Flemenco Montoya

Carlos Montoya didn't invent flemenco music. It was around for years and years before him, the style was evolved from traditional Spanish music the same way today's American music is evolved from Blues, Jazz and Folk. But Carlos is the father of Flemenco, there is no doubt about that. He took the style and with his guitar ran with it. I love this rare video of Carlos just playing his heart out. Strumming with disregard. Its a thrill watching his fingers just flow all over the neck with such flow and ease.

The Monk of Jazz

Thelonious Monk is a monster of the jazz piano. Today im apparently in a jazzy kind of mood. This video of the song Blue Monk is great, showcasing Monks amazing talent on the piano and how smooth he plays along with the bass and drums. Watching on in front is the legendary Count Basie, admiring and taking in how Monk is making that piano sing.

The Best Kind Of Blue

Considered by many as the greatest piece of jazz ever written Kind Of Blue was a milestone in Miles Davis' career. Recorded on March 2, 1959 Miles had the best in the business working with him on this album. From Cannonball Adderley to John Coletrain to Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. They all made a name for themselves on this album. Its said to be the best jazz selling record of all time and influential to millions of jazz musicians who has listened and learned from it. Listen to it once and you will find out why.
Its hard to describe jazz, you cant really brake it down its just one fluent piece. Its a melting pot of sax, trumpet, drums, piano and what ever other instrument is thrown in. So I cant brake down each piece like I would on other albums. On Kind Of Blue you will just have to drop the needle and be taken away to a jazz club. Smoke fills the air like thick fog and glasses thump the tables like a hammer of sorrow. Getting swept away by Miles is one of the greatest musical experiences a lover of music can experience.
Kind Of Blue influenced a great many of legendary musicians. Duane Allman from the Allman Brothers noted that his soloing in the song "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" comes from Miles and Coltrane, mostly from the Kind Of Blue sessions. Even Richard Wright from Pink Floyd said the chord progression from Kind Of Blue influenced the structure on the intruduction to "Breathe" on their landmark album Dark Side Of The Moon. Even legendary jazz trumpeter/producer Quincy Jones once said that he listens to Kind Of Blue everyday. Pianist Chick Corea once said " its one thing to just play a tune, or play a program of music, but its another thing to create a whole new language of music, which is what Kind Of Blue did." Even rapper Q-Tip recognizes the importance of Kind Of Blue by stating " Its like the Bible you just have one in your house".
In 2002 Kind Of Blue was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library Of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. Rolling Stone magazine selected Kind Of Blue as the 12th greatest album of all time in its list of 500 greatest albums of all time citing that " This painterly masterpiece is one of the most important, influential and popular albums in jazz". Even in 2009 The United States House Of Representatives pass a resolution honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the album and " reaffirming jazz as a national treasure".
Miles Davis really did a huge favor to the music industry in making this album, giving other musicians decades later more drive to make amazing music just like he did. Take this album, pop it on the turntable or cd player or tape deck, whatever you have, and sit back with a nice coffee or tea or whiskey on the rocks and enjoy the smooth jazz of Miles Davis and friends.

First cut is the deepest

How great is vinyl? Well to me its the greatest way to enjoy any kind of music be it old or new. Record collecting has been an addiction that I've embraced for about 8 years now, with a collection of well over 2000 albums. I am constantly adding as well as enjoying the sound the needle makes as it rotates around that crisp wax until it reaches the middle. I really enjoy the snaps and crackles of old records as it adds to its history. There's nothing better to me than closing my eyes while the record is spinning and just imagining how great would it be to be there in the studio, how personal it must have been for the artist/artists to have just finished the last cut and listen to their final product, their heart and soul poured into the songs, be it pain or love or both.

In my opinion vinyl is much better sounding than a digital cd can ever sound. Don't get me wrong, I must admit that I do have a cd collection of my own, not nearly as vast as my record collection though. As it is with vinyl you can find albums that are not and will not be released on cd, same goes for cds especially newer music. For instance Neil Young (one of my favorite artists by the way) has two albums (Time fades away, Journey through the past) that he has openly announced that will never be released on cd. Why you ask? Because he has said that those albums will never sound as good digital; which I agree with on most albums.

The first thing that drew me to love vinyl is the sound. It's just untouchable and never bettered. Second is the history and collectabilty of albums. There are so many different sub versions of records; be it first pressings, colored vinyl, imports, promos, etc. These can make the same album go from being $10 to $150. There is always that chance of finding a diamond in the rough, the thrill of the search. Thirdly its the Art. You can never truly appreciate a well thought out album cover by just a tiny cd picture.

A record cover is the perfect size to pick out the details of a brilliant cover. For instance Iron Maiden's Powerslave album. Its Egyptian flavor is great but the amazing part is when you get really up close and you can pick out all the details in the pyramids (a hidden Mickey Mouse head on the bottom left hand corner above the sphinx); a stoners paradise. There are banned covers such as Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland British import that had a fold out of nude women of all shapes and sizes (which I have in my personal collection) to the Beatles infamous Yesterday and Today Butcher cover that has all four Beatles sitting and standing, smiling, with baby doll parts laid out on their body's covered in blood. Not good for publicity so it was yanked from the shelves. Then you have the great cover art of Pink Floyd, King Crimsom, Mahogany Rush, Yes, Rush, so on and so on. In my blog which I will be posting to mostly every day, I will be discussing my love of music, from my album collection to video postings to live music that I have enjoyed that day. I love a huge array of music from classic rock to blues to folk to jazz to gypsy to country to celtic to prog to punk... so I can promise you there's something for everyone in my collection. Music is my passion and I really enjoy sharing that passion with everyone I meet and now people I may never meet.