar sound combined with bass provides the basic notes (check out in the live version, it's even better). Solos come in, and it gets bigger. Awesome.

The melody struck in my head so much that it has been playing for weeks now. And still doesn't want to stop, though it isn't problem.

I also published it on Facebook, and one of my classmates liked it and commented: something like that it isn't Kanye West who changed the world, he can just copy well. First I didn't understand it but later I was told by another friend that Kanye remixed this song. I know he's around No.1 in today's r'n'b music, though I'm not a fan of him. I like Love lockdown, that's interesting for me. I searched for this song, but it turned out to be that its title is Touch the sky instead of Move on up. At last I found it and found it cool. It surprised me, the melody got slowed and the lyrics wholly changed. What only remained from the original song is Curtis' voice deepened, which sounds great with the deep bass pattern.

Original version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z66wVo7uNw

Radio/tv version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpD8FpGpBjE

Live version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzsCP5QfcdU

Kanye's version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwQbuAGLj4

A little bit more than... few days at the weekend house

Summer holiday again. The same place. The same house. The unexplicable feelings which belong to here - from the past, and to-be thoughts in the future.

And music - of course - is still with me. Let me dive into a little kitchen philosophy...

In my childhood there were a few albums I listened to and when we spent our holiday at the weekend house, I felt the long, often three, four weeks long holiday shouldn't happen without my favourite music - so I brought my walkman and favourite cassettes with me. Later an older cassette player got to the house and my family always brought some cassettes to listen to. The feeling improved, louder music played and we could hear it while sitting on the terrace. Then years passed by and when the mp3 age started it was obvious that the walkman has to be replaced with the mp3 player. I took long walks with my little gadget and that feeling of free was really new and cool. The next step didn't make a big change, it was only the introduction of iPod in my life. More space, smaller player, and I love it. Hope Apple feels happy for this advertisement. And now, this year there's a notebook and mobile internet with us, so everything's accessible. This is the state of total freedom, which is really cool, but also...

What about the older feelings? Long, grey mornings in my teenager years in the autumn or winter when I listened to lp's from my father's collection. The hissing sound between tracks - from the lp player in the room, or from the walkman right in my ears. And no pc noise. When music comes from a furniture. Yes, a real pair of loudspeekers can be a part of the furniture of a room. And the cds? Cd shelves, of course. Another furniture, which, I think isn't ugly but cool. Posters on the wall, and not Windows backgrounds. Maybe now you're starting to feel this mood. I realize it every once in a while, and now I got my latest expereince here, of course in the weekend house. As CSN's Just a song before I go played by the cassette player. Sound quality? Who cares!? It's even better.

The passenger

Being an Up in the air fan, the song playing in one of the trailers kept floating in my mind and I felt I had to investigate a little bit. As it isn't part of the soundtrack, I couldn't get the title, but they sing I am the passenger, so YouTube immediately helped me as almost always. It turned out to be an Iggy Pop song which surprised me, because I thought it plays harder music, like metal. Now it's part of my home radio station in iTunes. Or on my iPod, when I'm a passenger...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSFV6RhdsNs

trailer:
http://www.theupintheairmovie.com/

The 100th! Isaac Hayes - Hot buttered soul

This is the hundredth post in this blog. I'm very happy - though I haven't posted often recently, the blog continuously exists in my mind.

For the 100th rendez-vous I felt I had to choose something which really deserves this place. It's something like when on my birthday I listened to this album. For me, that hour was the celebration, an hour just for me, my own little celebration. And why did I choose this album? It has a lot of reasons. That time this album and music was quite new for me and I was just being introduced to it. The meeting gave a lot of inspiration. There are songs in our - or at least in my, but I really think in everyone's - life which can totally change our music preferences. The songs have heard earlier will sound differently, and you'll long for that new kind of music. In my case, it was the introduction of soul by Marvin Gaye and Isaac Hayes which made this. And as a result, now I think differently about music.

