Joe Henderson, Inner Urge

     I'm finally back writing about jazz! The last stuff I left off on was some modern jazz and even some rock: Pat Metheny, Ornette Coleman, St.Vincent, that kind of stuff. I really want to get into free-jazz albums. The only free-jazz albums I own is this great one by David S. Ware, one of the best saxophonists I've heard in my life. The other one is by this group called Dimensions in Space in Muisc, something like that. Anyways, this is a return to writing about jazz albums. This one is a straight-ahead album that pretty much all jazz fans should know, or at least they know the tune that the album is named after, 'Inner Urge', a fantastic jazz standard written by Joe Henderson, a great tenor saxophone player who recorded on the Blue Note record label in the 1960's. He would go on to play with many other famous jazz musicians and he even had a big band at some point later in his career.  
 This is the main info about the album: Inner Urge is an album by jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson released in 1966, the fourth recorded as a leader for Blue Note Records. It was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on November 30, 1964. It features performances by pianist McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones on drums, both associated with John Coltrane, bassist Bob Cranshaw and Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone. The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave the album a four-star rating (of a possible four stars), describing the music as "dark and intense". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Urge) 
     Let's start with the first tune which is also my favorite tune on the album. It's called 'Inner Urge'. The first thing that you hear is the piano, bass, and drums playing this great melodic motif. The melody is played on the bass and sax and it is very melodic. What really stands out is how straight-ahead this sounds to my young modern jazz ears today. This is that classic sound from the 60's that jazz fans refer to as straight-ahead or post-bop. I would say the tune is modal and follows a form of chord changes over and over again, allowing the musicians to stretch out on familiar territory rather than improvising over new lines of chord changes. As they keep playing its like the whole song is reaching a musical climax, especially the drumming of Elvin Jones, who is arguably one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time. His style is so unique. The way he hits the cymbals and the bass drum are particularly Elvin Jones. He doesn't do that standard cymbal snare hit stuff that all jazz drummers do. Instead, his style is a flurry of notes all over the kit, complicated but somehow not sounding like he's showing off throughout the whole tune. There's some lines of tenor saxophone from the leader on this recording date, Joe Henderson, after the head. His solo here is very post-bop, it has some of the influences of the greats before him like Charlie Parker but his style is undeniably his own. This isn't a follower of Coltrane, this is a guy doing his own thing. McCoy Tyner was the pianist on this recording date and boy does he play! Its crazy how this album has two guys from the John Coltrane Quintet! McCoy's solo here is very smooth and shall I use the word coy? It's a melodic solo, that's for sure. After that there's an incredible drum solo by Elvin Jones. It's got a ton of licks and groove that all drummers can appreciate. His style is very complicated without sounding busy. It's really a marvel to hear. After that they play the main melody which is mainly played by the bass. Bob Cranshaw does a really great job with his bass tone here. The bass sounds like a great quality instrument in tune with great intonation. Before I end the discussion of this song I should say a bit more about the saxophone playing. Henderson's style is very professorial and chromatic yet full of melody and with precision on the sax. They used to call him the Professor. What I like about this song is that its become a jazz standard, and the mood is very dark, although the ending chord is a beautiful one. 
     Next, we have the tune 'Isotope', a very scientific name which could of came straight from Chem 101. This one has a straight-up bebop type head that is very chromatic and bluesy. Apparently this tune is suppose to be a tribute to Monk because of Monk's use of humor in his tunes. It has a playful atmosphere, especially in Henderson's solo. But it also has the virtuosity of a true bebop player as well. His lines here are very melodic, fast, and technical but he still has a great sense of melody and feel. By feel I mean to say that it never sounds like he's trying to put too many notes into one particular section. It's a bluesy solo, that's for sure. McCoy's solo here is very classic. There are some Monk-isms in there but for the most part he's following the chords harmonically. After that there is a trading bars part where the sax is playing some improvised lines and the drums are responding to it, a call and response, which is a part of blues as well as jazz. Elvin Jones was on fire on this recording. After that they repeat the head. It's such a Monk type melody, it's great to hear someone do a tribute to him. Thelonious Monk wrote, recorded, and performed some of the greatest jazz in the world.
     Then, is the tune 'El Bario', which is a tune Henderson wanted to have a Spanish musical ethos. It sounds like some simple chords over and over again and the band is just playing off that creating some great off the cuff music with a Spanish vibe. Henderson doesn't play any particular main melody or theme but rather an improvised musical performance with tons of musical phrases on his sax. His saxophone tone is very tenor-y. It sounds like he doesn't like overblown notes, or at least he just does it very rarely, and he likes to play all of his notes perfectly in tune. At the end Henderson does hit a few overblown notes, which is cool. I always liked when sax players hit the notes really hard, loud, and brashly. Reminds me of John Coltrane but also the great saxophonist with Sun Ra named John Gilmore.
