Survival of the Cool: Jazz and everything.

OMG I'm WRITING A BLOG POST

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:05:00 +0000

Hello everybody!!!!

I am so very happy to be back!!!!!!

Whoo!!!!

Well, not even a month too late, here I am, ready to roll! OK, well my first post will be up in a bit!

Official Notice: Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:05:00 +0000

As previously mentioned, the blog will be on a temporary hiatus until late November, just because I am so busy.

I will be stopping in for little tidbits here and there, but not much of anything. To make sure you find out when I stop in, and when we are re-opened, subscribe via RSS or Email. Subscription links are to the right on the sidebar.

In the mean time, please support the blog by continuing to tell others, link to the blog, buy music via the iTunes links, listen to the All Vinyl Jazz Podcast, use the jazz search and blog toolbar at http://freewebs.com/jazztools , and support the equipment repair fund located at the last AVJP post. (See the tags to find it or google All Vinyl Jazz Podcast Ep. 2 Shaft Funk. that should work...)

I'll be back soon. I promise!

Have fun, and Take the 'A' Trane. (lol! i'm proud of myself. :p)

See you all then.

Techno Jazz

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:37:00 +0000

Woot! Techno Jazz!

Umm... first of all, sorry, sorry sorry sorry for the loooooooong delay between posts. I feel really bad about keeping you all on edge, hitting refresh 55 times waiting for my wisdom!

OK, No.

(ahahaha! get it? it's like OK, Go only it's OK, No. ahahaha! alternative music reference)

Anyways, due to how busy I am (trust me, I am REALLY busy.) I will be putting the blog on an official hiatus until mid to late november when I will resume with some more regular stuff.

So what shall you do? SUBSCRIBE! Via RSS, Via Email so you know when I'm back or when I make surprise appearances!

Anyways, I'll officially announce that later. Here's todays post:

So in helping an acquaintance of mine develop his newfound interest in jazz, I tried to find him some Techno-jazz. (cuz that's what he listens to.)

First thing that came to mind for me was Christian Prommer's Drumlesson. Now, in all honesty, this is just jazz covers of some club/house songs. Personally, I have never listened to the album.

Has anybody? Leave a comment.

So I dug deeper and found some other guys.

OK, OTHER people dug deeper. (There is an upside to frequenting AAJ!)

Kyle Rowland (http://music.download.com/kylerowland/3600-8481_32-100603294.html) is really doing some techno stuff with jazz instrumentals. He was praised by several posters on the thread, so I decided to go check him out. I wasn't totally into what he's doing, but he's got some good stuff going. My favorite of the 4 tracks at the above link is Idea 3. The others are just a bit... cheesy for me. I think you could go alot deeper with this idea.

They also suggested Nils Petter Molvaer. This guy is a new favorite of mine. For the Techno Jazz stuff, check out his album Khmer . But what i found even more beautiful is his album ER. It's deep thinking, with a Miles Davis ambiance and Steve Reich space and deepness.

Beautiful. I'm buying it.

Well, i'm running out of time! (told you I was busy!) Hope you enjoyed one of your last bits of me for a while.

A reminder to BUY THROUGH MY ITUNES LINKS IF YOU WANT TO BUY THE ALBUMS/SONGS MENTIONED! Thanks, it's what keeps me here.

I'll officially close the blog until late november (further notice) tomorrow at 4 PM. However, I may be stopping in for bits here and there.

Goodnight!

Track Reviews: Medeski Martin and Wood, John Ellis, JFJO, and more

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:38:00 +0000

OK, well besides having a nice long title, this post will be some reviews of seperate tracks I recently purchased.

First off will be John Ellis and Double Wide's "Dream Mosh" from Dance Like There's No Tomorrow

This track has some great haunting melody and harmonies that for some reason remind me a bit of Weather Report. Right at the beginning there's a evil riff over a heavy beat, then when Ellis comes in on sax, the whole thing reverts to the main groove, the drummer taking over a quiet but driving and fast beat. Matt Perine's sousaphone takes over the bassline which fits very nicely with the haunting in/out chords on organ played by Gary Versace. Overall, it's great instrumentation and even better playing and writing.

