The Summer Drum

Summer's almost gone, you Doors fans, dang hippies!

The summer is almost over. And what a hot summer it was. Too hot. The planet is experiencing the worst global warming ever. But that's not the point of this blog. 

Today I went to guitar center to play some real live drums, a real drum set. The first week or so I've only had a practice drum pad, which was too expensive, 30 bucks! For wool. 

Okay, so I've been intimated by drums forever. 

In fact, when I first played drums the first day at guitar center I was so self conscious that when people came into the room I stopped the cymbals and silenced them with my hands like Bill Bruford LOL.

But you can learn to get confidence on a new instrument. I just started playing the best I could and somehow they were impressed. The guy even asked to hold my stick to see if there was magic in it. He tried it and he wasn't that good. 

Two weeks later I went back more determined but when I sat on the kit I was still self conscious and fearful. 

Then I remembered some rock song with a 16th note hi hat pattern, it was like a Zappa thing or something. Or like Deep Purple's Ian Pace. So I hit the 16th note pattern on the hi hat, then copied it across the entire kit, from the hi hat, to snare, to toms, to cymbals, and walaaaaaaaaaaah, polyrhythms are born! 

Then suddenly I was playing lighter and faster, and I was starting to get more jazzy. 

Just goes to show you that you need practice really to have the confidence. They go hand in hand. 

I don't have much time to practice, what with working 48 hours at the retail gig, but the time I do use, is spent with great listening and patience, that I sort of can copy things somehow. Must be all the practice from guitar. 

Get me a different drum for every different emotion, it's go time. This is like therapy lol. Cathartic. 

Equinox, September

I had a pretty good jam session today with my friend, who plays the alto saxophone. Check out this track here, its a cover of Coltrane's Equinox. It's a minor blues with a swing feel. The autumnal equinox is among us and right around the time of my birthday. Enjoy, and thank you for listening. 

Recorded 9/16/2020

Orlando Figueroa, Guitar

Jason Thomas, alto saxophone

https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/equinox-quarantine916

Impressions & Feedback

Howdy, yall. I'd like to share a track from yesterday's jam session that I thought sounded pretty cool. I really like the ending here, as it's a Hendrix move, where I shove the guitar into the amp, producing sonic fury, distortion. It's a rather unorthodox way to end a typical straight-ahead jazz standard, Impressions, but it's nice to break out of ones' shell and try something different, more rock and roll. Enjoy Impressions. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/impressions-feedback 

Orlando Figueroa, guitar
Jason Thomas, alto saxophone

Equinox, in September

I had a good jam session today with the jazz duo. Here's my favorite recording from today's session, from September 17th. Trane's Equinox, with a lot of improv.
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/equinox

Orlando Figueroa, Guitar
Jason Thomas, Alto Saxophone 

Mr. P.C.

Our rendition of the standard, Mr. P.C., Coltrane's tune written for Paul Chambers, who played with him for years. The tune was on Giant Steps, played with a fast swing feel. It's a minor blues. Enjoy.
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/mr-pc-paul-chambers

Impressions

Here's our latest rendition of the John Coltrane staple, Impressions. Enjoy. 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/impressions-latest-version 

More music

Here's some more music from the open jams. Its pretty crazy I have something like 24 weeks of tunes I've played at this open jam at Petie's Place, this low-key bar in Tarzana on Reseda and Oxnard. If you live in the Valley you should come check it out sometime. Anyways, here I played with the house band, we did Sunshine of Your Love (a favorite of mines) and John Coltrane's Mr. PC, a jazz standard I learned from the Real Book. Enjoy the music! Leave a comment, let me know what you think. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/mr-pc-coltrane 

European Free Jazz, New Music

I met a musician from Poland at work who I've been talking to on and off about jazz. He's given me a list of all these great European free jazz artists. After listening to a couple of them I'm very impressed. Europeans take jazz (and music in general, like metal) very seriously and it shows in their musical prowess and spirit. A lot of this stuff reminds me of late period John Coltrane, its insanely good. A lot of these cats come from classical backgrounds and it shows in their style and sound but they can also improvise too. I would say a lot of this stuff sounds like Jack Dejohnette, Art Ensemble, modern New York free jazz cats (William Parker), and AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, formed in Chicago in the 1960s) stuff. Seems like that style crossed the ocean and made its way to Europe somehow. Truly eye opening and terrific music. 

