Author: zingblog

Everything is Green and Submarine

Sometimes we like to sit around the house and listen to music. I’ve been trying to educate Michelle on classic rock. Right now we’re in a Pink Floyd phase. Last year she got into Yes after hearing it in some anime, and now we’re all digging Floyd. I’m kinda envious that she can discover all this great music for the first time. There was a time in tenth grade or so when Pink Floyd was my favorite band, along with Rush, Zeppelin and the Doors. Of course I’ve discovered tons of great music since then, but it’s nice to check in with your faves once in a while.

We listened to Meddle and Wish You Were Here a few weeks back, then Dark Side of the Moon this weekend, and later on watched Live at Pompeii. The movie opens and ends with Echoes, which is such a great song, up there with the all time best full-album side track in classic or prog rock. It also has a bunch of other great early stuff like Careful With That Axe Eugene, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, One of These Days, and Saucerful of Secrets all performed live. They really had a special sound and an original take on music before they took over FM radio. Michelle says her favorite song is Mademoiselle Nobs.

Unfortunately our DVD is the directors cut from 1999 or so, and the amazing long slow zoom that opens the film is intercut with bad CG and stock footage of outer space and planets. Luckily the original version of the film is available as a bonus feature, so we watched the first and last chapter (Echoes Part I and II) agin the next might. Now everyone the family has the song stuck in our heads. Jeannie reminded me that Pink Floyd was the first concert we saw together, up in Toronto, after we’d been dating only a few weeks. They open and closed their live show with echoes that tour. It was the first time she heard it and it stuck with her.

In the home studio I’m in the middle of five songs right now on both the jazz and the rock side.

Winter Wolf Whisper is a jazz quasi-ballad I did with my last group. Lots of moody jazz chords and a strong, undulating melody. I have the drums, piano and electric bass laid down. When we did this live Jay played upright bass, and the electric changes the sound and character of the piece. But I’m digging it. It still needs the sax and maybe some synths, and some tweaks the drums. I’m thinking of recording a second drum track using my new acoustic drums. But I’m trying to do songs in pairs, so …

Heavy Water is a jazz fusion number that I wrote recently but never played with a group. Now I’m making it more studio-centric, and envisioning the sound as maybe sorta Steely/APP/Daft Punk with shades of 70s’ Herbie. It has a slow piano introduction and then mostly grooves on two sets of four chord changes in a loop. Right now I have the piano intro tracked, and map of the rest of the song with a synth bass outlining the chords and a midi drum part. I’m working on filling in the drum part to get a better sense of of the rise and fall of the dynamics and where the different sections fit. I might add another two choruses.

Plague of Frogs is my ten-minute prog magnum opus on the next rock album. I have the intro and main verse up the start of the jam section, with midi bass, drums, piano and synth. I’ve been working on the drums in the main section to get a sense of the groove and make it come alive. Next are the transitions from the intro and out of the section. This one will take a while.

Why Not Zed? and All of the Above are two short, simple uptempo songs for which I have the lyrics, chords and melody. I am writing them on guitar to keep things from getting too complicated. Next step is to get them so I can sing and play thru, then flesh out the arrangements.

Meanwhile, the computer that’s a the heart of my recording studio has been undergoing some upgrades with Jeannie’s help. A year ago or maybe more, the screen started glitching out from time to time. We got a replacement computer of the same kind before the screen gave out completely. But then the hard drive in the replacement computer started acting up, causing unpredictable crashes. We replaced the graphics card in the original computer and I started using it again, until we had a new problem where the screen goes black from time to time. So we replaced the hard drive in the replacement computer with an SSD that’s twice the size. Now it runs faster and quieter and has tons of free space. So we’re gonna replace the backlight controller in the original computer and upgrade to an SSD as well. Then I’ll have two fully functioning computers for my recording studio, although Jeannie wants to take one and put it in her office.

Dis Is Da Drum

Yes it’s true, I bought a drum set. Believe it or not my wife thought it was a good idea. Well better than getting a motorcycle anyway.

It arrived just over a week ago. I got a complete kit with all the drums, cymbals, stands, hardware, and a throne, all as a single unit. I didn’t even know that was something you could buy all together. This saved me the trouble of picking out all the individual components and the whole thing was a reasonable price. I guess it’s a basic, entry-level set but everything is well-made and sounds good. I also got sticks, mallets, brushes and (of course) earplugs.