     The next tune is 'You know I Care', which is a ballad, something that every straight-ahead jazz album should have. The head could have been written in the 40's. It's very beautiful and 'jazzy', it follows some standard jazz chord changes before the rise of bebop. I tried to find this song online and I believe it is an old standard. It's interesting hearing them play something so old school after hearing the other cuts before this. Joe's saxophone playing here takes you way back to that time. The melodies, the licks, the phrasing, its all straight from the jazz book. I've never heard McCoy play a tune like this before. He really can do it all. He restrains himself on this piece, not playing as much as he did on the other tracks. He doesn't really get a solo on this piece, he just comps and plays beautifully.
     Lastly, we have a tune by Cole Porter entitled 'Night and Day'. This one has more of a bebop stride to it. The saxophone solo just hits all the changes with great rhythmic and melodic content. He's really swinging his notes. That swing rhythm is hard to explain with words but once you hear it you'll know exactly what it is. It is one of the most essential elements of straight-ahead jazz. In more far out stuff like free-jazz sometimes the rhythm is unclear, or non-existent in some cases.  This last tune doesn't really stand out as much to me as the other tunes. 
     Finally, I have to say that this was a great album. I don't think you can really rate albums like this because the stuff recorded during this time was technically all great to me. All those guys had something to say back then and they were all great. I'd always heard of Joe Henderson because I'm a huge jazz fan, but more of straight-ahead and avant-garde side of jazz. I'd seen a few videos of Joe Henderson online playing with his big band and I thought it was amazing stuff. Once I went to see the CSUN college jazz band perform and they did mostly all Joe Henderson tunes with one of their sax teachers playing Henderson's parts with their school big band. It wasn't exactly amazing like seeing Henderson on YouTube but it did open my ears to more of Henderson's material. His style is great and he's one of those classic jazz saxophonists. This is such a cool laid-back album, I'm surprised I haven't heard it until now. There's going to be a lot of those classic records like this one that I'm going to have to go back and check out thanks to the Internet. Check this one out.

Update 1.03

     Things have been great lately. I've really been enjoying the summer and having fun in the sun. Lately me and my entourage of friends have been going out to the beach to swim and enjoy the weather under the sun. The great thing is the fact that I've actually met a group of friends that I consistently hang out with now. It took me about two years to find friends out here in California. For a while I missed all my old friends back home in Wisconsin. I had made a few friends out here, here and there but they turned out to be very squirrely and sometimes downright impossible to deal with. This includes some bands that I played in very briefly too. I was even in an all Asian band for a while! I met most of these bands and musicians through Craigslist. The internet is a bit iffy and you never truly know what kind of people you are going to met online. Anyways, so things have been fun and I've enjoyed the summer so far hanging out with my buds.
     In addition, I've been hanging out with my older brother a lot, playing Diablo III: Reaper of Souls on PC. The picture above is a cosplay of a Crusader character from Diablo III. I just got into the game again because I played it on console with my friends a while back and I suddenly saw it as an amazing game again after maybe a year after it came out. They've added so much to the game now that its really worth coming back and replaying characters again. They've added an adventure mode where the game feels more like an open world game. And then there are Nepelom Rifts, these levels upon levels of monsters and demons where you kill them all and you get chances for epic loot called legendary items and what not. The experience is definitely a 10 out of 10. 10/10 would buy the game again! Blizzard is adding more content to the game all the time now. Its really become quite a great game now that they've polished it and added more content to it. I'm a Blizzard fan boy. I literally own every game they've made on the PC. I think they're all great but I really like Starcraft II, Diablo III, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. Pretty much all their triple A titles. Also, they're working on a first person shooter game called Overwatch. I really wish I can get in the beta for that game when the beta is out! Also, Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, the last chapter of the Starcraft II trilogy is coming out this winter, hopefully by Christmas time. I'm actually in the beta for that right now but I haven't played any of it yet because its only multiplayer and I'm afraid I'll just get rekt because I don't know any of the new units and how they work yet. I'll figure it out eventually.
     Also, I've been playing more guitar. A little bit here and there, even at friends' houses playing their guitars. I've also been watching a lot of Dragon Ball GT. I've actually almost finished watching the whole series now. I've only got about 20 more episodes. Luckily for me I've been able to watch the whole series on Youtube rather than going through anime websites. Makes it easy for viewing. The best part of GT is when this robot mutant named Baby takes on Goku, and when Hell Android 17 fuses with Good Android 17 to become Super Android 17!
