Posted on

Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck, Live at the White House in 1962

Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck are two of the greatest minds to ever stand and sit in the performance of classic modern Jazz .  In 1962, fate brought them together with President Kennedy, for a cobbled-together performance that has now just recently been rediscovered in the aftermath of Dave Brubeck’s death at 91 years and 364 days in December, 2012, and the result is the instant-wonder:  Bennett & Brubeck — The White House Sessions, Live — 1962!

Continue reading → Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck, Live at the White House in 1962

Posted on

Dave Brubeck and the Reach for 92

Incomparable Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck died of a heart attack yesterday, one day shy of his 92nd birthday today.  He died on the way to a cardiologist appointment.  It’s hard to argue with the loss of a life at 90, but the Jazz universe will miss Dave Brubeck’s intense energy and dedication to cause because he brought mainstream popularity to chunky and abruptly pleasing music.

Continue reading → Dave Brubeck and the Reach for 92

Posted on

Jazzing the Holidays

If you have any sort of mainstream musical career, one of your best bets for creating an afterlife legacy is to record a Christmas album or two or ten.  Every sugary Pop star for the last 30 years has some sort of wintertime holiday album for sale.  Bing Crosby is the reigning king of the Christmas album and his fine, monetary example, is what leads all new singers-in-search-of-longevity into lining up to record these, often tired, musical memes.

I prefer my holiday music with a Jazz tinge and I’ll share with you three of my all-time favorite albums.  First up is magnificent Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell’s “Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas” where he fires up his six-string archtop and lets us have it right between the eyes.  Kenny’s playing is always dynamic and ferocious and he adds tremendous energy and innovation into these seasonal standards.  Kenny’s whipping strings will hypnotize you and set you back on your heels.  He sets the jewel standard in Jazz guitar no matter the tonal topic.

Continue reading → Jazzing the Holidays

Posted on

The MusicNotes.com for iPad Review

If you want to buy professional guitar TAB sheet music online, you really have two choices:  Hal Leonard’s GuitarInstructor.com and MusicNotes.com that offers a lot of Alfred Publishing songs.  Between those two services, you should be able to find almost any song you want to play.  Here’s the PR blurp for MusicNotes.com:

Musicnotes, Inc. offers an online catalog of 100,000 digital sheet music titles, built on the strength of content agreements with Alfred Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Faber Music Ltd, Sony/ATV Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Disney Music Publishing, Cherry Lane Music Company, Peermusic, Word Music, EMI Christian, Bug Music and many others.

I usually buy my songs online from Hal Leonard, but now that I’m dipping a bit more into guitar Jazz, I was desperate to find “Take Five” — scored for the guitar — written by Paul Desmond and made popular by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. I found just what I wanted, and more, on MusicNotes.com:

Continue reading → The MusicNotes.com for iPad Review