SOUNDTRACK: BRIAN BLADE AND THE FELLOWSHIP BAND-“Landmarks” (Field Recordings, August 14, 2014).
Here’s yet another Field Recording at the Newport Jazz Festival [Chorale For Horns And iPad App, In The Pouring Rain].
The 2014 Festival must have been a rainy one, because some of the other Recordings seem wet as well. The blurb explains
We had hoped to get the great drummer Brian Blade to give us a little private exhibition after his set at the Newport Jazz Festival this year. The weather, however, was proving much less generous than he and his band were. Early that morning, a steady all-day rain settled in over coastal Rhode Island, making it difficult to transport dry instruments anywhere. On top of that, a last-minute change to travel plans meant that Blade needed to get out of town quickly — to an airport over four hours away.
But he and the Fellowship Band — the group of guys Blade has been making music with for the better part of two decades or more — were game to figure out something for us. So we herded them into the shelter of a quiet tunnel in Fort Adams State Park.
Despite Blade being a drummer, they are unable to use drums or even bass. So they decide to play a composition of the keyboardist. Chris Thomas, the bassist, suggests that he could do an interpretive dance (but he does not).
As they get set up, Jon Cowherd starts tinkering on his iPad. He gets a synth up and starts playing the opening to Van Halen;s “Jump” which gets everyone excited. Then he starts playing a cool keyboard sound on the app and the two horns join in on the serene melody.
First Myron Walden starts playing the bass clarinet. Then he is joined beautifully by Melvin Butler on soprano sax. The song unfolds simply. I love the way it just seems to grow and grow–slowly revealing more and more of itself. But it’s over pretty quickly, with the notes fading in the tunnel.
So even though the featured performer, Brian Blades is not playing–and I still have never heard his drums, this was a nifty little piece.
[READ: April 17, 2016] “Land of the Living”
I had it in my head that Sam Shepard was a noir writer from the 1950s.
Well this story (and the surprising fact that the New Yorker published a second of his stories just a few weeks later) led to something entirely different. This story is about a man who is going on vacation with his family.
It begins with a very funny exchange between the man and his wife, She tells him, “It’s just amazing how friendly you become when you’re on Xanax” And he agrees, “I feel this friendly person coming out in me and I wonder if maybe that’s my real nature.”
The family is currently waiting on a customs line in Cancun. The heat is unbearable, especially since they have just come from Minnesota.
Their conversation is full of things that he says which she is surprised by: (more…)
I Just Read About That... 