     I've been reading Herbie Hancock's biography Possibilities. I gotta say that the guy is an amazing composer and pianist, and his memories of playing with the Second Great Quintet (Miles Davis on trumpet, Herbie on keys, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter on tenor sax) were just amazing! It was the best part of the book, although I'm still not finished with it yet. Other interesting parts was the band Herbie formed after the Miles Davis Quintet broke up. He formed a band with an African name called Mwandishi and they played this real far out free-jazz type stuff. I've listened to some of their stuff online and those cats could play! I'm more into that kind of stuff rather than Herbie's Headhunters period when he started doing funk. But most of the young people my age would rather prefer his funk stuff. It's more accessible and has a beat that you can tap your foot to. In addition it was cool reading about Herbie's Buddhist faith. I like the idea of chanting and meditation but I don't think I'd ever have that inspiration to ever go to a temple and learn and ask questions about it.
     As a customer at my work likes to say all the time,"Life is good". Before the summer is over I want to go out to more concerts at the Baked Potato if anybody interesting is coming to the valley. Also, a while back I was learning more about computers and learning simple things like html and css. Maybe I could actually learn a real program like javascript or c++ or something. I think I have the aptitude for that kind of stuff. My friends were talking about working on programming, learning programming, maybe trying to make ourselves a simple game, or even better yet, an app or something. It would be cool to learn how to do something like that although I'd have to start from the bottom and learn a lot. At least with the guitar I'm already pretty high up the scale. Its been a while since I blogged. Sometimes I forget I have a blog when I don't write for long periods of time. I hope I can get more viewers and keep an audience, engaging them with entertaining posts. Figueroa out.

Heads Up!

     

     Hey everyone thought I'd write another one of these updates for the readers, the fans, the hardcore Orlando Figueroa blog fans! Anyways, I've been up to a lot more fun lately. A lot of gaming. Not so much in terms of music or guitar playing. Like I've said in previous posts I'm becoming disillusioned with music and guitar playing and becoming more enamored of gaming. In the last post I talked about how I was going to start streaming and stuff. My twitch channel is twitch.tv/megaman1597 if you want to check it out but there's really not much interesting content on there at the moment. Its a bit iffy streaming because the quality is not so good unless I'm playing something like my Super Nintendo emulators. On a game like Heroes of the Storm the quality is terrible and blurry because of my network connection speeds. Unless you have a fast internet connection you can't really stream that well. So I looked more and more into what it takes to be able to stream and all these programs and options to make a stream great and I've kind of run into a wall because I think all my streaming problems stem from not having a super fast internet connection speed. So I've been kind of studying and looking up all this stuff just to be able to stream. Has it been worth it? Yes! But like I said I think I've run into a wall because I think my internet connection speed is just not good enough for it.
     On the other end of things there's actual gaming I've been doing as well. I've been playing a lot of Super Nintendo games on my emulator on my PC. Games like Super Metroid and Super Mario World mostly. I'm actually pretty far in Super Metroid. I've finally got most of the items in the game and now I'm just trying to power my way through it, fighting these big ass bosses that take a while to take out. Some of them are actually really difficult to fight because on some bosses they don't have a set HP that you have to deplete, instead you just have to survive the whole fight until something happens, like you pushing them across the entire map until they fall off. There was one boss fight where it was like that and it was pretty tough.
     In addition, I've been playing the first Bioshock. I'm playing the game on the PC, on my steam account. If any of you want to add me on steam my name on there is Spacemarine, I should be like the first hit in the search, with the sexy girl space marine picture. I'm actually really getting into Bioshock. I'm really feeling it! The story of the game kind of gives me the creeps because I get scared easily and the whole idea of quasi-zombies/cannibals/whatever they are running around underwater with guns trying to kill you just freaks me out. Also the idea that you have to kill Bigdaddy's and then absorb Littlesisters (basically just little girls but I think they're much more, not far enough in the game to say) is pretty interesting. The picture is a Big Daddy Little Sister cosplay. Its so good! You can choose to save the Littlesisters but then you won't get a lot of the superpowers needed to power up your character, making it easier to make it through the game. Right now I'm enjoying the game but I find it really difficult. A friend of mine told me he thought the game was super easy. I guess for some people these modern originally on Xbox360 first person games are really easy but for me they are the epitome of difficulty. Because of playing this game its gotten me interested in playing more of the first-person xbox games in my brother's collections. The main game that comes to mind that I want to play that he has is Fallout 3. But that's for another time.
     In other news, today was really fun because I brought over Diablo 3 for the Xbox360 over to a friends house and they really enjoyed the game. I was getting so into the game and playing on a console, that later on we went to Gamestop and I bought the expansion, Reaper of Souls because I knew that they would want to play it with me on other days we hang out. I already have both D3 and RoS on PC but having it on console just makes it more of a chill game to play when your just relaxing with your friends. The PC version is a bit more hardcore and has players that have played since launch still putting in incredible amounts of time. It's a really great game. Reaper of Souls turned Diablo 3 into a much more open world RPG experience, where you can kind of go anywhere you want at any time to complete quests, kill demons, and get epic loot. All in all its a fun time. 10/10 would buy again.
