The Safari heads to the Windy City and finds New Prog Rock from Oceanborn!
So earlier this week I created a new rule about the music I listen to during a run. The rule is the music should be more often than not Prog Rock! The reason many-sided. First there’s a lot of music and fewer vocals, so I don’t have to listen and determine what the lyrics are, instead I can just let the music wash over me. Secondly, there are lots of tempo changes that allow me to speed up and slow down at varying points during the run! Thursday night was the first night I implemented the rule, and the run went pretty well, partly because it was a cool night, and the music from a new Progressive Rock band from Chicago – Oceanborn. Their debut release Hidden From The World was the soundtrack for the run and based on what I heard, I think that you’ll be hearing more about the band! The music was a combination of good vocals, outstanding playing and songwriting! When I was first deciding on new music for the run, I read this about the album at New Prog Releases
The Musical Safari travels to Finland and finds – Lars Eric Mattsson’s Epicentre!
A while back, I was checking the new progressive rock album released in September. What usually catches my attention is the country of origin of the artist. There were several bands from Italy, as well as The Netherlands, the UK, the US and one from Finland Lars Eric Mattsson When I saw that Lion Music released the album, I thought, hey, I know that company! They released another album that I listened to recently, Marcus Jidell’sictures from a Time Traveller. When I went back to their website, there was Lars Eric, looking at me from right above Marcus…
Musical Safari to Indonesia – simakDialog – The 6th Story
Yesterday as I was surfing around the Internet, I came across a review at Jazz Archives for a band named simak Dialog and their latest album The 6th Story. As I read the following, I thought wow! This band really fits this blog…a musical safari to the far reaches of Indonesia:
Today in Music – 1937 – Bluesman – Joe “Guitar” Hughes was born!
Today in Music – 1924 – Jazz Pianist Bud Powell was born!
On this date in 1924 “Bud” Powell was born. I wrote the other day about pianist Benny Green whose style has been compared to Bud Powell, but I don’t know that much about Bud. I image that the reason is because he died 1966. Additionally, he spent the years between 1958 and 1963 in Paris. In 1963, he returned to the US, and on July 31, 1966, he died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism. Some background from Wikipedia:
Bud Powell – Jazz Piano
Bud Powell – Jazz Piano born September 27, 1924
On this date in 1924 “Bud” Powell was born. In a post the other day about pianist Benny Green‘, I stated that his sytle has been compared to Bud Powell’s style. I wouldn’t know because, I know hardly anything about Bud Powell. with the exception that he was a great pianist. I image that he main reason I don’t remember Bud, is that he died 1966. Another reason is that he spent the years between 1958 and 1963 in Paris. He returned to the US in 1963 and on July 31, 1966, he died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism. Here is some background about Bud from Wikipedia:
Late Night Jazz from Russell Malone, Christian McBride and Benny Green
Ok so after writing about Christian McBride tonight, I was looking around YouTube and I saw this video of a performance of one of my favorite Wes Montgomery tunes, “Jingles”! The trio performing it was composed of Christian McBride on bass, Benny Green on piano and Russell Malone on guitar. I have recently learned a little about Christian McBride but I don’t know much about Malone or Green. Anyway,I watched the video and I was floored! Malone is outstanding on guitar as is Green on piano, but the driving force behind the whole 14 minutes on the tune is the phenomenal bass playing of McBride!1 He just doesn’t stop!!
Life’s Soundtrack – Another encouraging run aided by Thought Chamber’s Angular Perceptions
So I am considering a new rule that all run soundtracks should be progressive rock albums! Well maybe not each run, but at least the tempo runs! I was going to run last night, but I spent most of the day trudging around farm fields and woods in Mansfield Township looking for wetland flags and when I came home I just didn’t feel up to it. I went back to the same site today and finished up, but I was able to move the truck a little closer to where I needed to locate the wetland flags and as a result I was not as tired tonight and I was able to run. And run I did, it was a nice cool night and I was under 20 minutes for the first two miles. Then I was able to hold on fairly well, finishing the 4 mile run with an average pace of about 10:12 per mile! That was a slightly faster pace than my last run. Overall I am encouraged by the improvement, a lot of which is due to the cooler weather!! I guess it’s about time to add some intervals on the track to my work out schedule!! So Angular Perceptions, the 2007 release from an American progressive rock/metal band Thought Chamber was the soundtrack of the run. Thought Chamber formed in 2006 after guitarist/composer Michael Harris teamed up with Ted Leonard. who was the lead singer for the band Enchant. (My son Nick pointed out that Leonard is now also the lead singer for Spock’s Beard!) Angular Perceptions, was the result of their union and the album with showered with critical acclaim landing it a spot on Mike Portnoy’s list of top 20 albums of the year!! The band’s follow-up album Psykerion is due to be released next Tuesday Sept 30th!! The current line-up for the band includes: Ted Leonard – vocals Michael Harris – guitars, keyboards, vocals Mike Haid – drums Jeff Plant – bass Bill Jenkins – keyboards After listening to Michael Harris’ great guitar work coupled with his skills as a composer with Thought Chamber, I do believe I will be exploring his solo work’s discography!! Now the reason that Prog Rock is good for running is that it prog rock usually incorporates many tempo changes, fast to slow and back again.So I find myself during the run, speeding up and slowing down with the music.I really do think that I will to explore Prog during my runs and I already know an album that may be on the iPhone for next Tuesday or Wednesday’s run!! Can you guess which one it is???? Here’s track number two “Sacred Treasure” from Angular Perceptions! I am listening to this video as I type, and you know the other cool?? thing about Prog Rock, headphones, and running is that first the music is in my left ear, then the right, before settling in the middle!!