"Uninvisible"- Medeski, Martin, and Wood Echo-y horns and ambient noise are taken over after 5 seconds by a synth bass bassline which soon after leads into the song, where Medeski immediatley takes the "melody" (if you can define one throughout the song). After a minute, we get intervention from some funky horn playing, then back to the organ solo. By the end of the song, all that's left is that ambient noise and the horns.

"I Wanna Ride You"- Medeski, Martin, and Wood After a bluesy keyboard solo (with just a hint of pitch bend at the end), we get into the groove which is unrelentingly funky. The whole song finds it's way back to the chorus every once in a while which is a great riff and the constantly descending bassline makes it all the funkier. In fact, this is like Jazz-Based Sampledelic Groove Funk without the samples.

And finally...

"Fables of Faubus" by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. This is one of my favorite songs, and one of my favorite versions of the song. Living up to their usual antics, strangeness, and experimentation, JFJO sneaks it's way through the song. Expect half-time, hillbilly cartoon riffs, and what not.

Alritey then. Have a great day, and maybe I'll show up again later!

Everything jazz: September Issue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the September 30, 2008 edition of everything jazz.

artists

Audrey Berger presents Bob Brozman Virtuoso Slide Guitarist Cracks In Sidewalks posted at Cracks In Sidewalks.

articles

Workoutebooks presents Joining a band / Is Lead or Solo Playing more fun? posted at Music and Band.

artists

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Night On The Town ? Judy Carmichael, Stride Pianist posted at Mad Kane's Humor Blog.

Audrey Berger presents Daily Tune On - Canadian Guitar Guru Lenny Breau posted at Cracks In Sidewalks.

Lovelyn presents Dexter Gordon “Night in Tunisia” posted at Stop and Hear the Music.

videos

Lovelyn presents The Christian McBride Band “The Wizard of Montara” posted at Stop and Hear the Music.

other

Ryan presents Select A State to find Local Band Links... posted at LocalBand Links, saying, "The simplest way to find the websites of your favorite local bands!... If you are a musical artist or local music band, send an e-mail to localbandlinks@gmail.com. In the e-mail simply state the following: Band or Artist Name, Genre of Music, Hometown City and State, and the MySpace website address or individual web address for your band's homepage. The information will be posted for FREE within 10 days with a clickable link to your site. Enjoy LocalBand Links!"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
everything jazz
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

everything jazz, blog carnival.

Podcast Ep.2: Shaft Funk 1/4!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:55:00 +0000

Guess what?

EPISODE 2 IS HERE! Check it out at http://survivalofthecool.podomatic.com/

Sorry no embed, but I have important things to talk about here.....

OMG MY EQUIPMENT IS BREAKING AND I NEED HELP FOR THE PODCAST TO CONTINUE. Just read:

Now, worst case scenario, I have enough imported material to do another 3 shows or so, if you don't mind hearing stuff from the same albums. And then maybe next spring the show could restart, but I really don't want to wait that long.

Jazz musicians don't have money (lol!) so I don't expect you guys to pay me anything, but here are some easy AND FREE (or almost) ways to help:

Sign up for a free SHOCKWAVE.com UNLIMITED trial:
Shockwave.com™ UNLIMITED - Try it Free for 10 days!

If 4-5 people do this, then we're set, awesome, move on.

If not that, then buy our iTunes SOTC AVJP iMixes! However, this'll take 100 people to download before we earn enough. But if you must, here it is: SOTC AVJP Help Mix!

And if you ARE loaded with cash, then you can donate via PayPal:

Rants: The State of Jazz

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Here's a rant about anything and everything.

First of all, this McDonalds ad:

"Now we don't have to listen to jazz anymore!"