     Also, I've been getting a bit more into anime because the new Dragon Ball Super episodes have aired in Japan, and people have put English subtitles to it already. It's pretty cool. I'm actually going to start watching Dragon Ball Z GT again because I'm kind of into a DBZ phase again now that I'm into Dragon Ball Super, but I don't want to watch the same old DBZ stuff that I've seen before, so I'm going to give GT another shot. I once watched it but after a while I became bored and just stopped. Maybe now I'll be more into it? It's worth a shot although pretty much all of the friends I've ever had have said that GT was garbage. Maybe after I watch a bit of the series I'll do a little anime mini-review for it, I haven't done one of those for a long time. The last anime I watched was this great one about time travel called Stein's Gate. I would recommend that one to any modern anime fan.
     Lastly, as you can tell I have a lot of time on my hands! If I was using my time wisely I would be working more on music but I'm a lazy musician. I have chops but I don't want to put the practice in to truly become great. To learn a 1000 songs and find the right people to play in a band with. I feel like part of my problem is that I have no direction musically, and that I should spend the money to hire a guitar teacher but then comes the problems of paying for said teacher. If I'm going to pay for a guitar teacher, then I might as well just pay to go to music college, learn the whole thing about harmony and counterpoint, as well as be a hotshot guitar player. I think musicians do get kind of stuck or in a rut or a musical depression and they just take a break for a while. I feel like that's what I need to do. Just take a break and come back later. Its funny that I used to listen to music all the time but lately I haven't listened to any music other than some death metal here and there. It actually doesn't bother me at all when I'm not listening. Before it used to. So I've changed in that respect. If I had to say what is the greatest thing in the world to me I would say music but gaming and work would be additional followups to that. Figueroa out.

What I've been up to lately and plans

     I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Holiday being the Fourth of July with family and fireworks and all that. My family has never been too big on Fourth of July or going out to see fireworks but I do enjoy fireworks when I can. This year I worked both the 4th of July and the 3rd, so I didn't get to see any fireworks or anything, although I could hear it inside the store I work at. I got to spend the Fourth working with my good friend until 1 in the morning. Good times getting paid, making that bread. In other news, I've been looking and playing old school games on my computer via emulators. Mainly just Zsnes, I've been playing Super Nintendo games that I missed growing up because for me gaming was more about the Playstation. Right now I am playing Super Metroid but I also have Zelda:A link to the Past, StreetFighter 2, Super Mario Bros, Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger. The girl in the picture is doing a cosplay of Samus from Super Metroid. Anyways, today was cool because I ordered a USB Super Nintendo controller and it came through the mail. So I was finally able to play the games on a Super Nintendo controller, which is a much smoother gaming experience than using a keyboard to run and jump my way through Super Metroid. I've been thinking about streaming again and doing it in a much more focused way to actually get and keep viewers. One of my problems I think I had when I was streaming a lot on twitch was that I was streaming the wrong games. I was streaming Heroes of the Storm and I don't think most people want to watch mobas, especially that particular one. On the other hand, when I was streaming Starcraft 2 I would get like 10 viewers watching me play 1v1 matches, and it was awesome! So I'm planning on redoing my stream, and even getting a web cam. I feel like people really enjoy watching streams more if they can see the gamer playing it, seeing how they look and their facial expressions and all that is definitely part of the twitch experience. On the other hand, there are people who don't use a web cam and they just use a mic and they get along fine. Another thing I'm looking into is starting a YouTube gaming channel where I play these old school games like Super Metroid and A Link to the Past and stuff. So yeah these are my plans I got going on. Musically I've been feeling very down and in the dumps. I hardly play guitar that much these days as I'm getting more and more into gaming, not only playing new and current PC games but also games on Xbox 360, and doing retro gaming on emulators on my PC. Although every now and then I listen to some great death metal. Lately I've been really into this band Arch Enemy. They just added the great shred guitarist from Nevermore; Jeff Loomis to the band. They are one great death metal band, probably one of the best out there on the scene today. Anyways, so I'm thinking about making a better attempt at streaming. For a while, I was streaming everyday but the only game I was streaming was Heroes of the Storm, and I was getting like no views. Maybe if I try streaming some older games like Super Metroid and maybe going back to Starcraft I can get viewers again. I won't give up! Orlando out.

