Something fast and wordless: O'Connor, Patitucci and Lage

Mark O'Connor, John Patitucci and Julian Lage: Live on Soundcheck

 

Throwing It Back Thursday : Mary Lou Williams Trio 1953 Just You, Just Me

Recorded: Paris, France December 2, 1953

Personnel:

Mary Lou Williams - Piano

Buddy Banks - Bass

Gerard Pochonet - Drums

 

 

Stratoz, the suitcase leaves the closet

On Facebook I have friends from elementary school, high school, two colleges, years spent in MA, OR, and IL, from church, work and craft shows... but none from the time I was known as Stratoz. You see, I had to walk away. It took years to leave him behind me and yet, I called myself Stratoz when I started this blog. What you may not know is this, it was Stratoz hit rock bottom.

"After all was said and done

There was nothing left to do

The hardest mile I ever walked

Was the one I walked away from you" 

Kim Richey

But emerging was a bit of a rocky road and I fell back a few times.  Maybe luck kept me from dropping to lower levels of bedrock. OK, luck saved me many a time. But not all the time. A relationship lost. Opportunities missed.

"But I’m alright

Sacked down but I’m still standing

Yeah I’m alright

Little banged up from the fall

But I’m alright

Still shaky from the landing

Yeah I’m alright after all" 

Kim Richey

Stratoz was a young man who came close to letting go of caring for anything. I remember where not caring took me, so when students tell me that they don't care about me, my class, or an assignment; I often respond with, "That's OK with me, as long as you tell me one thing you do care about."

When a friend returned a wise comment with a wise comment, I had to ponder art by Stratoz, so I dug this dusty suitcase out of the closet. It is filled with what I would now call Stratozpheric doodles. Some are relatively recent, others stretch back closer to Stratoz. I doubt anything goes back 32 years, but one day soon, I'll open it and take a journey. I would imagine some of those old designs will ask me to take them into the realm of glass. 

"And every now and then I think about you

Oh every now and then I cross the line" 

Kim Richey

The 12 Days of Christmas Shout Outs: Dianne Reeves, Jo Stafford, andTed Rosenthal for day twelve

I love Holiday music and as I put this post together, I am for the last time listening to our rather eclectic collection till the day after Thanksgiving 2014. I start slow. This year I started with a mix that was only 20% Christmas with the rest being random jazz tunes from our collection.

But this is it. Next year the following artists will be part of the larger mix, having bought their Christmas CD's after I set my iPod up for the season. I could not find a tune from the holiday collection by the Ted Rosenthal, so I went for a tune for my students, the poor buggers will be rising in what will truly seem like the wee small hours of the morning tomorrow. As an aware teacher, who may be a bit groggy himself (and coming down with a cold), I will be kind to them tomorrow and let them get acclimated to being students once again.

So here it is the final shout outs ~> 

The 12 Days of Christmas Shout Outs: Patricia Barber for day six

 

So whose website do I check more often than any other, in hope of seeing them live? Jazz composer, singer, pianist, and lyricist... and arranger ~> Patricia Barber. I hope that says it all, so here is an original, a Gershwin, and a Lennon/McCartney for your enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

The 12 Days of Christmas Shout Outs: Joanne Romano for day two

I have had some great conversations in 2013, and maybe some others will pop up during this Christmas shout out series. This morning as I created this Stratozpheric glass doodle for my friend Joanne, my mind went back to the day that she bantered with my snarky attitude (she did quite well) as she attempted to get me to buy tickets to a fundraiser my church was having. It was fun, the conversation that is because I never did make it to the breakfast. People who went said it was a hoot.

I love Joanne's voice and I am grateful that through it all she has remained a member of the band that creates music at my church here in Lansdale. Billions and billions of singers and instrumentalists have been in the band with her over the years. A flow chart may be in order.

After our home show, Joanne's name was pulled and I had the privilege of creating a sun catcher just for her. So here is to hoping she doesn't take his Sunday off.

 

Willow Weep For Me (b) ~> Renée Yoxon sings

Eventually I emerged from the tree, but I continued to spend time with the tune as my silent retreat unfolded. Turned out I had several versions on my iPod but only one with vocals. I was not disappointed.

Renée Yoxon sings it beautifully. LISTEN HERE

Willow weep for me

Bend your branches down along the ground

and cover me

 

The Pretenders take me to the night Specter beat Edgar

It started with hearing the news that Lou Reed had died and pulling out an old LP by the man (that also took me back to some old memories). But putting it back the next night is why I listened to The Pretenders.

I have only worked on one political campaign. I was fresh out of college. Bob Edgar lost. I was gathered with others who had worked on the campaign. A song came on the radio, and a woman next to me said, "They just don't spit vile like they used to."

I don't think I ever saw that woman again and her name is gone, but I so remember that quote. She needed music that was raw and angry that night.

Bob Edgar went on to do some fabulous things outside of politics.

Years later Arlen Specter would gain my respect for being a moderate in a polarized DC.

I had a student that once said, "Why jazz? Can't we listen to rock."

I said, "Sorry, I am no longer an angry young man."

 

Wordlessly celebrating my second glass cello

 

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M is for Music ~ a one word message that soothes my soul

Lettering and treble clef by Wayne Stratz
Background by Margaret Almon

Those of you who followed my blog before the A to Z challenge know that I gave up news for Lent, especially while commuting to work.  Since Easter, I have turned the news on but not everyday. So with a decision to go with news, I drove home getting the earliest news reports of the explosions in Boston.

For as long as I can remember I have turned to music to soothe my soul. Nothing moves me in the same way. 

Recently we went to see Kurt Elling in concert. He told the story of wanting to find words for a tune by Duke Ellington.  Then he was inspired by an improvised melody by Von Freeman.  Finally he read a poem by Rumi and it all came together.