The kit I got was from Ludwig, with Remo heads and Zildjian cymbals. It’s a gold sparkle finish, very nice. The kick drum is 22″, and then there’s two rack toms, a floor tom and and a snare drum, plus a ride cymbal, crash cymbal and hi-hat.

On the web they advertise the same kit with a 20″ kick drum and correspondingly smaller toms. This seemed like it might be suitable for jazz, but no one has it in stock, so it may not really exist. I asked one of my jazz drummer friends about the 20″ vs 22″ kick. He says back in the day jazz drummers used full size kick drums just like everyone else, and he prefers the 22″ anyway cuz it has a bigger sound and is more versatile, good for rock as well as jazz. So I stopped waiting for the smaller set to be in stock, which is just as well cuz it’s still not available after a month.

Unpacking and setting it all up was a major endeavor. I’d never done that before and I learned alot. Michelle was a big help. Then it was on to tuning the heads. Sweetwater has some videos on their web site, which was useful. But the tuning is by ear and by feel, so it’s hard to get that across in a video. I’m now in a phase where I’m experimenting to see what sounds and feels good.

Once I has it set up put together a little practice routine to get started. I haven’t played drums since high school or maybe college, and while I’m happy that I still know a few beats and basic grooves, that’s about it. So the focus on fundamentals. For on thing I’m just practicing single hits on all the drums, to get consistent control over the tempo, loudness and accents. Hitting the drums and cymbals in different places and at different angles to hear the different sounds. Getting consistent between the right and left hand. Experimenting with grip, where to hold the stick for the best balance, how tight or loose, and how to best take advantage of the bounce you get after a hit.

Next is moving around the kit, smoothly and without the sticks interfering with each other. Also experimenting with the placement of the drums and what feels comfortable. Third is patterns, mostly on the snare. I only remember a few rudiments, but I’m working on constancy, gradually increasing the tempo.

Last is beats and grooves. I must say many years of playing piano while singing has really my hand/foot independence. Again the focus right now is consistent tempo and volume. Being able to hone in on one part and not loose the others, particularly the kick drum. Putting in accents or extra hits to vary the groove. I noticed that when switching from the hi-hat to ride cymbal, the ride seems much louder. It’s a challenge to bring down the volume with keeping the kick and snare at their level, particularly since I’m playing the snare with my left hand.

One thing I never considered before is that the drum set is organized backwards in terms of high vs low, compared to the piano or other percussion in-struments like the vibes. In a basic beat the bass drum is on 1 and 3, and struck with the right foot. Then the backbeat is on the snare on 2 and 4, struck with the left hand. Compare that with a stride rhythm on piano, where left hand does both the bass note on 1 and 3 and the chord on the back beat, but the and moves to left for bass notes and to the right for the chord. I’ve known left-handed drummers who play the whole kit reverse. And there are right-handed guitarists I can think of who play left handed. I wonder if should try reversing the kit to see how that feels.

In any event, I’m working my way thru different videos about tuning the drums. After that I’ll look at a few basic videos about the issues I’m already working on in my playing, and maybe see if I can find a series of lessons online. I’ll probably also get a few books. Something like the Rubank elementary series (I wonder if they still make those), and a book of different rock and jazz patterns, beats and grooves. Everyone tells me a good samba beat is one of the hardest things to play well.

I might even try recording a drum part for the song I’m working on, but that’s still a little ways off.

The Global Jukebox 2.0

I’m happy to announce that last Friday, July 31, we released The Global Jukebox version 2.0. This is pretty much the culmination of my last year’s work, with the help of alot of people including my brother Martin, our administrator Kiki, our visual designer Alona and the project director Anna Lomax Wood.

There’s lots of exciting new stuff in it. The top three new things are an extensive style redesign, a whole new world taxonomy, and an all-new education section, including the Musical Roots classroom experience. So take some time and explore the world of world folk music and culture.

https://theglobaljukebox.org

There’s lots more in the offing, so hopefully it won’t be long before release 2.1. Enjoy!

We Jammin’

Even as the pandemic rages across other parts of the country, some things around here are getting back to normal, at least a little bit. One big portent is that my main rehearsal studio, Lagond, has re-opened. So I started asking around my musician friends to see how people feel about coming out and spending time indoors together, if the time is right. While I was mulling over the possibilities for putting together a new jazz or rock group, I gat a call from Mike, the drummer from the old jazz circle, looking for a sax player.

