Da Official Discontinuum Music Appreciation Thread

[whofarted]

This is for all the music lovers out there.  I know that some of you have a super secret stash of the best jams, blues, or jazz out there.  Well, it is time to share it with the rest of us....

As for me, I have been really getting into Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.  These two played together in the late 1930's and 40's in Paris.  Timeless music, you may have heard it in older cartoons or comercials.  Maybe some of the best musicianship of the 20th century...



"Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST..."

Frank Zappa

[Dan Michler]

i prefer disc golf to music.  so frank zappa can go f*#k himself

[Chainmeister]

so frank zappa can go f*#k himself

If Francis Vincent Zappa were able to do that he would still be alive and still challenging everything with his music. I wish he could F@&k himself too. I miss him.

[whofarted]

i dare anyone to listen to what he was putting out with the Mothers in the mid to late sixties and compare it to what was heard on the radio at the time.  he was at the top of his class for sure.   forty years later his music still is getting new fans and always pleasing the old ones.  he never lost his integrity in the industry, and i can't name one band now-a-days that can say that.*




* i love that best buy commercial that has a sales rep saying 'look, i can control the Balck Eyed Peas with a push of a button', and they start dancing like idiots.  i can just imagine the record comapny executives thinking the same exact thing.

[damonshort]

Greg, you ever see 'The Triplets of Belleville'? (no, it's not about a party at SIU...) The music is a lot like Django and Grappelli stylistically.

Zappa was a truly great artist who not only had some terrific bands but wrote some very complex orchestral music. He was also very aware politically... a real renaissance kind of guy.

Somebody, I think it's Doug, keeps asking if I ever play at Pete Miller's. Well, this weekend, I am. (the one in Evanston, I guess there's one in Wheeling.) It's not my own group, but it's a very good band led by saxophonist Jeff Marx. John Esposito is in from NY on piano. We're there from 9-1 Fri and Sat.

Pete Miller's is at 1557 Sherman in downtown Evanston.

[amdiscgolfer]

Ok,

What is in my ear piece - well it varies as the day goes on.  Usually start out with some Progressive Rock (Rick Wakeman, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Yes, Styx, Etc)  By Lunch I am listening to Dave Matthews, Rush, and a few others.   When I get home I am listening to the iTunes on Shuffle so it all depends on how close I am to the PC in order to skip the Kenny G and Borage of Elmo/Disney songs (happens when you have a two year old) that are on there as well.  

[Chainmeister]

Greg, you ever see 'The Triplets of Belleville'? (no, it's not about a party at SIU...) The music is a lot like Django and Grappelli stylistically.

You know I have seen it given the bicycling theme.  The music had a lot of Django and Stephan Grappelli feel to it.  Well worth renting.  Its a very adult cartoon that is "adult" in a mature sense rather than a prurient one.  Yet, there is plenty of whimsy for the child in all of us.

Lately, I have been listening to a lot of so-called fusion from the  late 60's and early 70's.  This was before fm 95.5 created Fuzak.  High energy, organized electronic stuff. Its analog but it aint acoustic. I just added Chameleon as a ringtone on my phone.

Keep playing the good stuff for the kid and he/she will grow up with a broader spectrum than the other kids.

[whofarted]

reinhradt actually appears in the music hall scene in 'triplets'.   when he was young a fire seriously burnt his hands, he then adapted to play with just his two functional fingers.  if you look closley you'll see they drew him with just two fingers on his left hand.   for anyone the movie hasnt seen it i would recommend it, like damonshort said, some good tunes in there.

chainmeister - any fusion recommondations?

[Chainmeister]

any fusion recommondations?

off the top o'me head...

Headhunters- Herbie Hancock
Return to Forever, Light as a Feather, MusicMagic, Romantic Warrior- Return to Forever
My Spanish Heart- Chic Corea
Bitches Brew, -Miles Davis
Mysterious Traveler, Black Market, I sing the Body Electric- Weather REport

Blow by Blow-Jeff Beck

some by Heatwave- yeah they were considered a disco band.  listen again.

Chicago VII

Traffic-- can't remember which one-- double album classified as Rock

early Genesis

[Guest]

Currently listening to

- "The Best of Ken Burns Jazz" soundtrack. Includes a less common version of Brubeck's "Take Five"

- Bob Dylan's early stuff

- Bonzo Dog Band (c'mon Bruce, you KNOW you love them)

- a newer band called Gorilla which has some pretty interesting ideas

- Aretha Franklin's "Young Gifted and Black"

jimklem

[DougEDawg]

Wilco, Old 97's and Thelonius Monk.

