Air Miles

Charlie Parker also known as “Yardbird” or “Bird” was born on August 29, 1920 and died on March 12, 1955. He was one of the most important and influential saxophonists and jazz players of the 1940’s. A legendary figure in his own lifetime, he was idolized by those who worked with him, and he inspired a generation of jazz performers and composers. Charlie had a magnetic personality; wherever he would walk into he would change the feel of the room. He started studying music in a local school in…

Throughout history, suicide has not only been seen as a sin, a crime, and more recent, as a result of a disease. Nonetheless, there is more to just committing such act, there are societies, social factors that influence and push individuals to take their lives. The book, Suicide: A Study in Sociology by Emile Durkheim examines suicide and its social causes. With this in mind Durkheim makes the claim that in order to understand suicide we have to understand the social factors that lead…

Spiritual Journey For my paper, I will be covering and exploring scientific theories that are then applied to my personal life experiences to form a sort of hybrid story/academic research paper, which I feel suits perfectly my strong character traits of constant hesitation. I will bring to mention my personal philosophies, past/present dependency problems, acute depression, and individual spiritual experiences which were able to defy my understanding of science, and thus exist without…

Although while he is playing in the moment, his concentration is less on what he was playing but more on the technique and strategy of how the music was delivered to his audience. The musical development and growth of Miles Davis stems from the many years of practice and performances with jazz greats of his time. His high level career performance was constructed through the combination of these motivic strategies such as repetition, embellishments, inversions, transpositions…

What is Cool? Groovy,tubular,brisk and relaxed could all be considered synonyms for the same word but with very different meanings behind them. The word cool is used describe such vast variety of things from people,places,events and feelings. “Grab your jacket honey, it's cool out there!” Mom exclaims as he is walking out the door to catch the bus on that first crisp cool morning of November. Then he had responded by saying “its cool mom, I will be alright” explaining how nonchalant and feeling…

The concet I attended is called Azesu (Maria Marquez) held in the California Jazz Conservatory. Azesu is comprised by Grammy winners David Pinto on bass, Omar Ledezma on percussion, Sheldon Brown on reeds, Alan Hall on drums and Jonathan Alford on piano. They plays songs from the Latin American Songbook and originals which represent the diverse musical heritage of its members. Featuring the vocals of Maria Marquez and Omar Ledezma, Azesu is a true hybrid group combining the rhythms of the…

What a great show from the veteran super group The Cookers. They presented their magnificent repertoire in two sets at the Nublu Jazz Festival. The band comprises an inflammatory frontline composed of Billy Harper on tenor saxophone, Donald Harrison on alto saxophone, and trumpeters Eddie Henderson and David Weiss. The respectful rhythm section brings us George Cables on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Billy Hart on drums. For tonight’s concert, pianist David Bryant, 33, replaced the…

CONCERT ATTENDANCE REPORT My taste of music varies from rock to pop, but mostly I gravitate towards rap music. So have a strong taste in rap I have attended a few shows and also seen many live instrument performances as well. Not until I took this class have I considered attending a jazz concert. When I looked on the pages given to us on events nearby, there wasn’t any that seem to catch my attention. Until I heard that CGCC was holding a small jazz comb. I thought I’d give a shot and plus it…

On Monday evening, September 21, 2015, I had the pleasure of watching University Jazz Combos. The performance was held at the University of Louisville School Of Music in the Bird Recital Hall. These three combos consisted of the Mark Turner Combo directed by Tyrone Wheeler, Illinois Jacquet Combo directed by Ansyn Banks, and Michael Brecker Combo also directed by Ansyn Banks. I wasn’t for sure what to expect when coming to this concert. Different from the other jazz performance I attended, this…

I didn’t choose the tuba, the tuba chose me. I feel like this is how all tuba players started off. The tuba is the largest but one of the youngest members of the brass family. It is not the hardest instrument to play but it is not the easiest either. I did not expect to play the tuba at any point in my life, however due to certain circumstances, I ended up playing the tuba for the Barlow band. The journey first started my freshman year of high school. I was playing the trumpet at the time.…