What is the worst aspect of the United States of America?
Rather than attempting the impossible task of explaining how everything in jazz works, I’m going to pick a specific tune and talk you through it: “Someday My Prince Will Come” by Miles Davis, off the 1961 album by the same name. First, here’s the original version of the tune from Snow White. Once you’ve got …
Here are some recommended people to follow on Twitter. Most of them have blogs of various kinds which you can access via their Twitter profiles. For hip-hop, sampling and everything related: Questlove Kevin Nottingham Whosampled Grown Folks Music Wayne Marshall Hank Shocklee Jeff Chang For technology: Deb Chachra Tara Busch Paul Lamere For the highbrow …
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Auto-tune was already a well-established studio tool by the time “Believe” came out, though it was unknown outside the music industry.
Draw a lot. Don’t be precious about materials. Don’t use fancy art board or moleskines. Get a big newsprint pad or a stack of cheap legal pads from Staples. You want to draw as much and as quickly as possible, without being worried about wasting expensive paper. Draw fearlessly. Use a pen or Sharpie. No …
Improvisation Charlie Christian – “Waiting For Benny” [iframe_loader width=”480″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/PHnBiT1Jp_4″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]
I have a bunch of teenaged cousins, and they do the majority of their music listening on YouTube. They even DJ parties with it using playlists. Anytime they have a choice, they’ll always prefer music with some kind of video accompanying it, even if it’s just a still of the album cover.
The word “groovy” originates in jazz slang, referring to music that’s swinging, tight, funky, in the pocket. The analogy is to the groove in a vinyl record — the musicians are so together that it’s like they’re the needle guided by the groove. The “groove” becomes generalized to any good rhythm, passage, or entire piece …
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The more I learn about biology, the less I believe in free will. All of our behavior results from a bunch of molecules bouncing around according to the laws of quantum mechanics. Seen that way, we don’t have any more free will than pebbles being tumbled down a river. We think we have free will …
Ella Fitzgerald lost some of her range as she got older, but her soul and phrasing got deeper and deeper. The series of duet albums she did with Joe Pass late in her life are exquisite. [iframe_loader width=”480″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/dnYnpApOkQg” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]