So that was the first reason, that new effect. And I had to choose a song which is in celebratory mood, at least a little bit. I don't really like way too grandiose things. The first, famous Walk on by is from that celebratory type. It can even call tears in my eye sometimes, which is a rare effect in my life. It's long, it's expressive, it's cool. Starts in a loud way and suddenly gets minimal and those elements of black music such as the inimitable rhythm appear. With the low amount of lyrics it's really effective - the string section do reach your soul.

The fewer songs an album contain, the more their importance will be: here you hear only 4 songs, so every one is equivalent. Hyperbolicsyllablicsequedalymistyc can really wake you up and I was delighted when I heard it in the movie Brooklyn's finest this year. After its improvisative and loud end, One woman creates a romantic atmosphere. And in the end By the time I get to Phoenix does something experimental. The first half of the song is a storytelling by Hayes, with a monotonic pattern in the background. The story is about the power of love. And then, slowly the music appears and nicely closes the album.

Walk on by (single version):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5tqAbrZeX0

One woman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWv4xEsgY48

Read about Shaft!

Daylight

In Isaac Hayes' One woman daylight "slowly leaves the sky", and here, in Bobby Womack's Daylight daylight "is gonna catch me up again". Pretty actual - here, in Hungary, where daylight defeats night, which only lives 6-7 hours and there's extremely hot, almost unbearable. But daylight is something which is essential. As it appears at sunrise and as it disappears at sunset sometimes makes amazing atmosphere. This song presents daylight in its most beautiful existence to me.

One of my friends and his girlfriend live a strange life: they work at night, often until 4:00 a.m. or later, and don't get up earlier than 12:00. Which means sunrise and morning don't exist in their life. They don't know what they're missing by that lifestyle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4wIZrKC1ug

(live) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uDdI9p26cc

(live) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUnHHi3szWY

Grover Washington, Jr. - Inner city blues

One of the coolest things about music is the process when you get to know it. For me, who leaded me to this album was Marvin Gaye and which leaded to him was a Quincy Jones album. The line hasn't finished yet, it's a never-ending thing.

It was a summer afternoon not a long time ago when I first listened to this album, and that time I was ill - though getting better and better I swear, that music also healed me. Music can show again the power believed to be lost in us.

It's a cover album from 1972 and now you can enjoy it as one of Verve's Originals series. As many as two songs are related to Marvin Gaye, as you can also know it by its main title. Inner city blues and Mercy, mercy me - this latter in fact is not just Mercy, mercy me, it's a blend of it and the well-known What's going on, and the performance is very, very cool. Inner city blues is also nice, with the siren noise at the beginning and the fine melody as it comes in, and later gets stronger, faster, making experiences and creating a denser atmosphere.

The other cornerstone on this album is Billy Wither's Ain't no sunshine. The performance is absolutely perfect, keeping the original melody but adding Theme from "Man and Boy" to it, lengthening it. Here and at Georgia on my mind a beautiful string section works in the background which makes the music warmer.

It's really a must-have experience. One afternoon, one living room, shaded windows. The sunshine's just looming out there. And the first tones are starting to fill the room.

Mercy, mercy me:

www.ververecords.com

Across the 110th street

Today during my walk I was listening to the soundtrack of the movie Jackie Brown (by Quentin Tarantino) and realized again that how cool is the song Across the 110th street by Bobby Womack. It has a very nice lyrics which I hadn't noticed before. Again about the poor childhood, the circumstances, "anything I had to do to survive..."

First it was written for the 1972 crime-drama film Across 110th street but had become much more serious. Later it was also used for Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown.

Across 110th street:

Hear the original version with the opening of Across 110th street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qXhFag9BVU

See the opening of Jackie Brown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BWA1T78WpI

Bobby Womack - California dreamin' / Across 110th street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD2fTiwclMM

À Paris

Summer is trying its forces here, and for me the warm weather makes me listen not only to jazz, blues and nostalgic pop/rock songs related to summer, but also chansons. My favourite is an essential, À Paris by Yves Montand.