Alex Machacek live at the Baked Potato

  
     On Tuesday night I went to see Alex Machacek at the Baked Potato, a jazz club here in the valley, in Studio City. Alex played with bassist Ben Shepard and drummer Eric Valentine. The Baked Potato is named so because they have a menu that consists of nothing but different kinds of baked potatoes. You can even get a baked potato Philly cheese steak. I knew that the place was small from the pictures I saw of it online but I didn't realize how small the place was until I got inside and sat down. That being said, the club is very intimate and the band is right in your face. Perfect for the listening experience and the visuals. The cover charge at the door for this concert was only $20, and they require a two drink minimum. With a baked potato I got as well I ended up only spending about $40, pretty reasonable to see a concert and have food and drink. Anyways, let's talk about the actual music.
     First, Alex started off the concert playing a song that he's playing here in this short clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDvhTDljZxs. I don't know the name of the tune but in that clip is where I first heard it. It was great and refreshing to hear him open up with that tune. It's a great opening tune that has some great rhythmic syncopation. From this tune we can tell that not only is Alex a great guitarist with lots of technique but that he's also a great composer as well. You can say that this tune is like progressive rock meets jazz fusion, which is really what Alex's whole musical style is all about. He mixes odd time signatures with jazz chord progressions and rhythmic motifs to create original material. As far as the concert went I would say that this was the best tune that he played just for the sheer amount of excitement that was displayed during this number. This song is exciting the whole way through, like a car race speeding across the 101. You got the sense that the whole band was all together on this one, speeding through the complex snare hits, bass fills, and guitar chords. As far as the concert went though, I would say this was the only interesting thing they played during the entire first set.
     That being said, once you hear a few of Alex's tunes you begin to realize that he uses the same kinds of orchestrations and the same kinds of chord progressions, with maybe a different melody here and there. I think at this particular concert Alex really wasn't feeling the music. He was just coasting. Whereas his sidemen were really pushing the envelop, truly improvising. I felt like there were only like maybe two times where Alex was really improvising and pulling off some great stuff in the process. The rest of the time he was coasting. By coasting I mean he's playing the tunes well but isn't really 'there' in the moment when it comes to his time for improvising. I was a bit disappointed to say the least but realistically I shouldn't have expected much for only $20. But his sidemen were terrific! Especially Eric Valentine on drums. He was playing these incredible odd time signatures and incredible snare/cymbal hits and never missing a fill. At times Valentine reminded me of the drummer from Return to Forever, Lenny White. He was my favorite part of the whole concert. Then the bassist Ben Shepard was playing some incredible bass fills and showing us what its like to play and get a great sound out of a 6-string bass. I didn't even know they made 6-string basses until I saw him play it that night! Shepard is a very melodic bassist that can play the bass like a guitar player plays the guitar. Very much like a Jack Bruce type player. The reason why I think Alex was kind of off this night was because I think this was just a pick up band he was playing with. These aren't the typical people he would usually play with so he was just laying low and again, coasting. The other thing I wish Alex would do is let the other guys write compositions for the band to play because after a while all his tunes start sounding the same. He uses the same tone on most of his songs. At best he sounds like a great Allan Holdsworth imitation, especially with that creamy slightly distorted lead guitar tone on his solos and that synthesizer sounding guitar chord stuff he does where it sounds like whales from the ocean. He definitely got that from Holdsworth. Out of all the Holdsworth clones I think there is only one player who has surpassed the master. He's pretty famous, his name is Tosin Abasi, a great progressive metal jazz fusion type guitarist (check out his band Animals as Leaders and side-project T.R.A.M). Anyways, once you hear Alex's compositions back to back you realize that they all sound the same. This isn't really bad but it does get old. Jazz is suppose to be fresh and unique and have more intensive improvisation. But this concert felt more like a rock concert in comparison to some of the jazz concerts I've been to here in LA. I'm not hating on Alex but I think he could have done a better job when it came to his solos.
     Lastly, the other song that stood out to me was the last song he played, ending the first set. It was a Gospel-type tune entitled 'Oh, Lard'. This one was slow and moody, simplistic but made more complex with a jazzy series of chord changes for the improvisation. Again, here Alex's playing was nothing special but the bass playing and drumming were phenomenal. Plus it was nice seeing them play something simple and that had a Gospel type sound. Basically they made Alex sound great at this gig, not the other way around. This is the case where the sidemen make the star sound great. I think Alex is a great guitar player but I think he gives more of himself to the music when he plays with high profile musicians. In videos online I've seen him play with people like drummers Terry Bozzio and Gary Husband and in those videos he's giving it all he's got to the music. Maybe he just needs to play with musicians that push him to the farther reaches of great jazz improvisation. I've seen concerts where the star is a great performer with other big names but with a pick up band they're just coasting. It was a shame but I did enjoy myself that night. On the bright side now I know a place I can go to to hear jazz music!