Not only is that insulting, but it shows just what kind of a state jazz is in the public mind. I once heard bassist Moppa Elliot talking about what he calls the "Starbucks Effect", which is that when people hear Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, those cats, the first thing that comes to mind is "Oh, that's great background music!" I'd love starbucks to sell A Love Supreme, and people thinking "Hey he's great!" will buy it and say, " WHAT IS THIS???!!!!"

Kenny Werner talked about it in his book Effortless Mastery (which is an amazing book). He said that at the beach, birds may be squeaking all out of key, and dogs barking out of time along side, and the waves behind this all, and people would say, "Hey! That's beautiful!". Yet when people do the same thing with instruments they call it garbage, because their brain is telling them, "This is supposed to be music!"

And in the midst of all this, good 'ol Alan Kurtz over at jazz.com is talking about whether jazz is more popular then democracy! (read the post here, http://jazz.com/jazz-blog/2008/9/24/is-jazz-more-popular-than-democracy , then comment away!)

Of course, Kurtz bases his results on Amazon.com "communities". I didn't even know such a thing existed. Tomorrow I begin my study on "Is jazz more popular than hip-hop with today's teens?" which will be based on the possible mail-in opinions of McDonalds Mailing List receivers.

My point exactly.

Just a little note, coming up on September 30th at 6:00 AM exactly, our first issue of Everything jazz will be up!

Also, I will get to make a compilation with ARR-ELL records for sale on AmieStreet.com so I'll post and review when it's up!

Stay tuned for randomness!

Bite-Sized Survival: Everything!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:48:00 +0000

Following with the name "everything!" the first ever monthly edtion of Everything jazz. , our very own blog carnival, will be debuting on the 30th! Make sure you come back to see it.

I've been listening to SHAFT on vinyl, which I got at PREX for $10, and upcoming over the next 4 weeks will be a weekly 4-part series entitled Shaft Funk, in which i will play each side of the SHAFT record interspersed with other funky bits, so stay tuned to the SOTC ALL-VINYL JAZZ PODCAST! (check out the tag All-Vinyl Jazz Podcast for the first episode and more!)

Soon i'm going to be doing a little review of the following tracks which i just purchased: "Uninvisible" and "I Wanna Ride You" by Medeski, Martin, and Wood, "Move On Up" by Lettuce, "Dream Mosh" by John Ellis and Double Wide and "Fables of Faubus" by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey.

Everybody download our toolbar! Go to the right and click on "Jazz Web Tools"!!!! Don't forget to also click on sponsor ads, it keeps me in business!!!!

We got our first spam comment, btw. Check it out at the "17th Princeton JazzFeast" post.

Have fun everybody!

17th Princeton JazzFeast

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:03:00 +0000

As always, the JazzFeast was amazing. The weather was great, the food was amazing, and the music was even better.

(and of course I stopped at the PREX table and bought "Right Now"-Charles Mingus and some Dial jam sessions with Charlie Parker and tons of other sax all-stars on vinyl. Then I went to the PREX store and got SHAFT on vinyl! Genius! Album reviews will be following!)

First on was Alan Dale and the New Legacy Jazz Band with Beth MacDonald. Dale added some rack/power toms to his set which I thought was a daring move, especially seeing as 60% of people attending for the jazz were traditionalists. But as always, the band swung like crazy. Today was the release date for a new Peggy Lee tribute CD of theirs so they did Fever and such. Dale was cracking jokes the whole time too.

Skipping down to Harry Allen, he appeared with Bill Easely who is absolutely phenomenal (coincidentally I was just reading about him in DownBeat). The whole set was great and Easely's solos were just insane.

Ed Polcer appeared with a usual gang of bandmates and they played some traditional stuff.

The Princeton University Jazztet was closing the show with usuals Allison Wood and the graduated Julia Brav. (Wood will be included in a sextet traveling to Sweden including Kevin Laskey on drums) They played tunes like In a Sentimental Mood and other standards.