If a chanson can contain all of the emotions of the universe, it's one of those.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryH39k-Md54

(live) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0do-UYWZKoY

Also about Paris: Sous le ciel de Paris, Un gamin de Paris

Inner city blues

Inner city blues... when I first saw these words but haven't heard a second of it, I had been fascinated already. I didn't doubt about that I would like it. It was then when I got to know the genre soul, especially Marvin Gaye's What's going on, and see this song amongst the tracks.

Now it's one of my favourite songs and an always-coming-back melody in my head, during walks, on public transportation, etc. Those monotonic rhythms and its cool words are fantastic. Recently it didn't want to disappear from my mind, it was constantly floating there. Using this situation, I did a little research.

Inner city blues (Make me wanna holler) was written by Marvin Gaye in 1971 - the song depicted the ghettos of inner-city America as it discussed how the bleak economic situation would lead to someone wanting to holler and throw ones hands up (Wikipedia). The first adaptation is by Grover Washington Jr. on his album Inner city blues in 1972. Next, for example, by Sarah Vaughan on the album A time in my life in 1972 and by Gil Scott-Heron on the album Reflections in 1981.

Start to feel it:

the original, by Marvin Gaye:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeWF0LC3R2o

by Grover Washington Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk2-w2JMBIY

by Reuben Wilson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRfeFaCHOdU

by Sarah Vaughan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0hQ2vuUiFc

by Gil Scott-Heron:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drTjTE8MCBU

Pulp fiction - Music from the motion picture

Quentin Tarantino reinterpreted film music. His flicks wouldn't be those movies without those songs. He always chooses older songs, not actual hits. Well-known songs and less well-known ones which create perfect atmosphere for his films. What is this atmosphere like? Funny. Cool. Loose. Entertaining. Nice. Nostalgic. Romantic... and so on.

If you hear Pulp fiction, you immediately start to hum Misirlou in your head, but the soundtrack is much more. For example, I was introduced to the genre "surf" by Tarantino soundtracks. Bustin' surfboards and Surf rider are surfing with you for a short time, but there're Let's stay together by Al Green, Jungle boogie by Kool & The Gang, Girl, you'll be a woman soon by Urge Overkill, and the classic twist contest song, the You never can tell by Chuck Berry. And I haven't talked about the film excerpts which paint even more colours on this album. It's not a coincidence that Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta have been chosen for one of the fifteen greatest pairs of pop culture by Entertainment Weekly. Their memorable dialogues will always be with us, for example talking about the burgers in America and France, the morning scene when they murder the boys having breakfast, and Jules's monologue quoting from Ezekiel 25:17 which is the closer track of the album. Don't say what again, listen to this album...

...and if you liked it, start with the Jackie Brown - Music from the Miramax motion picture. That's my favourite Tarantino movie music.

Misirlou:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8

Jungle boogie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgynbFoA9to

Let's stay together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COiIC3A0ROM

Pulp fiction trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZBfmBvvotE

Summer things

Summer just walked in - but I didn't realize it, because the weather is very strange in Hungary. But if I glance at the calendar I can remember that in one simple moment the 31st of May turned to the 1st of June and yes, that was the first day of summer. It's always an important day to me: the first and last days of each season. Now I just slipped into the summer. I regret.

But we don't have to wait long, summer will be here in its whole reality, and I can't help proposing albums which are connected to this season in my mind.