These are the guys he mentioned:

Anders Jormin
Jaga Jazzist
Leszek Mozdzer
Tomasz Stanko
Adam Pieronczyk
Esbjorn Svensson
Zbigniew Seifert
Jan Garbarek
Terje Rypdal
Krzysztof Komeda
Zbigniew Seifert 

Looks like I have an infinite amount of new music to listen to, learn from, and absorb for a long time. Lately, I've been digging a lot of metal but that can't satiate my instrumental musical needs and also sometimes you gotta give your ears a rest from all the power chords and coarse vocals. If you want to hear some truly great interesting jazz check out the artists listed above.

 Jazz is life, jazz is love. :D

That's Zbigniew Seifert on violin in the picture, very good jazz violinist that sounds way different from Jean Luc Ponty and the dude from Mahavishnu Orchestra, he also played sax

The Music That Delivers The Goods

I've been listening to a lot more music lately. More so than gaming. Here I'd like to talk about some of the music that delivers the goods-the emotional content, the cool riffs, the outstanding improvisation, and more.

I usually like to listen to a lot of music that I've heard before. A major part of that is that quite frankly I've heard a lot of music-perhaps too much. A lot of people my age wouldn't know most of the music I listen to. No, I'm not being condescending, I'm just stating the facts. There are people my age who don't even know Strawberry Fields by the Beatles. Sad, yes. But true. Anyways, let's talk about the music I've been listening to and perhaps provide a little insight on why I keep coming back to it and gravitating to it.

First off, Death. The brutal death metal band from Florida that came to popular acclaim in the 1990s. I was talking to an older musician co-worker earlier tonight and he said that the singer from Death (Chuck Schuldiner) was considered the great hope for metal back then. But then he suddenly died due to brain cancer. He's considered the Godfather of Death Metal and had this great voice that wasn't cookie monster vocals that you hear in pretty much every death metal group. Not only were his vocals great but his guitar playing was spot on. He could do great leads as well as phenomenal rhythm.

I've been feeling Death a lot lately because I've been feeling a little angry. I like to display my anger through my guitar playing (shredding fast neoclassical licks and playing jazz standards) but sometimes you just need that raw guttural death metal style growls to satisfy the beast within. Am I evil? Probably. Haha.

Right now I'm relaxing listening to Hendrix. Hendrix is an artist I will always respect, love, and admire until the day I die. He's literally the greatest guitar player that ever lived, one of the best songwriters, and one of the best rock and rollers. He was cooler than all the Beatles combined. His music is so bluesy and jazzy but he's also a true rock and roller. The Band of Gypsies album is the one I always listen to whenever I feel the need to listen to Hendrix. And I always like hearing Little Wing. 

Hendrix's music soothes my soul. Every aspect of the music is spiritually uplifting-if you believe in that sort of thing. It's like how Hendrix described his music, as "electric church music". It's great! I've learned a lot from Hendrix about guitar playing and what it means to be a truly great musician. I'll continue to learn from him through his music.

Next up, I'd like to talk about John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Too very different kinds of saxophonists. Trane is a tenor sax player who went on to become one of the greatest musicians of all time. The same for Parker except he played alto.

I dig a lot of Trane's music because of how uplifting and spiritual it is. The wide range of emotions displayed through musical techniques, style, and sound are baffling but rewarding. Towards the end of Trane's career he was booed and shunned because he wasn't playing bebop and My Favorite Things. The truth is that Trane took jazz to the furthest edge that it could go-further beyond. Jazz can't go further than that. Trane and Ornette Coleman were the last revolutionary changes to come to jazz. Quite remarkable. That's why he's my favorite musician.

With Charlie Parker it's a different sort of inspiration. I'm in awe of Parker's technique and sound more so than his compositions or emotional range. He played all the best songs-the jazz standards of the day that are still popular now. I can hum a lot of stuff he played and its pretty technical but it's always melodic and catchy. His influence was so vast on jazz musicians-even me, an electric guitarist in 2016. Who would've thought, right? I can see his influence on people like Trane and Eric Dolphy too, even though those guys are totally different jazz cats.