All in all it was a great day, and I had an awesome time. Anybody else attend? Write what you thought in the comments!

Princeton JazzFeast Coverage- STAY TUNED!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:14:00 +0000

Hello jazz-loving internet-users of the blogosphere!

Today I mark *ANOTHER* return to the blog (this is getting rediculous, no?) with coverage of the Princeton JazzFeast in Princeton, NJ. This great show is in Palmer Square and has seen acts like Kenny Werner and regulars Alan Dale and the New Legacy Jazz Band. It's my 4th year going and I always have a ton of fun.

The bands are as follows:

12-1:00pm: Alan Dale & the New Legacy Jazz Band
1:15-2:15pm: Daryl Sherman Group
2:30-3:30pm: Harry Allen Group
3:45-4:45pm: Ed Polcer Group
5:00-6:00pm: Princeton University Jazztet

I'll be there all day, and will post about the whole event afterwards with all sorts of goodies. So stay tuned!

Journey in Free Jazz, Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:47:00 +0000

I'm starting to listen to free jazz to see how it effects the way I think, live, and act.

I'm planning to do posts on each of the albums I'm using, consisting of a CD review, and personal notes about my applications for each.

The CDs I'm Using:

Free Jazz (A Collective Improvisation)- Ornette Coleman
Sound Grammar- Ornette Coleman
The Shape of Jazz to Come- Ornette Coleman
Sun Ship- John Coltrane
A Love Supreme- John Coltrane
Meditations- John Coltrane
History, Mystery- Bill Frisell (I suppose Concept Album would be a better phrase for this)
Black Saint and the Sinner Lady- Charles Mingus (again, more of a Concept Album)
*****'s Brew- Miles Davis
Between Nothingness and Eternity- Mahavishnu Orchestra

This is just a preliminary list. Some I won't listen to nearly as much as others, but it's all as I see fit...

If anybody has suggestions for CDs I should listen to our reasons to listen to the above listed CDs, please comment and let me know.

I look forward to sharing with you all how free jazz affects my life...

Most Well-Known Jazz Song, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:51:00 +0000

Well, the folks at the forums over at allaboutjazz.com have come up with some new ideas as to the most famous jazz song. By the way, if you want to view the thread I'm talking about, head here: http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?p=418707

Some of the same songs are showing up such as Summertime, Girl from Ipanema, Autumn Leaves, and All the Things You Are; but somebody had the good idea of Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi!

Somebody else then suggested half of anything Guaraldi's played. I sort of agree. I suppose you wouldn't be able to name most of the songs, but somebody might be able to say "Oh! I've heard that somewhere!" Exceptions would be Christmastime Is Here and such....

OK, well there's a quick part 3!

SOTC All-Vinyl Jazz Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:11:00 +0000

Yes, now I am back for real. Right after I wrote that last post my fever came back....

So I have finally created Episode 1 of the SOTC (Survival of the Cool) All-Vinyl Jazz Podcast!!!!!

It's got Sarah Vaughan, Jimmy Smith, Lionel Hampton, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa and tons more. So take a listen!

The podcast home page is at http://survivalofthecool.podomatic.com/

or, you could just listen to it here:

And because I feel bad about my lack of postage, if everybody's lucky I'll start a review of Jazz Improv magazine.

I was alive....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:05:00 +0000

For those of you who noticed, I haven't posted jazz birthdays or anything, and am really sorry as I've been battling some cold/fever type sickness.

So, time to get back on track. I'll get a post up for you tonight, and don't forget to keep reading!

I have a lot of plans for the future, some closer then others. This weekend I hope to start an all-vinyl jazz podcast.

Keep Reading, and tell your friends!

Bite-Sized Survival: Sunday Edition: I AM ALIVE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:25:00 +0000

I AM ALIVE!!!!

lol, Sorry for the long lapse in posts. I've just been real busy and am finally back to write some more!