I offer this up on this long night.

I like the sunrise cause it brings a new day

I like a new day. It brings new hope thet say

I like the sunrise  blazing in the new sky

Nightime is weary.  Oh, and so am I

No News Commutes ~ Greg Brown is searching for Rexroth's Daughter

Who are you searching for?  Maybe the tune will float up some people from your past. Sometimes I wonder how long this man could sing to a tune.  

Returning to Lent 2003

 Ten years ago on Fat Tuesday 2003 a war was about to be started.  So I gave up news for Lent.  I am going to do it again.

No NPR.  Yes to some of the best CDs from our pre-jazz day.

Revisiting old friends is on my mind, so I am going with it.

So my student said, I hate when my dad plays gospel bluegrass

... So off I went to the deep back corner of my storage closet and I started looking at the Bluegrass CD's I had placed back there years ago to make room for jazz at home. And there I found Ain't no Grave Can Keep My Body Down on a Tim and Mollie O'Brien project. The jazz flowing through my horticulture class stopped.
I tried to tell the student it was Zombie bluegrass. But he was not buying that for a moment. However, I made it up to him Friday afternoon, when I let him play a Rush CD. Which took me back 35 years or so.

A Few of My Favorite Things 9 ~ Listening over and over and over

This is a huge difference between Mosaic Woman and myself, I can listen to the same song over and over again, but she does not dig it at all.  So I don't do it when she is around, but old habits are hard to break and so when I am alone in the car...

Today I drove over to the school to check on my plants.  Fiscal cliff was all over NPR, so when I got to the school I ducked into a storage closet where I had placed some of our old CD's a few years back when jazz was taking over our one bedroom two studio row.

I grabbed one because I knew I loved the final track, San Diego Serenade.  The CD was by Nanci Griffith and while I could not find a video of her performing it, I did find one by Tom Waits, the  man who wrote the song.  It is all about how witnessing one thing opens your eyes to something else.

Oh, and yes, all the way home, with all due respects to the folk in DC ... over and over again.  And yes, I am so listening to it one more time  ;')  It soothes my soul and thus I will follow my heart.  



Happy New Years Eve.  I never saw a new year till I celebrated an old one

A Few of My Favorite Things 8 ~ Holiday Music

During my nearly 50 years I have listened to many a type of music and it truly shows once a year when I remove the jazz from iPod and fill it with 800 plus holiday tunes. Irish fiddling, shape note singing, Gregorian chanting, rat pack crooning, piano jazz improvising, voices acapella-ing, Bing meeting Bowie, College choirs uniting...

Emmylou, Springsteen, Elvis, Brubeck, Lauper, Enya, Cash, and what about Nat King Cole singing in German and Latin, ....

This year we got three new ones ~ Dave Brubeck, Kenny Burrell, and Tracy Thorn (half of Everything But the Girl).

So, it's not Epiphany yet. What's playing where you are? 

Here is one that floated up several times this season and is now a favorite ~ 

Mystical Monday: Rumi shares God's desire for us to make music together

Translations by Daniel Ladinsky

ISN'T THAT SOMETHING?

I like when

the music happens like this:

Something in His eye grabs hold of a 

tambourine in 

me,

then I turn and lift a violin in someone else,

and they turn, and this turning

continues;

it has reached you now.  Isn't that

something?

Rumi

~~~~~~~~

I dig music... and God believes we can and will make music together:

Wayne Stratz

Mystical Monday: Saint Francis connects me to Joni Mitchell

Translations by Daniel Ladinsky

WILD FORCES

There are beautiful wild forces within us.

Let them turn the mills inside

and fill

sacks

that feed even

heaven.

St. Francis of Assisi

I am enjoying the evening ventures into the love poems sent from God through St Francis.  As a Pennsylvania German I was not trained in running wild with forces that reside within me.  There have been moments though.  

And in my studio when a new design emerges, does God feed on the bread of life.  If this is the case, I am a happy man.

May your forces find outlets so we can turn giant stones that grind our talents, not into dust, but into flour.

peace and hope

and what come to my mind as I sit here, this Joni Mitchell tune, not heard in years, which may have planted a seed or two:

Wild Things Run Fast

by Joni Mitchell

He came
She smiled
She thought she had him tamed
But he was just as wild
Eating from her hand at last
Wild things run fast

In the dark
He could see
The trap that was lying in her
Sweet company
Eating from her hand at last
Wild things run fast

Winter beat the pines about
He heard the heater
Cutting in and out
While she dreamed away

In the night
It snowed
Fast tracks in the powder white
Leading out to the road
Winding from her tender grasp
Wild things run fast
Wild things run fast
Wild things run fast

What makes you run?
Wild thing
I thought you loved me

What motivates Stratoz...

only the first question is required, and please hit submit when you are done.  Thanks!

Here is one of mine... 

Kickstarting The Grandson of Charles Mingus

Photo by Jason Hickey

 A grandson who never knew his grandfather searched for the story.  You can help support this project and become part of the story.  What I know is that the story is complicated, so I am hoping the grandson gets to tell it in full.  He needs our support.  Common people supporting amazing projects.  It feels good.

Jazz for a Silent Dude: Coltrane's Psalm by the Asa Trio

Is there anyway to predict what tune will emerge as the one that will draw you in on any particular day?

Can a search on an iPod take you to a Psalm just as a spiritual director can guide you to a Psalm the first evening of a week long retreat?

Can joining Twitter introduce you to a drummer from the US, who lives in Iceland, and then to the Asa Trio's free download (as of this date it is still free) of Coltrane's Love Supreme.

I guess life can happen this way.  




Jesuit Center