Whiplash

     This is one of the best music movies that I've ever seen. I would put it second in my favorite movies about music after the Karate Kid's(Ralph Machio) guitar movie Crossroads, where he duels guitar shredder Steve Vai. This movie is about a jazz drummer attending Shafford Conservatory of Music, learning jazz and playing in Studio Band, which is a big band performance class. Shafford is a fictional school in New York. The student is Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller), a first year student who idolized Buddy Rich. The teacher who whips the students into shape is Mr. Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Basically one late night Andrew is practicing the drums at the school and Mr. Fletcher just happens to walk into the room, asking him to play some rudiments, the one he asked was a double time swing rudiment. Their first meeting was awkward but you got the sense that from that first meeting Mr. Fletcher saw greatness in Andrew despite the fact that he seemed to lack confidence in his demeanor.
     So basically Andrew is in a lower level jazz band class where he's confined to turning the pages for the other drummer, who gets to play more than he does because he's first drummer. Out of nowhere during one of the classes Mr. Fletcher comes in looking to pick musicians for the Studio Band, which is the best band in the school. He asks Andrew and the first chair drummer to play their double time swing. Because Fletcher already knew Andrew could do it it was automatically a given that he was going to get chosen over the other guy, especially because Andrew already knew what he was looking for because Fletcher asked him to do it the other day before. So in a way Fletcher has already made his mark for Andrew, picking him over this other drummer named Conelly.
      Once Andrew is in the band he begins to realize that Fletcher is an asshole that cusses out and insults his students to get good results. He resorts to insults like 'no wonder your mommy ran out on you' and 'Jesus fucking Christ! I didn't know they allowed retards into Schaefer!'. He's a pretty funny guy but after all the insults are said and done you begin to despise him. I've had some interesting music teachers myself. In high school at Wauwatosa West I had a music teacher who sometimes had an attitude with the students, he had his good days and his bad days. But he was nothing like this. My first guitar teacher was a really cool hippie type that loved Hendrix and Jeff Beck. In college I didn't really stay long enough to find great music teachers but I wish I could have stayed at UW-Parkside in Wisconsin to work and learn from this great jazz trumpet player named Russ Johnson. This movie really reminds me of being in college. But I digress. So Fletcher goes crazy trying to get all the scores and the music right and eventually Andrew becomes first chair drummer in the Studio Band. But the only reason he became the go to drummer for the band is because at a music competition the original main drummer lost the sheet music for the tunes and he could only play from looking at the score. Andrew had the whole tune memorized so he played instead, gaining Fletcher's affection and main go to drummer in the band. 
     Eventually there's another big competition. I think this is what all the big music schools really try to do in colleges, do these music competitions to get their students noticed, maybe signed on record labels or get them to join prestigious bands or orchestras. So Andrew is on the bus getting to the comp but the bus gets a flat and he's running late. So he gets off and rents a car and gets to the place but he forgot his sticks in the car. So he gets back to the car to get his sticks but gets toppled by a truck! This part of the movie was totally easy to see because he was yelling and shouting on the cell phone to one of the other guys in the band, yelling 'I'll be right there!'. After he gets hit, he climbs out of the car and runs back the to place where the whole band is waiting for him. But he's so injured that he can hardly play. Fletcher tells him he's out and then Andrew goes ape shit, tackling Fletcher like a football player onto the ground and punching him in the face. 
     Next scene we have Andrew and his dad (Paul Reiser), talking to a school social worker about how Fletcher abused him psychologically and emotionally. She states that a previous student had gotten depression after working in Fletcher's class when he was a student, and that the guy had hung himself not too long ago. 'What does that have to do with me', Andrew asks. Then the woman says that whatever is being discussed will be confidential and that Fletcher won't know about it. Finally Andrew agrees to talk saying 'tell me what you want me to say'. 