First of all, starting this Tuesday (?) I'm going to begin scheduling the Jazz Birthdays post on Wednesdays so you can get your fix.

Secondly, one reader took the effort to post a list of his 5 songs that got him into jazz in the comments, so please don't make his efforts wasted! Go to the comments for the "5 Songs that Got Me Into Jazz" post and give me your list! I promise to post them if you share them!

Thirdly, I was wondering how many of you were musicians and how many were just jazz lovers? I'm thinking about writing some musician-related stuff such as transcriptions but wanted to know if a lot of my readers were just jazz listeners first... so PLEASE GO TO THE COMMENTS AND TELL ME!!!!!!

If anyone noticed I'm in Jazz.com's best jazz links of the week again....

OK, that's enough for now, and PLEASE COMMENT! Maybe i'll be back for round 2 later today.

-jazzfreak11

Hip Hop Jazz: Does it Assist or should it Desist?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:20:00 +0000

I've been reading a debate over at jazz.com about Jazz and Hip Hop. Alan Kurtz recently wrote this article bashing everything Jared Pauley recently wrote good reviews for.

Now, some of it I agree with, and some could be made by Soulja Boy for all I can tell. Let's go on a track by track basis. (Here's an iMix of all songs mentioned: iTunes iMix
)

Hip hop (not rap) is something I have some respect for. For those of you that haven't read the blog before, I am a big fan of my own genre of Jazz-Based Sampledelic Groove Funk. Basically, this encompasses hiphop and electronica that grooves constantly, is funky, and has lots of jazz samples. So let's go ahead and look at the songs.

First they discuss "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" by US3 a song sampling Cantaloupe Island and digging into the Blue Note vaults for anything else. It had huge crossover success when it was released (1993?).

My verdict: Mr. Kurtz. The beat isn't very strong at all, the rapper's voice is icky, and the rap is terrible. There were four 5 and 4 star reviews of the song in iTunes, and I looked at the reviewers and one listened to Kate Perry, the other to disco and electronica, the third to Eminem, and lastly one who put 1 star reviews on Flo Rida and told them to go check out Cantaloop.

Yeah..... not a jazz tune.

Then he bashes Miles Davis' "The Doo-Bop Song" a collaboration with Easy Mo-Bee from the album Doo-Bop. The whole album is hiphop jams with Miles going over it.

Verdict: HIPHOP!!!! I actually really like The Doo-Bop Song and the whole album! The beat is stylish, Miles' playing is beautiful and melodic, and the rap is decent. In fact I really like "Chocolate Chip" and "Height Speed Chase" from the album too.

Not to mention Herbie Hancock's successful similar venture, "Dis is Da Drum" with him, Hubert Laws, Wallace Roney, Bennie Maupin, Wah Wah Watson, Bill Summers, and of course the hip hop producers. It was genious. Just check the title track.

In fact, Kurtz misses some important jazz/hiphop tunes.

"Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" by The Digable Planets which I think is the freshest, chill-est, most bound-to-have-you-make-up-words-to-describe-it jam ever. It throws props to Miles over a spacious beat and bassline with horn samples. Plus the raps are PURE genius.

And in my first ever post on this blog, I reviewed a Miles Davis compilation: Evolution of the Groove, in which NAS spits ryhmes over Freedom Jazz Dance.

And it was tight.

So, sorry Mr. Kurtz, I have to go with Hip Hop on this one. And everyone reading: check all the tracks to see what i mean. Here's an iMix of all the songs mentioned: iTunes iMix

5 Songs that got me into jazz

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Let's face it, we're at a point here where a lot of people are "introduced" to jazz later in their life. I was one of them. Most of the stuff that "inducted" me was jazz-funk or fusion and whatnot, but anyways, here's a look at what got me into jazz.

And make sure you come up with your own list in the comments, I'd love to post a second round with all your thoughts.

