Posts
Fusion for the jazzily inclined :: Shakti, Brand-X, Return to Forever & Pat Metheny
OK. With not one but two false starts at identifying some jazz fusion music most folks can enjoy, here are a few examples from the genre I really hope you will like … maybe even love. Remember Shakti :: Lotus Feet One of my favourite pieces of music in any genre: Lotus Feet. Remember Shakti…
Bringing Latin passion to fusion and the future ~ Al Di Meola’s Elegant Gypsy
A couple weeks ago I offered up three old fave songs from the German jazz fusion group, Passport, then asked for comments. The silence was deafening. <grin> But, after a while, there was one comment. Essentially: “boring.” OK. Fair enough. A followup comment illuminated some issues with the music which I happen to share, but…
Amazing Grace comes in small packages ~ Rhema Marvanne
‘Grace’ is among my favourite words. There is divinity in it, and poise, as there is in this little girl’s voice, and in her being. Rhema Marvanne is, apparently, all of 7 years old. An age of innocence, so there should be no surprise there’s not a hint of wretchedness in the performance. But whence…
Get Miles Away to find your way home ~ Gomez, Thomas Moore and Tristan
The year 2000 was an extraordinary one. It was the year I wrote and produced my play, Prisoners, which in itself marked several milestones on my spiritual path. And there was this girl. A dark beauty who rekindled my passion for music. Gomez was just one of the bands we caught live that year at…
Cycling Mantras ~ Establishing Desert Rhythms
Bicycling is among my passions, one of the ways I connect to the world, my body, my being. The rhythm of riding, the cyclical nature of cycling, of spinning the crank arms, to spin a cogset, to spin the chain, so that the wheels spin. Round and round and round in a circle game…the movement…
I know why you’re crying ~ Orbison & lang know why too
Sometimes the words bring a song to mind. This poem was in my thoughts this morning and as the words of it washed over me a melody rose out of words. And out of a melody rose k.d. lang’s wail, Crying. Roy Orbison wrote about a cry arising from reasons much different than those I…
Passport to Paradise ~ Three songs you’ve almost certainly never heard before…
…unless you’re Stephen Guy. (Who, by the way, almost certainly introduced me to this band. Have you started on that guest post yet, Steve?) This is a literary blog. While the theme is movies, music and books, it’s really about words and how these themes inspire them. Every now and again, though, we’re going to…
Hearts traveling faster than the speed of love ~ the B-52s, Topaz
A vivid memory of dancing solo on an Australian beach, the full moon intermittently obscured by racing clouds even as its rays glitterred off the cascading breakers pounding the beach. This song, Topaz, blasting at top volume from the small portable stereo speakers attached to my iPod. A breathless churning of limbs and heart and…
Teach Your Children Well ~ A Manifesto
A friend of mine teaches music from her home and said this about how she takes on the task: “I teach with all I have. It’s a promise I made to the little girl I used to be… that the children who come to my door would be protected, guided, loved, inspired, and given music.…
