jdmckay: beautiful

Showing posts with label beautiful. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Giant Steps - John Coltrane - sheet music in motion [john coltrane, jazz, youtube, beautiful]

This is probably one of the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. I remember when my dad got me the Giant Steps album when I'd only be playing the saxophone for a few years. I was probably less than 16 years old and for some reason, I loved this album. This album just kills from beginning to end. Countdown. Syeeda's Songflute. Mr. P.C. These are all pillars in the jazz world. To see Mr. Coltrane's thoughts in motion is such an amazing idea.

Some of his ideas and techniques are so beyond most musicians. And a lot of this sounds so "right" to most people that they don't get the idea that he is spontaneously making this up. He is improvising. Of course he had rehearsed these chord progressions a lot and got all the "tools" in his "toolbox," but none of this is a preplanned melody.

I've read that he practiced six hours a day.
I've also read that he got his front teeth shaped to fit his mouthpiece better.

This is serious stuff folks, and it's beautiful and amazing. Enjoy. - jdm
(*thanks to Ben T. for showing me this.)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Radiohead - Pyramid Song [youtube, music]

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The released video for Pyramid Song was always pretty cool. The song came on shuffle tonight on my ipod and I thought I'd share that moment with you, but the video is un-sharable. If you'd still like to see their video, click here. I found this cool live performance instead. Enjoy. -jdm

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Lenny (Live at El Mocambo)

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Such a beautiful piece of music. I still miss SRV everyday. He changed the game for guitar players and has inspired legions. (Thanks to Brian Soden for sharing this on FB and reminding me how damn awesome he was.) [youtube video below]