We are so busy with our lives; we often forget what’s important. We forget the need to get quiet and just get present with the moment; Or the need to reflect and celebrate and live in the moment; Or the need to just dance in the moment.
Help me to help you find this thoughtful place, at least once a week.
Join me on this journey!
Here is the promo video for the George Kahn Kickstarter campaign.
It features George on piano, with Alex Acuña on drums, Pat Kelley on guitar and David Hughes on bass. We are performing "I Feel Pretty" by Leonard Bernstein as it will be featured on the new album. Jonathan Brock and his team do a great job filming the session. I think you get a real sense of the joy and excitement we had recording that day. Watch it here, and then pledge at
Lyle
Mays was my contemporary, and it was so sad to hear about his death
last week at the age of 66 from "a recurring illness". Lyle was an
integral part of The Pat Metheny Group for about 30 years, creating the
textures and colors that carried Pat's soaring guitar. His abilities
went far beyond jazz, and in many ways he was an under-appreciated
artist.
Here
is a live performance of their song, "September Fifteenth", dedicated
to Bill Evans. The song was recorded on their duo album, "As Falls
Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls," released in 1981. This live
performance is from 2000. About 5 minutes into this tune Lyle plays a
solo that is more Debussey and Ravel than Bill Evans; this is where his
heart lies.
Mays,
who cherished the technical and analytical aspects of his craft as well
as the improvisational part, also was a self-taught computer programmer
and architect who once designed a house for a relative.
During
a recent tour, Metheny said, he could tell that Mays had “had enough of
hotels, buses and so forth.” The lifestyle of constant touring is
challenging and takes a toll on musicians, Metheny said.
Mays
remained with the Pat Metheny Group until 2010—when he not only left
the group, but also began paying increasingly less attention to the
music business in general. “It’s not that I have a real desire
to leave the music industry—I kind of feel like the music industry has
left me. Or left all of us,” he said in a 2016 interview. “People don’t
want to pay for music anymore.”
In these stressful times, it is worthwhile to take a few moments and
remember the beauty that great artistry can create. Even if you just
have time to listen to the first 5-6 minutes of this, it may bring you
some joy. This is my favorite Violin Sonata of all, written by Cesar
Franck in 1886 as a wedding gift to a friend. Performed by Pinchas
Zuckerman with MARC NEIKRUG on piano. The piece is notable for the
difficulty of its piano part, when compared with most of the chamber
repertoire. Its technical problems include frequent extreme extended
figures—the composer himself having possessed huge hands—and virtuoso
runs and leaps, particularly in the second movement (though some
passages can be facilitated by employing a spare hand to cover some
notes).
Ben Hong, Cello - Tribute to Kobe Bryant - Hallelujah
These are the words of Kobe Bryant:
"You
have to dance beautifully in the box that you are comfortable dancing
in. My box was to be extremely ambitious within the sport of
basketball. Your box is different than mine. Everyone has their own.
It's your job to try to perfect it and make it as beautiful a canvas as
you can make it. And if you have done that, then you have lived a
successful life."
Ben
Hong from the Los Angeles Philharmonic was given the honor of playing a
solo cello piece behind last night's tribute to the life of Kobe Bryant
at Staples Center.
Please enjoy Ben Hong's improvisation on the Leonard Cohen song, "Hallelujah" and this 6 minute tribute video.