So I went down and jammed out. Lagond is doing all the things to keep us safe, requiring wearing a facemask coming in and out of the building, and putting hand sanitizer by every door, hooked up to a hi-hat pedal so you can operate it hands-free. We were in the big room downstairs with the piano, and we were set up so that everyone was at least twelve feet from his nearest neighbor.

It was good to re-connect with those guys. Most I haven’t seen in a year, maybe a couple years. And it was certainly alot of fun to play music with people again. Looks like I’m gonna keep going the rest of the summer, as long as the situation stays cool.

Ken was sitting in on bass. He and I were talking about forming a new rock band last winter, so we re-kindled those discussions. I reached out to the other musicians involved and they’re into it. So it’s time to start thinking about when and how. No matter what it looks a long time before there’s any gigs, but that’d give us time to develop our sound.

Going the Distance

We just got back from a summer vacation of sorts, a trip upstate to visit family and friends for a few days in this strange year. Slow down for a while, if that’s even possible in these times. Still, it came and went too fast.

We stayed with my parents, who obviously are older. Before we lit out from home we spent a couple weeks isolating as much as possible to reduce the risk of anyone catching the virus. On the ride up we brought sandwiches with us and at a picnic area in a rest stop. Upstate it seems the virus never hit as hard, so people are a bit more mellow about it although still cautious. Everyone wears masks when going indoors, but not so much outside if there’s adequate space. Like around here, you see alot more people going for walks and hanging out in the park than you used to.

It was unusually hot up there the whole time, as is usual for us when we go on a trip. I did go rollerblading two days in a row. The neighborhood is nice and flat and the streets are very smooth, with very few cars. We had thought of going for a hike, but it was too hot for that. Going shopping or to the movies was right out.

Lizzy and her boyfriend came over, and we all hung out in my parents’ back yard. On the fourth we went over the visit Larry and Jackie, and hung out in their backyard. All the town firework shows were cancelled, but Larry’s neighbor across the street set of a pretty huge amount of fireworks, so we got a show after all. The next day we went to visit Denis and Sara and hung out in their back yard, and even went for a swim. And everyone doing lots of barbecue, yum.

We also watched the musical Hamilton. I must say I kinda like the straight recording of the stage show better then something like Cats or Les Miz, where the effects and sets and all overpower the music and the story. Michelle went thru a phase a while back where she listened to the Hamilton soundtrack over and over, so I’ve heard it and liked it alot, but in a disjointed way. I’m glad I saw it cuz it’s a good as everyone says, and the music makes alot more sense when you see the characters singing it and have the context of the stage performance. We listened to the soundtrack on the drive home. It’s very powerful and there’s alot of information to take in, so we’re going to have to watch it again.

Searching for a Ghost in the Machine

I’ve been low key looking for a new gig recently to compliment the Global Jukebox, either another consulting project or a something steady that would let me work from home. Luckily (if you can call it that) the software industry these days has shifted largely to remote work and it seems the trend to a large extent won’t be reversing. On the downside, many startups have miserable attitude towards their employees that begins with the hiring process. They say the only want the best of the best, and then start pushing you around like you have nothing better to than stick around and take it. Some want you to take a coding test before you ever talk to a human. One place recently asked me to submit a video, like an audition tape, in lieu of an interview. You must be kidding me. One place a few months ago asked me to take a one-hour coding quiz that turned out to be three hours. I ignore all these places cuz my time is valuable. If they’re like that when they’re recruiting they’re probably not very good to work for.

So it was refreshing today when I had a second interview (the deep tech one) at a place that actually cared about my experience, my approach to problem solving, how I work in teams and all that, rather than treat me like I must be some kind of liar trying to bluff my way into a their precious organization.

There was the usual coding quiz, where you have to write a working program on the spot. I must say I usually dread these. They tend to focus on low-level stuff you may not have used in a long time and you can just google if you need to in real life, and often as not they throw in arbitrary gotchas or they’re hung up on syntax or some library or something. In short, not modeling a real code situation and not testing high-level ability.

As luck would have it, the quiz was something I implemented just a few days ago in the course of work on the Jukebox. Basically it was to take a list of strings that might contain duplicated and return a list with no dupes. I did this to provide autocomplete prompts in our search component. When I was writing it I thought to myself, gee this is just the kind of thing they like to ask on coding quizzes. Maybe I should google it to see if my solution is optimal. I did and it was. So when the quiz came today I just flew right through, literally just writing out some code that was already in my head.

