Summertime, and The Living is Easy

Good evening, ladies and gents. Back at it with another writing experience, writing about life.

Times have been rough. I've been unemployed for about five months. I was recommended a cashier job at a grocery store from a co-worker from the job I got let go from and it ended up not working out. In addition, I went on an interview for another cashier job at a different grocery store and didn't get the job. I'm trying my best but getting a little discouraged, realizing that getting a job will be a lot harder than I thought. The job market is getting increasingly more difficult and I'm finding that AI is involved in the hiring process, making it harder to land the job. 

The first couple months I got let go, or technically, fired, from my retail grocery job of twelve years, I was pretty depressed. I started sleeping in till 3 or 4 PM and although I was still applying and going into businesses to checkout jobs, my mind was in the gutter. I was finally able to overcome that depression by setting up an earlier schedule and staying consistently busy throughout the day.

Usually this entailed waking up, cleaning up, and searching for jobs online everyday and applying to as many jobs that were suitable to me as possible. Then I make lunch. And do some reading and going out to the library. Then coming home and getting some dinner with family. At first, my stepdad was upset I got fired and he was almost equally mad at the fact that my managers I worked with for twelve years didn't have my best interests at heart. But you know, as they say, c'est la vie. Nowadays, my stepfather is more easy going about what I'm going through right now, because he knows that the job market is tough, and doesn't want me to end up working in a warehouse breaking my back or flipping burgers at McDonalds, lowering my ranking on a resume. He still believes in me, oddly enough, and that I can pull myself into another decent cashier position. Luck of the draw, he says.

As for myself, I'm not really quite sure. I have enough cash for food and rent for now but I'm noticing more and more that as gen z'ers say, this job market is cooked. We're cooked. Things are so bad that my co-worker from the last job that tried to get me a job at this different grocery store says that I should try to apologize my way back to my old position, which sounds like a terrible idea, although a manager said I was probably blacklisted when my brother asked them about it. So I'm not really sure when I'll land a job or if I will find employment anytime soon. Things are sad right now in that aspect. I'm pretty upset at the entire situation but being angry or trying to get back at people who misused and abused me in the old workplace isn't the answer.

In the meantime, I'm trying to find peace and balance in the universe. I'm reading a lot, going to the library, still searching for jobs, and now finally tonight, getting back into writing. In addition, I created a Substack, which is sort of like a social media for intellectuals and sharing ideas and writing. At some point when I build an audience on there, I'll probably charge a small subscription fee per month, try to add some coffee money to my wallet. 

Lastly, in other news, this second Trump administration has been the worst years of my living in the United States, and in my life. My actual life is comfortable and I have food and rent money but the future is more and more uncertain and I have no means of employment, most of my friends are marginals, my only good work contact couldn't help me out as much as she wanted to, I can't afford to move out or strike out anywhere on my own, we're basically in world war 3, there are Ice Raids here in LA and I have a hispanic name, I live with family, and I can't get a job. Things could be a lot better and I wonder what will happen in even say three months time. But hey, it's summertime, and the living is easy. [I got it so bad, I got it good.]  

FTO Trio

Gute Abend, 

I got my friend Feather, a death metal drummer to come over and play my snare and cymbal drum with brushes for a jam session. And Jason Tomas, a wonderful, amazing saxophone player played with us, with myself on seven-string guitar. This is the results. 

If you like what you hear here, check out my youtube channel, where you can hear Jason and myself do a lot of straight ahead jazz as a saxophone guitar duet. 

Thank for listening and keep on rocking in the free world. 

[recordings listed in order performed, two improvisations and standards include autumn leaves and blue monk, recorded on android phone with soundcorset app, a free application]

https://soundcorset.com/r/loxu0bkA6x?fbclid=IwAR19ncfwUhAPRHhJhzF5JcXgzhBzFiF0j0CostYR8uDkoASJSLle2B7YeXA [fto trio abend blues]

https://soundcorset.com/r/sTe3vZfK4B?fbclid=IwAR0FlAGsRgq6ZpqK8MDu3yD2aMdj-mJUM7BlMB-efe1QWhj6-HW8hZHxJ2E [fto trio autumn leaves]

https://soundcorset.com/r/8ag85zyfBx?fbclid=IwAR2k7I5_Ps5i6WHw4DcySuFgvXDgCzlA3kJbwlIUmKdYABfOApiLd6Yy9NQ [fto trio blue monk]

https://soundcorset.com/r/82j2b4mJRp?fbclid=IwAR1bMo9lp2VPPyMAjuWl29KtbzLb2pVUPfqBF9OUHw7dpAtrdZ0h0GkwqVQ [fto trio schlaf gut]

https://soundcorset.com/r/CFSBQa8QrM?fbclid=IwAR1LB3ilFAtkYma1p81PJrWA5fYhjhv3h0-rU1AaL39uJhu7AdzjhWite7A [Drum Solo No.13]

image ai generated 

The Quarantine Recordings pt. 2

Hello, good people of the internet. Here's part two of a series I'm calling the quarantine recordings. We did a bunch of jazz standards today in my backyard, just jamming out. A lot of people stopped by in the front yard to listen. It was cool. The songs are in the order they were performed live. Check them out below. Thanks for listening!

https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/untitled-tune-qiuarantine
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/autumn-leaves-quarantine
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/airegin-quarantine
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/four-quarantine
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/all-the-things-you-are-quarantine-2
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/impressions-quarantine