     At this point its summer time and Andrew is working at some kind of cafe but still living in his small New York apartment. When he gets off he walks past a club where he sees a jazz band is playing with guest Terrence Fletcher. In this scene we see that despite Fletcher being an obscene, loud, and abusive teacher that he is really a beautiful cat. His piano playing here is so soulful and emotive, it's a wonder why he started teaching and wasn't just a jazz musician performing in clubs all the time. Sometimes you find music teachers who are great performers and teachers. But other times you'll find a great teacher who isn't such a hot performer, or vice versa. After Fletcher plays a great piano solo Andrew starts to walk away but Fletcher calls to him and they sit down and talk, like what happened between them was long forgotten and now they're best friends. Fletcher mentions that he's no longer working at Shaffer, and Andrew acknowledges the fact that he already knew this. After they talk Fletcher mentions that he's looking for a drummer that knows the scores to the tunes 'Whiplash' and 'Caravan', the two tunes that Andrew worked hard to master while in school before he dropped out. Andrew decides to do it because this would allow him to play with Fletcher (who was conducting) at the JVC Jazz Festival, a real life jazz festival that happens every year. But we don't know yet that Fletcher was secretly planning to screw Andrew here because once he's at the gig onstage at the festival they're about to play a song that Andrew doesn't have the score for because Fletcher didn't give it to him or tell him about the song at all! Then he goes over to Andrew and says 'you don't think I know it was you fucker'. Pretty crazy revenge he was getting here because Andrew didn't know the song but played anyways, making a fool of himself. The bass player was all like 'what the fuck are you doing man'. After the tunes over the audience still claps, which leads me to the idea that sometimes jazz fans are ok with whatever happens at a jazz concert, even if there are lots of mistakes. It is an improvisational artform after all and sometimes there are mistakes that can be made while improvising. It's not like classical music where if you miss a note on the page, the audience isn't satisfied with the performance. Anyways, so Andrew gets mad and runs offstage, hugging his father for support. Then he decides to get back onstage and he starts playing this wild solo, queing the bass player for the intro to 'Caravan'. Fletcher is actually happy about this and the whole song is fabulous. When the end of the tune comes in Andrew plays this totally Buddy Rich-inspired drum solo for like 10 minutes before he ques Fletcher to the ending of the tune. It was a great musical performance on the drums. This movie is all about drums and jazz drumming. I find myself to be a very rhythmic person, I even want a drum-set but can't really put it in my house because its too small here. My friends always say that they see me more as a drummer than a guitar player because of how I always air drum to songs that we listen to. The solo at the end was my favorite part of the movie because it shows that even though he dropped out of college and was down and out, he was still a great musician, all because of Mr. Fletcher's guidance. It shows that really all it takes to be great is determination, training, and will. It doesn't hurt to have a teacher or guy that yells at you to practice harder. 
     Lastly, the music in this movie was astounding. The music was composed by a guy named Justin Hurwitz. He also did the great film score for Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, another great music movie that I saw back when I was younger. The music is all big band oriented stuff because in college that's what the university jazz curriculum focuses on. The drumming was incredible, especially the last drum solo at the end. I would recommend this movie to any jazz fans and drummers. They would really appreciate it more rather than just the average movie watcher. However, that doesn't mean that a regular audience wouldn't enjoy it because the film got great reviews and premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, with critical acclaim for Simmon's performance. The film was inspiring to me as a musician. Even without musical training or conservatory school you can be a great musician! 

St.Vincent's self titled album

     Here's a post that doesn't involve jazz but in a way it kind of does because Annie Clark (singer,guitar player,composer for St.Vincent) used to go to Berklee College of Music for three years. She dropped out before finishing her degree but she has stated that she did learn a lot of jazz chord voicings on the guitar, and was exposed to jazz greats like Miles Davis. When it comes to rock music I tend to prefer live performances because I like to see how the musicians interpret the music from the record on stage. I've seen tons of concert footage of St.Vincent on YouTube. I really dig what she does. Her guitar playing, singing, and stage show are really on point and she sounds unique and herself, one of the hardest things any musician can do. This is a great record released in 2014 and won a Grammy for best Alternative Music Album. Let's talk about the songs.
     The first song is 'Rattlesnake'. The lyrics begin with 'follow the power lines back from the road'. It has a midi/digital effects kind of vibe, with this electronic music going on over catchy lyrics and a simple robotic drumbeat. The song is so catchy it could be mistaken for a pop song if it wasn't for the avant-garde type sounding arrangement. There's all this electronic stuff going on and to top it off there's this distorted guitar solo that is very melodic. Annie is a great guitar player by the way, even if she does rely on effects (stomp-boxes, guitar pedals) too much.
     Next, is 'Birth in Reverse', which sounds more like a classic rock type song, almost a bluesy type thing with funky guitar chords. The guitar is more important here, and she plays a lot of funky stuff but it sounds avant-garde and would fit in a pop context too. The lyrics are 'like a birth in reverse, what I saw through the blinds'. Its a simple tune with verse chorus type pop arrangement but at the end again there's this instrumental break that is totally unique and only sound like St.Vincent. You can tell she listened to a lot of Talking Heads from these instrumental parts.
     The next tune is 'Prince Johnny'. This one has a more mellow vibe with keyboard chords sounding like a mellotron, which The Beatles and progressive rock bands like King Crimson used to use. It's a very progressive sounding track. The chorus lyrics are 'so you pray to all, to make you a real boy'. The drums sound programmed on this track. The lyrics seem simple but they have a complexity to them. I don't really understand what she's singing about because this is only the second time I've listened to this album but I really dig the music and the progressive and avant-garde nature of it.