1. Pop: Pet Shop Boys - Actually
2. Pop: Roxy music - Avalon
3. Pop: Wham! - The final
4. Jazz: Modern Jazz Quartet - Porgy and Bess
5. Jazz: Dizzy Gillespie - Jambo caribe
6. Blues: Lightnin' Hopkins - Country blues
7. World/folk: René Aubry - Invités sur la Terre
8. Progressive rock: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Love beach
9. Progressive rock: Camel - Breathless
10. Reggae: Bob Marley and the Wailers - Rastaman vibration

Books on the topic: jazz standards

I love jazz standards. I love their melancholic mood, their simple but expressive lyrics about well-known emotions, their ever-green property, the countless performances of them. This feeling reaches me very often, and I wanted to know more about these songs, more than its lyrics and nice melodies. The stories behind, the circumstances of their birth, the authors' thoughts. Jazzstandards.com helps me of course but I prefer reading in books, not on web. This site helps in this, too, because it offers a big range of books on this topic. With the help of Amazon's Look inside! function I chose the most interesting ones and maybe I'll read one of them in the summertime this year.

Listening to classic American popular songs

This book will be read by musicians because its main feature is sheet and lyrics of twenty-three well-known songs, like I've got you under my skin, Autumn in New York, Come rain or come shine, etc. It also gives some knowledge about harmony, melody and rhythm in the first part of the book, and you can listen to the songs as well on the cd attached to the book.

The NPR's curious listener's guide to popular standards

The main advantage of this book is that it doesn't only write about 100 songs, it also describes the songwriters, the performers, it defines the meaning of it and shows the whole evolution of this style.

The Great American Songbook: Stories of the standards

This book tells us the stories of the standards and their writers, such as: Night and day: Cole Porter, The way you look tonight: Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, Kind of blue, So what: Miles Davis - and many more (up to 29). It also presents songs which haven't got lyrics but became very, very famous.

America's songs: The stories behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley

It's like a history textbook: the chapters are periods of time (1910-1919, 1920-1929, ... , 1970-1977) and they are divided into years - with interesting, illustrative photos.

More:
American Popular Song: The great innovators, 1900-1950
The American popular ballad of the Golden Era (1924-1950)

There are a lot more but you wouldn't choose... and I didn't show the books which concentrate on only one writer.

Jean Michel Jarre concert review - Oxygene Tour

The concert I wrote about in the previous post was my second Jean Michel Jarre concert experience. The first was in 2008 November, called Oxygene Tour when he played the whole album from its first sounds to its last noises and additionally a few from Oxygene 7-13, and as a bonus, Oxygene 4 again. All of the songs were played on the original analogue instruments. That concert was slightly better than this World Tour - maybe just because that was my first experience or because I'm fond of Oxygene. I remember as the sound was better, though we were standing in front of the stage not too far, in a very good place.

There he played Oxygene 12 and besides Oxygene 2 (of course) it was my favourite period of the concert. In living version it's much better than on the album, and that song got a perfect video-mix playing behind the stage: fastened motions of nature (like flowers blossom and animal corpses get rotten), shots of animals, turbulences... it is wonderful. It totally matches to the music. So when I heard it at World Tour, I was very glad and it became one of my favourite moments of the two hour experience.

The other amazing thing was a speciality which was played only here, in Hungary. As JMJ told us, he was walking in the city and heard a street musician and he invited him to his concert. The result became awesome: an improvisative song by the hang drum and the concert devices. It had a very special atmosphere, watch it below.

Oxygene 12:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSzn7tpEhg

Jean Michel Jarre and Norbert Pável:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc5ToA4GK0w

Jean Michel Jarre concert review - World Tour

One of the stages of his World Tour was Budapest, so tonight I saw the concert. JMJ said that it had been the first concert since his mother died so he dedicated it to her. It was powerful, really.

Surprisingly he didn't play any song from Téo & Téa or Metamorphoses, the songs concentrated on Equinoxe, Oxygène, and Rendez-vous - which isn't problem at all, I think. We got everything which is connected to his shows: laser harp, theremin, endless number of synthesizers - and a spectacular light show. No, this word is too small. It was shocking. The lights were showering the audience, making unexisting planes and surfaces in the air, in a great rhythym to the music - which, was very "large" sometimes. I dare to say too large, and too vivid, but as my thoughts kept rolling by during the concert, I felt it's right. He's French. Kraftwerk is German. You can see the differences in the way of their playing but it's totally all right. They were my absolute favourites in the secondary school fan-years so the concert was also nostalgic for me. Two hours of sounds, sounds which you hear and think they belong to him. It's fantastic. He created sounds and new atmosphere. I read an article few years ago where he was asked that You are often said to be the father of electronic music, what do you think? And he responded, I must be only the father of my child. But he really made something new.