1. Chameleon- Herbie Hancock I first heard this song in a medley of stuff that Maynard Ferguson and his band did when he dropped by my township's high school for a master class and performance. The persistent groove really stuck with me and I loved getting my non-jazz friends hooked on that bass groove.

2. Birdland- Weather Report My bassist friend told me to give Weather Report a listen, so I went straight for Heavy Weather. It was a good choice. I still listen to that whole album, they're all genious. I now own this one on vinyl.

3. Kind of Blue (album)- Miles Davis This one I heard much earlier then anything else listed here. I heard this album going into 4th grade and loved So What, Freddie the Freeloader, and All Blues.

4. Embraceable You/I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good- Louis Prima and Keely Smith I never knew anybody was ever allowed to have this much fun, especially when playing music.

5. Salt Peanuts- Dizzy Gillespie I dare you to listen and NOT say "Salt Peanuts! Salt Peanuts!" I mean, seriously...

Ok, well there's my list of 5 Songs that got me into jazz. Of course I left some out like Soul Bossa Nova, and anything Vince Guaraldi, but we'll save that for another time....

-jazzfreak11

Randomness: Toolbar, Upcoming Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:18:00 +0000

Here's some total randomness, followed by a real post.

Toolbar Update: (1.5.0) UPDATES:

Jazz links section beginning under Site Links.
Improved News Ticker
Gadgets such as calculator, todo, notes, wikipedia search, FloodIt, YouTube top 10, unit converter, and option to get more!
"Jazz Chat" available only to toolbar owners!
Improved search including dictionary, encyclopedia, images, news, shopping, etc.

It's FREE, SAFE, and if you already have the toolbar: No need to redownload, it'll update automagically!

If you don't have the toolbar, then get it and support Survival of the Cool: http://survivalofthecool.ourtoolbar.com and at Jazz Web Tools: http://freewebs.com/jazztools

Starting this Friday, I will no longer be able to post on Fridays or Wednesdays. Mondays and Tuesdays are also iffy, but I'll start listing Jazz Birthdays this week on Tuesday so you're guarenteed a jazz fix.

That should be it for now.......

Quick Bite: Jazz Web Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:13:00 +0000

Here's a quick bite.

Survival of the Cool presents JAZZ WEB TOOLS: http://freewebs.com/jazztools

To launch the site we have two tools for you. First is a jazz search, powered by Google. You can enter any search term and only results from jazz sites will come up. If you want your site or blog included, you can read there for more info.

Secondly is an even BETTER feature! the SURVIVAL OF THE COOL WEB TOOLBAR!!!! It's got an easy link to the site, other links, WEB RADIO, news ticker, RSS feeds, and more.

Everything you need for a jazz fix! You can get it at the Jazz Web Tools site or here at http://survivalofthecool.ourtoolbar.com

Sorry for all the caps, folks. I'm just a bit overexcited.

No more energy drinks for me.....

Most Well-Known Jazz Song, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:00:00 +0000

YAYYAYYAY!!! Here it is, PART 2!!!!

It's been a fun little experiment, of course with no concrete information! But here's a general idea of what went down.

The public thought the three most famous jazz songs to be The Girl from Ipanema, In The Mood, and It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing).

Also on their list was Take Five, My Funny Valentine, Maple Leaf Rag, and What a Wonderful World.

The jazzers estimation was much more loony. Somehow, the winner was 'Round Midnight!?!?!?! Coming in a close second was Summertime and So What. (so what?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) Third was tied between Take the "A" Train, Chameleon, Girl From Ipanema, In The Mood, Take Five, All The Things You Are, and Autumn Leaves.

Then they got weird. I got votes for Alexander's Ragtime Band, Confirmation, Naima, Black Market, and something i've never even heard of called Koln Concert.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

Ok, that's all for now. Make your own decisions...

What do you think about the study, and what do you think is the most well-known jazz song? Let me know in the comments, and if I get enough response, I'll publish a part 3!