     Then, is the song 'Huey Newton'. This one is one of her best songs in my opinion. I've seen her play it tons of times on YouTube concert footage. There's an electronic musical kind of thing going in the background over these organ type guitar chords. This is where you can see her Berklee education showing through. These guitar chord voicings aren't your standard barre chords, they're more complex voicings. In the middle of the tune there's this great synthesizer solo that sounds like something straight out of the English progressive rock scene. I love it! Then she comes in with this sick guitar line that is totally rock and roll over some great lyrics. At this part of the song she sounds like a total rock star, which she totally is. The guitar is heavily distorted and has tons of reverb and effects.
     Next up is another tune that I really like of hers that she plays a lot live. It's called 'Digital Witness'. It has some great lyrics that I like. 'Get back, to your seat, Get back, gnashing teeth, Ooh, I want all of your mind'. 'People turn the the TV on, it looks just like a window, Ooh, Ya.' This is probably the most pop sounding song on the album thus far. It even has some digital effects doing a horn section part over the verses. The chorus is just so catchy. The whole song is catchy. If someone never heard St.Vincent I would probably play them this song because its simple and shows off her typical sound and songwriting without filler.
     The next number is 'I Prefer Your Love'.  This one sounds like a ballad, a song about love. The lyrics are 'I, I prefer your love, to Jesus'. The drums are a simple robotic drum beat over and over again over these lush orchestral keyboard/synthesizer chords that sound beautiful. As much as she is a guitar player, she sure does love her keyboards and synthesizers.
     Next, is a more rock type tune called 'Regret'. Here Annie relies on the guitar to play this kind of almost punk riff. But during the chorus the keyboards shine in. Then there's this distorted guitar interlude, almost like a solo but not quite. The chord progressions she uses are quite unique in the middle of the song. It sounds like a jazz progression. There's so much going on in this song that its hard to describe it all with words.
     This next one is another one she plays all the time live. It's called 'Bring Me Your Loves'. The lyrics are 'Bring me your loves, All your loves, your loves, I wanna love them too, you know. I thought you were like a dog, I thought you were like a dog, But you made a pet of me.' The song is totally robotic sounding in an avant-garde way. Her voice really sounds great here. I don't really know anyone who sounds or sings like her. She has a unique way of doing vocals. The keyboards here play some great chord progressions over the simple lyrics with the verse chorus verse chorus arrangement going on.
     Then, we have a song called 'Pychopath'. This sounds like a more rock song but instead of a guitar riff it has keyboard jabs playing a simple riff that sounds totally rock. The music is very pop here until the guitar solo comes in. It's a nice distorted guitar solo that sounds like Jimmy Page from Led Zepplin. She's such a guitar hero! Her guitar solos are very short but are very catchy and melodic despite playing with heavily distorted guitar. By this point you begin to realize the kinds of arrangements Annie Clark does, and her personal style of music.
     This far at the end of the album we have a tune entitled 'Every Tear Dissapears'. This one has an experimental vibe to it. After a few verses of a robotic electronic sounds and vocals there's this electronic kind of interlude that sounds really spacey, like out of this world. She relies so much on the keyboards but she makes such good use of them with those long open orchestral sounding progressions. If that wasn't enough she also has these guitar breaks and riffs, adding more depth to the song and doing things that couldn't be done with the keyboards alone.
     Finally, the last song is 'Severed Cross Fingers', which sounds like a country song. It has what sounds like an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar through an acoustic setting on an amp. This song sounds like a total hipster indie thing. It reminds me of being at a barn but the backing vocals remind me of hipsters smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk. In the middle of the tune there's this total 70's soul inspired chord progression that sounds totally bizarre, in a good way. If that wasn't enough, there's a melodic synthesizer part ending the tune.
     Lastly, this is the second time I've heard the album and its a good one in my collection. Usually I'm more of a jazz guy but this is great music as well. Annie Clark isn't really pop or rock. She's more like avant-garde chamber jazz, if that were a thing. She really has some great inspired musical arrangements in her songs. I would say that the complexity she has, she learned from Berklee but she could've just got it from her influences, which are all kind of different stuff. Bands like Talking Heads and Miles Davis, shit like that. I bought this album not too long ago at my local record shop. I listened to it once but didn't think much of it because it's such a short album, plus at the time I was listening to it while doing other things, not really paying attention to the music or lyrics. The album has gotten great reviews from a lot of major publications like Allmusic, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc. This second time around listening to it, I realized how much of a great songwriter Annie Clark is. She's a bit of an improviser, rocker, composer, and singer. She does it all. I would say St. Vincent is one of my favorite rock bands, for good reason. She has the chops, the voice, and the songwriting ability of a great musician. She'll go far with her music although I don't think she will ever be super famous like say Taylor Swift or Beyonce. But for hipsters, alternative music fans, and people who like jazz and improvisational music like myself, her music is just perfect.