[damonshort]

Wilco, Old 97's and Thelonius Monk.

TheloniOus .

[Jon Brakel]

Damon,

Do you ever play any out door events? Now that I've been listening to your cds for a while I'd really like to hear you play live but I just can't take the smoke in bars with my asthma.

Maybe once Chicago goes smoke free? Are they doing that in bars or just restaurants?

[damonshort]

Damon,

Do you ever play any out door events? Now that I've been listening to your cds for a while I'd really like to hear you play live but I just can't take the smoke in bars with my asthma.

Maybe once Chicago goes smoke free? Are they doing that in bars or just restaurants?

sounds like they've really delayed the smoke-free thing in the city, at least as far as bars go.

When I do the Sunday afternoon series at the Green Mill it's a lot less smoky than it usually is, however. For one thing there's a lot less people there (smile), but the percentage of cigarette smokers is also a lot lower - and I don't even smoke my pipe in there.  

The monthly composers' series tends to be on the same Sunday as club meetings.    

[Chainmeister]

Isn't the room at Pete Millers smoke free? The music is in the resturaunt. I thought Evanston was smoke free in Resturaunts. The bar area (where you can smoke) is apart from the resturaunt and music. Damon, you were there last night, is this the set up? We might make it there tonight. I am going out with my brother who is a militant non-smoker.

[damonshort]

Isn't the room at Pete Millers smoke free? The music is in the resturaunt. I thought Evanston was smoke free in Resturaunts. The bar area (where you can smoke) is apart from the resturaunt and music. Damon, you were there last night, is this the set up? We might make it there tonight. I am going out with my brother who is a militant non-smoker.

well, not exactly, but maybe technically.  

The stage is by the windows in the front of the dining room. I don't recall anybody smoking there; there's a small bar area about 30 ft into the center of the room, and a few tables around that area, which is definitely *not* non-smoking. That's where all the cigars are.  I'm not sure by what legal definition it could be considered 'separated' from the restaurant.

But it's pretty well ventilated in there and I barely noticed. (They sell really good cigars there anyhow, although I realize that could be considered an oxymoron.)

There's a completely separate room to the north with the pool table, ESPN and canned rock. Not non-smoking.

So it may be that the immediate area around the stage is classified as non-smoking, which is a bit ironic but not unwelcome. Problem is that if you get there before say 11 and you're not eating, you may be stuck at the bar.

[damonshort]

any fusion recommondations?

off the top o'me head...

Headhunters- Herbie Hancock
Return to Forever, Light as a Feather, MusicMagic, Romantic Warrior- Return to Forever
My Spanish Heart- Chic Corea
Bitches Brew, -Miles Davis
Mysterious Traveler, Black Market, I sing the Body Electric- Weather REport

Blow by Blow-Jeff Beck

some by Heatwave- yeah they were considered a disco band.  listen again.

Chicago VII

Traffic-- can't remember which one-- double album classified as Rock

early Genesis

The first Mahavishnu Orchestra from the very early 70s - John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman, Rick Laird - showed how interesting fusion could be before it got all smoothed out....  

Also Weather Report, as David mentioned.

And early Tony Williams Lifetime. (McLaughlin and Larry Young; Tony was one of the top 3 or 4 drummers *ever*.)

It all came out of Miles, as so much always has. Most of the people involved with all these groups played with Miles at one time or another.

[damonshort]

Zappa was a truly great artist who not only had some terrific bands but wrote some very complex orchestral music. He was also very aware politically... a real renaissance kind of guy.

I just found this on the Web. Some of the links don't work but otherwise it's a pretty good tribute.

The "Senate Testimony" link, incidentally, is pretty fascinating. It's from the Senate PMRC hearings in the mid-80s about censorship that was broadcast on C-Span (i've got the tape.) Really points out how much hot air circulates around Washington. I think Tipper & Al Gore eventually wised up, but they were as embarrassing as anyone during these hearings.    

[whofarted]

Just got The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions courtesy of the interlibray loan system.  That is some serious sh*t - everything that should and could be expected coming from the time that it did.  



Damonshort - do you have any pics from your shows to post?  or any samples of stuff that you have done?

[damonshort]

Damonshort - do you have any pics from your shows to post?  or any samples of stuff that you have done?

there are some mp3 excerpts on my website (address below)