Different moods call for different music. Who knows, maybe I'll start listening to rap sometime soon. 

My favorite popular jazz tunes

Here's a list of my top ten favorite popular jazz tunes and what I like about them. If you know jazz chances are you've heard all these tunes about a billion times. I feel that if you wanted to get into jazz and you listened to this list it would give you a great idea of what jazz is all about. This is essentially a straight ahead list.

Fly me to the moon
This is a an old jazz standard that goes back to the 50's. Not only is it a great jazz standard that a lot of straight ahead players play but its also been remixed a lot-like the version that's in a lot of Bayonetta (video game) videos that can be heard here. Sort of crass but satisfying all the same. I also dig saxophonist Jimmy Heath's rendition. 

Giant Steps
This will forever be one of my favorite heads of any jazz tune. That melody is pure scientific improvisational music composition. It sounds like a math equation, something mechanical turned biological-totally organic even though it's cool and calculated. Another way to put it is that it sounds like elevator music-because the saxophone lines are continuously going up and down the register of the instrument. I don't mean it in the smooth jazz sense. Thank god!

Straight, no chaser
The name reminds me of drinking at a bar and telling the barkeep,"Straight, no chaser." The melody is catchy and blues-influenced but still having a child-like playful originality. It's a great Monk tune. He wrote a ton of other tunes but this is probably his most well known tune other than Round 'Midnight.

Hat and Beard
This is an Eric Dolphy tune that I always seem to come back to. It isn't necessarily a popular jazz tune but if you know jazz from the sixties you would at least know Eric Dolphy. It opens the Out to Lunch album from 1964. It sounds like its definitely about a hat and beard sensibility. The melody is stuttered and calculated as Eric Dolphy blows out the entire register of his bass clarinet. Far out man.

The very thought of you
Billie Holiday was a great singer, probably the greatest jazz singer. I didn't like vocals in jazz until I heard her back in high-school. The way she delivers the song is akin to a folk musician telling a story-doing that in jazz is not easy. Its definitely my favorite love song.

There will never be another you
Another love song with vocals that goes way back. I love the way Billie Holiday sings this song but I also like Dewey Redman's tenor saxophone version as well. I'm a sucker for jazz standards about love.

Footprints
Wayne Shorter is a phenomenal soloist as well as composer. This tune is another must hear for any jazz listeners because it came out at such a turning point in jazz music-the late 60's when jazz was going towards a free jazz, fusion, and smooth jazz route. That was the last significant changes that came to jazz. The way that Tony Williams (drums) and Ron Carter (bass) play in the rhythm section gives the tune an Afro-Cuban vibe. The melody is a blues.

All the things you are
Another love song that I dig. The intro has this dark minor quality to it and then it goes into this beautiful melody that could make a grown man cry. Charlie Parker's version does it for me but there are a lot of great vocal performances that knock my socks off. I also like how this tune spawned a counter tune entitled All the things you aren't.

Donna Lee
Speaking of Charlie Parker....This is a great Charlie Parker tune that I like. The melody is fast, melodic, and heavily syncopated-everything a jazz head should be. Then Parker goes into a calculated alto solo that is the bees-knees. It's actually mistaken that Charlie Parker wrote this tune. It was Miles Davis who wrote the tune originally but Parker has gotten credit for it over the years. Jaco Pastorious' solo on his version is magnifique.

Body and soul
Another love song going back to the 30's that I love hearing and playing on the guitar when I play through my Fakebook. Check out this fantastic Charlie Parker rendition with Efferge Ware on guitar-here. The guitarist plays simple comping rhythms-stuff even I could play but he does it in such a commanding and musical manner it complements Parker's alto sax excursions well.

That version goes off from the main melody but a more stock version would be something like this. Here Coltrane plays the stock melody with some slight variations on the rhythms and timings. This tune is considered a challenging piece to solo over but the unusual nature of the chords provide a great deal of improvisational freedom.

I'm going to end the list here because I could go on and on about my favorites. That's my list. What are some of your favorite popular jazz tunes?

The picture is Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, and Max Roach in 1947. That's jazz history right there for ya. Thanks for reading and I will catch you all on the next post.