Category: Uncategorized
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An Evening of Enthusiastic Jazz and a Tuneful Audience
Sometimes, the audience is memorable. Billed “an elegant evening” of jazz the October 6 performance at Atlanta’s Spivey Hall might just as well have been advertised “an energetic evening.” From the get-go, singer Lori Williams’ interpretation of “I Can’t Help It,” a song Stevie Wonder wrote for Michael Jackson, through the excited riffs of the…
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Get Carried Away.
I remember a conversation I had with my parents as I was graduating from college and telling them that I wanted to try to make a career playing music. I had made money in college singing in a coffeehouse, enough money that I reasoned I could continue to support myself playing guitar and singing. My…
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Karla Harris: “Jazz Values Are the Same Things We Value as a Society.”
I’m compelled to call attention to jazz vocalist Karla Harris, who appeared with us on our Music Life and Times podcast, Episode 36. In addition to performing, she has been, from the earliest days of her career, dedicated to the music education of her local community. Initially it was her hometown St. Louis, where she…
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A Joy Forever
You’ve heard the saying—it’s from a John Keats poem—“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” One of the gifts that music gives those of us who learn to play is the enjoyment of playing, and playing with others, that lasts as long as we do. I was reminded of the longevity that comes with…
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Joe Gransden: Atlanta’s Big Band Leader
Our podcast interview this week was with Atlanta’s big band leader and ubiquitous performer, trumpeter/vocalist Joe Gransden, who talks eloquently in Episode 35 of Music Life and Times not only about his beginnings and career, but of the returns music delivers to all who commit themselves to learning to play. Joe’s been plying Atlanta with…
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No Mailing It In
One of the things you learn learning music is to always do your best. Sounds clichéd, but as in other things in life it can be tempting sometimes to just mail it in. You might be playing an event where the people are more interested in each other than your music. Or you’re preoccupied with…
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Mistakes: Make the Most of Them
My Music Life and Times podcast partner, Kevin Bales, says: “It’s funny how much of what we do musically is not about being perfect and this is not even a jazz genre issue. I love the stories about accomplished classical pianists who will play a wrong note, then repeat the phrase with the correct note…
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Collaborate for Success
The underlying purpose of our podcast, Music Life and Times, is to discuss the life lessons that music teaches you and one of those is cooperation, and maybe to take it a step further, collaboration. When you’re playing by yourself you’re pretty much responsible for everything. It’s not just rendering the bass parts and the…
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“To Get Good, Very Good”
My MusicLifeandTimes podcast partner Kevin Bales, who has taught jazz to students young and not-so-young for more than three decades, advises those who want to learn music to first seek out a teacher they can relate to, who will help them not only learn the rudiments but the pure joy of playing music. I tried…
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The Three Best Ways to Learn to Play Music
Of course, there’s no such thing as the three best ways to learn to play music, because everybody learns things their own way. But with all the avenues to learning music today, there are three things to do that should serve almost everyone well. First, about all those ways to learn to play: You can…