New Song: The Story Lies

Well the exciting thing that happened this week was that Lizzy came home for a visit. We haven’t seen her since the start of her semester back in January.

In music news, my other new song, The Story Lies, is done, and you can hear it here:

https://zingman.com/music/mp3/bziv/TheStoryLies23c.mp3

As mentioned before, the song was originally written by my brother Martin. I’m quite happy with the way it came out. It’s very much a groove song compared to WSOYB, and my version is much funkier and jazzier than the original. Instrumentally it’s a blend of bass and drums, keys and guitar, with a sax jamming out over everything. It’s got a great chord progression that lends itself to the John Coltrane sheets of sound approach, so I managed to work a little of that in. The lead vocal is a single track with no harmonies, and like the vocal delivery. On the original version there were some backing vocals, so I ended up adding a synth part on the chorus to take up that space.

Sea of Time

What is it now, week ten? Even less has happened than last time I updated my blog. The kids are almost done with school. Spring and the nice weather have finally arrived. I got sick, got better. Not the plague, thanks for asking.

I’ve been trying to get in shape for spring. In my regular home workout I’ve gone up in weight on both dumbbells and bench press, and have added some new leg exercises. I’ve also gone out biking a few times, which is refreshing and lots of fun. I haven’t gone to the Nature Study Woods yet because the trails there are narrow so it may be hard to keep distance form other people. Instead I’ve been going around the neighborhood streets, which is still a good workout cuz it’s pretty hilly all over. I’ve gotten as far as downtown Bronxville and back. I haven’t been on my skates yet this spring because my street is so laden with potholes it’s useless. I need to find a nice smooth place to skate.

I spent Saturday catching up on yardwork that I’d normally do in April, and spent some time out in the sunshine. I took the Mustang out for the second time this season too. I suppose we ought to wash the cars at some point, but we’re literally not driving anywhere. Last time I put gas in the tank was in February.

In the recoding studio I’m well into mixing my songs, getting pretty close to done. I’m at the listening back and tweaking phase. Tonight I went in to EQ the bass on one of my tracks, but I ended up EQing the guitar instead, scooping out alot of low and accentuating the high treble. Suddenly the bass has alot more space and everything is clearer.

I’m thinking about what songs to do next. Whatever I pick, there’s going to be a phase of laying down basic tracks, working out keys, tempos and song structures, and programming the drum parts before I can get into actually tracking and arranging. It’s Raining Frogs is the new working title of the next song up. It’s a long and complicated song so this phase will take some time and effort. I liked working on two songs in parallel this time around, so I think I’m gonna keep that going and pick another song or two. I have a few half written rock/pop songs that I could develop, but I’m holding out hope that eventually the quarantine will end my nascent new rock group will return, and then I’ll have some material to use for that.

So my other idea is to polish off some of my jazz demos and work them up into some kind of computer jazz thing, like I did with Sun of the Son. I have three originals completely worked up from the jazz group that we never recorded and probably never will. I have two more from our set that I want to rework with a new approach, and I two or three others that have the core idea and they could jam out any number of ways. I think I might do the first three of these. I have a feeling they’ll go down pretty quickly.

Oh, and my Charlie Parker Omnibook in Bb arrived, so I’m woodshedding Donna Lee and Confirmation, trying to work out when I should go up the octave. An the Patterns book I’m to pattern 98 and they’ve finally introduced dominant 7th chords.

Lastly, spinning of from Jeannie’s weekend Zoom call with her family, I’ve started a new weekly D&D campaign with Michelle and Lou and most of my nieces and nephews. This time the campaign includes Denis’s kids Carrie and Anna, who are 15 and 11 and really having fun. We’re doing the whole thing online now. TSR has a web site that automates character sheets including spells, HP, XP, weapons and attacks, really everything, and that’s super helpful. I haven’t yet found good mapping software so for now we’re using the whiteboard built into Zoom.

We’re playing the classic module Keep on the Borderlands, adapted for 5th edition, and with some extra monsters, and trying to give a bit of a plot beyond hack and slash with a backstory and some hidden magic items among the treasure. The party is pretty and very diverse. There are alot of Elves, some Druids, Witches and Sorcerers, plus a Barbarian (Katy), a Monk (Michelle) and a Rogue (Addie). Lou, as is his way, is a Dwarven fighter. It’s a pretty sprawling dungeon, but that’s a good thing cuz we could be stuck inside a long time.