Guitar/effects, Orlando Figueroa 
Alto Saxophone, Jason Thomas

Guitar/Harmonica Jazz Quintet Performance

Greetings everyone! I'd like to share some tracks from last week's open mic I played at Petie's Place. I'm a regular performer there as I've played there over 40 times, over almost two years now. This was an unusual performance in the sense that I basically did a jazz set [other than Hey Joe-Hendrix] with a harmonica player. He asked to sit in with us and it turned out to be a great idea. The sound of the harmonica is like a human voice, very soulful, very human. I think my solos are becoming more melodic and thematic in a way. I'm getting a lot more confident about playing jazz. It's a rock and roll bar but its also cool being the one guy who can jazz up the joint, feel me? I wish I gave more solo room for the harmonica player, he sounded great. When he took solos I stopped playing and layed out like a true jazz performance :D
Enjoy the music.

https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/footprints-live-at-peties
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/mr-pc-live-at-peties
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/hey-joe-live-at-peties

Jim-Drums
Art-Bass
Dave-Harmonica
Orlando-Guitar
Ken-Tambourine, Shaker

My Name is Albert Ayler

My Name is Albert Ayler is a fantastic record, sounds of the new thing (I first heard that term from Amiri Baraka's book Black Music), as it appeared early in 1963. This is saxophonist Ayler's debut record, recorded in Copenhagen and first released on the Dutch Debut label. 

Personnel

• Albert Ayler - tenor saxophone (tracks 3-6), soprano saxophone (track 2), voice (track 1)
• Niels Brosted - piano (tracks 2-5)
• Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen - bass (tracks 2-6)
• Ronnie Gardiner - drums (tracks 2-6

The album has only three stars on Allmusic but what does Allmusic know? The fact of the matter is that although the band of Europeans (the two Niels) and the one American (Ronnie) is quite the typical straight ahead band, what Ayler does over the usual jazz construct, is create his own sound, playing himself, and creating a wondrous lyrical blues, a shout, a cry, a whisper if you will. This seems to be a response to Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, similar to Archie Shepp and Pharaoh Sanders, other great sax players of that revolutionary musical era. Its great that he went to Europe to play free jazz because his fame wouldn't have gone as far if he stayed in America.

What makes the record especially engaging for me is that well, I love jazz standards. I've heard most of the standards way more than a few times so when he plays all these tunes there's a certain legendary aura to them. I know all the melodies, all the chord changes, and when he plays what is unexpected I get quite a kick out of it, he's playing the standards we all (jazz fans) know but ultimately doing something different with them. That's the genius of this record. 

The Tunes
Bye Bye Blackbird
Billie's Bounce
Summertime 
On Green Dolphin Street 
C.T. (Ayler composition) 

On quite a few of these tunes a typical jazz fan who knows all these standards might say, "Well, this is a good band but the saxophonist isn't really playing the melody." In fact, what Ayler does on a lot of these tunes is use the basic harmonic framework (chords) for the tunes for improvisation of his own melodies, playing himself. His harmonies speak for themselves, sometimes shrill, a cry, this is what Baraka means when he says that free jazz is only spectacular when it stays close to its blues roots and doesn't get all intellectual. Of course I disagree because a lot of my free jazz heroes (The Art Ensemble of Chicago and other AACM musicians) are quite intellectual, even to the point of studying modern classical composers, serialism, etc. 

In a way you can only see the genius of this record is you're a free jazz acolyte. My favorite tune here is Billie's Bounce, a Charlie Parker tour de force. Even I know the head (main theme) to this tune on guitar. Here Ayler gets more straight ahead, and you can see the John Coltrane influence in his sheets of sound, long winded riffs played very fast. Its quite stunning.

As much as I like Bille's Bounce here the number one tune here would have to be Summertime, the Gershwin classic. The opening is such a blues, a wail.  I can assure you you've never heard Summertime like this before. Its a haunting, shrill cry of a saxophone sound. It sticks with you once you hear it. This is the blues. 

Another tune I dug very much was On Green Dolphin Street. I've heard this tune a million times and it always delivers with its driving melody. Here Ayler goes to Mars, almost like Coltrane's latest period stuff, he mixes 50s, early 60s style bebop phrasing with the new thing. Its my cup of tea. This particular tracks reminds me of Eric Dolphy a lot. Some of Ayler's phrasing doesn't even sound human, it sounds like an animal, like a bird, with the rhythms of frogs jumping in and out of pond.  

The Ayler original is pure free jazz at its best. No melody, no theme, mostly just call and response from the musicians. Given that this was his first original tune on a record, I would say its quite a great introduction to his music. This is where some people would scratch their heads and say,"What?"  In a way you either get it or you don't. For most jazz fans there is a fine line between straight ahead jazz and free jazz. In 1963 that line was very much quite apparent.

The rhythm section on the record is quite good. They play in a typical 1963 jazz fashion. It wasn't until later when Ayler teamed up with American musicians like Sonny Murray, Milford Graves, and Gary Peacock, that he started to develop more of the free jazz thing with a rhythm section that was more hip to his personal sound. But what can I say? These Europeans did a great job playing with an innovator. The drummer keeps time throughout the album. 

I recommend this album to anyone interested in the so-called new thing or free jazz. Or if you like Albert Ayler and never heard this particular record. Its on YouTube, and its quite good.

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.