Life’s Soundtrack – A jazzy day with the pianos of Chick Corea and Bill Evans!

So today was a jazzy kind of day. This afternoon I was doing some writing so I decided to listen to some jazz. I had download a Chick Corea and Gary Burton a while ago, so I decided to start the afternoon with another Chick Corea album. I chose his 2012 release Further Explorations. The album is a two disc tribute to Jazz legend Bill Evans.. On the album, Corea he leads original Evans alumni – bassist Eddie Gomez and the late drummer Paul Motian – on Further Explorations. The album was recorded on May 4-17, 2010, live at the Blue Note in New York City. (2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Evans’ original Explorations LP. Not being a huge fan of either Corea or Evans I didn’t realize that the album was a tribute album to Evans, but I did know that the album evoke the feel of Bill Evans and the second album that I listened to was Bill Evans’ The Complete Vanguard Recording 1961. As I look at the track lists for both albums tonight I see that two of the tracks I listened to “Gloria’s Step” and “Alice in Wonderland” appear on BOTH albums! Well, I’ll be, again, I’m not that familiar with either artist and the music was on in the background so I guess maybe I can be excused for not noticing that they were the same songs on each album! Read More

This Date in Music -December 4, 1944 – Chris Hillman was born!!

So from his early musical days as a founding member of The Byrds to his latest album with Herb Pederson At Edward’s Barn, Chris Hillman has been a part of my musical journey. Whether it was in bands like The Byrds, The Flying Burritto Brothers, Stephen Stills’ Manassas, Souther, Hillman or Furey, or just playing on albums like Dan Fogelsberg’s High Country Snows, Chris Hillman’s voice and playing has been there for over 40 years Just take a look at his Discography page to see how much he’s been a part of everyone’s music over the years Read More

Armik – Beautiful Flamenco Guitar….

2015 Update: This afternoon I was listening to One World the new album from Jesse Cook. Listening brought, thoughts about the flamenco guitar of Armik. So I went to Spotify where I discovered that Armik has released a new album titled Romantic Spanish Guitar Vol. 2. Sound s good to me!  I first discovered the music of Armik back in 2010 and since then I occasionally listen to his awesome work! The following is a post I wrote back in 2012 when he released the album Reflections. The new album is playing as I write this and it, like its predecessors is really good. I’ll write more about it soon!! But for now let’s go “into the afternoon” with the guitar of Armik Read More