My fave moments of the concert:

Oxygène 5 turning into an improvisative trance-thing

Oxygène 12 with the fantastic video behind

Equinoxe 4 with the nice original art inspired video

the song, when we could see incredible numbers from the wolrd

Equinoxe 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qop9Ms82FI8

Oxygène 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4HN4Kxju1c

Oxygène 4 + 12 (not Budapest):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWICdlD_85w&feature=related

His official website:
http://www.jeanmicheljarre.com/

Billie Holiday - Recorded from Carnegie Hall live

I was just thinking about what to listen to in this rainy and grey spring afternoon, and my decision happened to be ideal for this mood.

This special concert recording features short excerpts from Billie's autobiographical book, Lady sings the blues read by a narrator with a perfect voice which is absolutely suitable on this album, I reckon. I immediately peeked into it at Amazon and maybe I'll read it in the summertime.

With a cup of tea on the window sill I was staring out the window, daydreaming about what was and what will be and the beauty of music, while the rain was heavily knocking the glass in front of me. It was beautiful, indeed - music has a power like nothing, it starts thoughts in your head and writes on. On this album Lady Day sings the famous Lady sings the blues, Body and soul, Yesterdays, I cover the waterfront while we can peek into the interesting segments of her life. Lady sings the blues... yes, that's totally true. With her hoarse singing voice the ballads are very impressive and she absolutely lives the songs - and takes in them her pain, memories and desires. The older quality is ice on the cake.

I cover the waterfront:

The album inspired me and I watched another videos from her on YouTube, here are two songs: Autumn in New York, Good morning heartache (I'm looking forward to write about these two songs in the section standards, this year it will surely happen).

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three.

I was a woman when I was sixteen. I was big for my age, with big breasts, big bones, a big fat healthy broad, that's all. So I started working out then, before school and after, minding babies, running errands, and scrubbing those damn white steps all over Baltimore.

But whether I was riding a bike or scrubbing somebody's dirty bathroom floor, I used to love to sing all the time. I liked music. If there was a place where I could go and hear it, I went.

John Coltrane Quartet - Ballads

When I first heard the samples of this album on the internet, I wan't interested at all. It was strange to hear Coltrane playing in this style - but he felt its opposite when he was also said by others to be the best of the angry tenors as we can read on the original cover, which Impulse kept when it released it in the newer Impulse originals series.

The title perfectly and simply describes what we'll hear: ballads. Beautiful standards...

1. Say it (over and over again)

2. You don't know what love is

3. Too young to go steady

4. All or nothing at all

5. I wish I knew

6. What's new

7. It's easy to remember

8. Nancy (with the laughing face)

...which are good to hear again and again any times - that's why they're standards and get famous and have stayed alive. I think there's a few people who these songs don't take effect on. So to angry tenors he answered: I guess, they say that because I play the horn hard. Now he proves his abilities to this style, too, and maybe it was a need himself as well to do something lighter than his real, deeply serious music. It's a fanatastic album for silent and sensitive moments. Unfortunately it's only a little bit longer than half an hour, but it is worth to hear.

Gene Less writes about Coltrane the following:
Coltrane is, as a matter fact, one of the gentlest and quietest people I've met in jazz. And, two or three years ago, he was just about the shyest.
Now that he has become a study in effusive cameraderie. But he has emerged considerably from that cocoon of quiet in which he lived his off-stage life. He talks more now, he laughs more readily, he seems more assured.

Too young to go steady:


Listen to Naima.