SOUNDTRACK: CORY HENRY: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #129 (December 21, 2020).
I wondered if there would be a Christmas themed Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. And here’s one.
Cory Henry was the keyboardist for Snarky Puppy. He has since gone solo and here he is playing some jazzy songs with just a drummer.
Henry is a renowned composer, producer and musician who rose to fame as a member of Snarky Puppy. In 2018, he visited the actual Tiny Desk for a jubilant performance with his own band, Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles. Just a few weeks ago, he released a holiday album, Christmas With You, a collection of classics and new compositions full of comfort, joy and reflection. For this Tiny Desk (home) concert, Henry and his longtime collaborator, drummer TaRon Lockett, recorded a couple of those songs at the Gold-Diggers studio in Los Angeles.
Henry plays two songs with Lockett.
For the first one, he’s on piano. “Misty Christmas” is a bouncy fluid piece that sounds like something you might here on a Peanuts special. There’s some nicely complex and varied drumming to accompany Henry’s jazzy piano. It runs about 6 minutes and then Henry sends us some nice words.
“May these songs fill you and your family with joy and happiness as we bring in what will be a far better year than the last. Live in love, live in peace, grow in freedom. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays.”
Watch for his adorable pocket pitbull, Lady Lingus, right before he shifts to the organ with another soulful original, “Christmas With You.”
The second piece starts with the lyrics from “The Most Wonderful Time” of the year, but with a different melody. Turns out it’s just the introduction to a new pop jazz song. He’s got a retro sound on his organ and sings softly as he plays, full of smiles for all. His voice is soft and pleasant.
This is a nice Christmas song although I don’t see it becoming a classic.
[READ: December 23, 2020] “Bone to His Bone”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.
This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.
It’s December 23. E. G. Swain died in 1938 and did not respond to multiple requests for comment. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].
I tend to enjoy the older stories in these collections quite a lot. Not to detract from contemporary writers at all, but I thought it might be fun if H&O made a collection of just later 19th and early 20th century stories that did not have a lot of exposure.
Having said that, I didn’t really enjoy this one all that much. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t really do what it was supposed to. Possibly if one were reading this in 1912 it would have been more impactful.
It is basically a ghost story.
It started out a little stilted. William Whitehead, the Vicar of Stoneground, upon his death, bequeathed the grounds and the library to Stoneground and the future vicars who resided there.
Mr. Batchel took over the property and loved the books in the library like they were his own.
Guests who stayed at the vicarage thought they heard noises in the library at night. They assumed it was Mr Batchel. But he also heard them when he was alone.
As a rule, he did not sleep very well and often went into the library to try to fall asleep.
One night when he walked in it was very dark and as he felt around for the candle a box of matches was placed into his hand.
He asked around if anyone was there, but there was no answer.
When he lit the candle, he saw a book on a tall desk. A book that not only did he not put there, but one he had never taken down: The Compleat Gard’ner by John Evelyn Esquire.
He ignored the book, but soon there was a rap on the table and the pages rustled as if blown by a breeze. He looked and read:
at dead of night he left the house and passed into the solitude of the garden.
The pages blew again and he read:
So dig, that you may obtain.
He was a little spooked so he decided to go for a walk in the garden, which he liked to do on clear nights. As he walked around he saw a shovel stuck in the ground. He decided to tidy up and put it away but it would not budge.
Until he remembered that line. As soon as he decided to dig, the shovel loosened up.
Then he dug up something.
The whole premise of the story is pretty good and the ending is nice and tidy, but it doesn’t really have any shock value or even give you the chills. Maybe it was shocking back then.
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