Category: Music
This Day in Music – Dec 14, 1920 – Happy Birthday, Clark Terry!
The Safari finds NYC Jazz from Brian Lynch Unsung Heroes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2!
The other day I was reviewing the Weekly Jazz Chart and there at No 19 just below Dr Lonnie Smith was an Brian Lynch and his latest album Unsung Heroes Vol. 2. The tagline on the album is “a tribute to underappreciated trumpet masters” sounds like my kind of album! I went to Spotify found the album sat back and listened to some damn good trumpet playing. So now I needed to find out some more about Brian Lynch a trumpeter that I have not come across yet! From Wikipedia…
The Safari visits Ethiopia and finds the Music of Mulatu Astatke – Sketches of Ethiopia
This afternoon the Music Safari took a little trip of the most populous landlocked country in the world Ethiopia. The reason for the trip was to explore the music of Mulatu Astatke. The genesis of the trip was a review of the World Music Charts – Europe – where his most recent release Sketches of Ethiopia was spotted at No 4!
This Day in Music – December 11, 1938 – McCoy Tyner’s Birthday!!
Today McCoy Tyner celebrates his 75th birthday, Happy Birthday, McCoy. From his biography at Facebook,
It is not an overstatement to say that modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists.
On this Date in Music – December 8, 1928 – Organist Jimmy Smith was born!!
On this date in 1928 the master of the Hammond B3, Jimmy Smith was born. I have been listening to Jimmy Smith’s music since he late 60s when I discovered Wes Montgomery and then Jimmy & Wes an album by the two masters that they released in 1966. I love to put on a Jimmy Smith album at work and well just let it flow!! So let’s have some morning music to start our Sunday and to honor Jimmy on his birthday. But first some background….. from AllMusic
Today in Music – Dec 5, 1947 – Happy Birthday, Egberto Gismonti !!
Somewhere over the last several weeks I came across the name of Egberto Gismonti and even listened to his 1980 release Circense. From AllMusic guide….
This excellent release by Egberto Gismonti was conceived under the concept of a circus, an institution that has the ambivalent quality of being at the same time universal and regional; the “circense” tradition exists in almost all parts of the globe, but it is enriched by the smaller companies that keep struggling to survive in poorer setups, adding regional elements to the whole. It fits like a glove for the music of Gismonti, which also aims to enrich Brazilian musical tradition with elements of worldwide classical and popular acquisitions. More at MOG
2013 Jazz from Cuba’s Roberto Fonseca – Yo! (that resonates here in the Philly Area)
(Twin Sons of Different Mothers and times?)
(tangentially speaking – about the headline the Yo – is usually followed by Adrian ….. here (ADD strikes again)
2013 – New Age Sounds from David Helpling and Jon Jenkins – Found
So I made a quick stop at the Echoes with John Diliberto’s website this morning and about all I had time for was to check out the album of the month which is Found from David Helpling and Jon Jenkins. After the visit I went to MOG put the album on and the wonderful music of this duo provided a perfect soundtrack for my morning. I think after listening to Found and reading about the music that the two create and the comparisons to other artist I have another all new sub-genre of New Age music to explore. The good thing is that it ties in very well with the symphonic prog music have listened to and like lately!! Helpling is a self-taught musician and composer for film. One of the films Trade Offs, immersed him in the music of India. The score features several guest artists including vocalist Nidhi Bhatmuley David lists Elliot Goldenthal, Edward Shearmur and David Julyan as his favorite film composers, while U2 and Björk afre two of his favorite musicians, . David has also provided several themes, scores and ambient beds for numerous television, corporate and interactive projects. David says this about composing for television “Creating music for TV is certainly rewarding and streamlines the process in producing my own music.” Helpling’s debut release, Between Green and Blue, was a finalist for the 1997 INDIE Album-Of- 
The-Year award. In 1999, David’s second album was Sleeping on the Edge of the World