Stormy Monday

We’re now at one month of social distancing. As you might expect, the days are all kinda the same and life is sorta boring. Mostly that’s alright, at least we’re all getting enough sleep these days.

But spring is here and we’re not spending that much time outside. I feel like I should be biking and skating more, maybe doing some hiking too. The winter has come and gone and my focus on my health has paid off, so that’s a good thing. But now I’m starting to feel restless.

I was gonna expand my patio this spring, but that project starts with going out to buy stones and gravel. Obviously many of my plans are on hold. To be fair, even though we’ve had a handful of sunny days, it hasn’t gotten that warm yet, and there have been quite a few windy and rain days. Today was both, and pretty heavy.

I did take the mustang out over the weekend, but didn’t go on the highway, just around the neighborhood.

Yesterday was Easter. Usually this time of year we like to take a couple days off from work, since the kids are off school, and then take a day and go to a museum or something. And on Easter Sunday it’s always a big family day with feasting and all. This year we were gonna take road trip up to Buffalo and visit some collages on the way for Michele, and then visit my parents and Lizzy.

As it was, we did a video conference call instead, with Jeannie’s parents, bother, and sister, and everyone’s family. That was fun and we’ll do another next weekend. Lizzy hasn’t been home since her winter break, and the end of her semester is coming soon. Her plans for the summer and even the fall are up in the air.

I have been working on the Jukebox a good amount. I’ve been going for a walk and working out every day, keeping up practicing sax, piano and bass, and working on my recording project. Actually making good progress there; working on sax parts now. I did another mix on Sun of the Son, to make the drums sound cleaner and less overbearing in the intro. But haven’t finished putting together the album cover and getting it for sale online. Not doing so much with origami or Foldinator either. Been folding some of John Montroll’s new models, proofreading his diagrams. But I haven’t put much time into developing new models or finishing my book.

I’ve been doing lots of reading, and even a little writing, but mainly Wikipedia and articles on the internet, not actual books. Been spending more time on social media than before. And we’ve been watching a lot of movies on the weekends. We just finished the whole series Avatar: The Last Airbender. We’ve been playing more games recently, particularly Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan.

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

Sometimes work can be fun. I recently completed an assignment for The Global Jukebox to put together a list of the greatest jazz singers of all time, along with representative songs to showcase their greatness. It’s been very enjoyable listening and curating the list, and I learned alot along the way. For example, Nina Simone used to live in my neighborhood.

Originally I had wanted to do the top ten or maybe twenty artists, but it was hard to stop. I extended it out to thirty, albeit with fewer songs as you get on down the line. The list features both old and newer singers, spanning the entire history of jazz. Some central to the genre, others maybe coming in from neighboring forms such as blues or pop, but nevertheless great contributors to the legacy of jazz as an art form, and particularly to the vocals. It also really gets across the variety oh jazz styles out there and how it’s evolved over time.

Even though list is definitive because I say it is, naturally that’s absurd. It’s necessarily pretty subjective. Of course Ella, Satchmo and Lady Day are 1-2-3. After that you can debate the relative ranking of the performers or maybe point out someone that I neglected to include. That’d be a fun debate. Regardless, all the performers and songs listed here are pretty great.

Here’s a link to the playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4VZSjgb7157yUQ9KmrSvvd?si=S0mnQa89RGK3_Og5q0KVRg

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Greatest Jazz Singers of All Time for The Global Jukebox

1. Ella Fitzgerald – How High the Moon, I’m Beginning to See the Light (w/ Duke Ellington), My Romance, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, The Lady is a Tramp

2. Louis Armstrong – Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Jeepers Creepers, Cuban Pete, Hello Dolly, What Wonderful World

Bonus: Ella & Loius – Cheek to Cheek, Dream a Little Dream

3. Billie Holiday – Gimme a Pig Foot and a Bottle of Beer, Strange Fruit, Lover Man, Stars Fell on Alabama, God Bless the Child

4. Tony Bennett – (I Left My Heart) In San Francisco, Anything Goes (w/ Lady Gaga), There Will Never Be Another You (w/ DaBrubeck)

5. Sarah Vaughn – Black Coffee, Lullaby of Birdland, Body and Soul

6. Johnny Hartman – Lush Life (w/ John Coltrane), My One and Only Love (w/ John Coltrane), Our Love is Here to Stay

7. Frank Sinatra – Fly Me to the Moon (w/ Count Basie Orchestra), Summer Wind, Luck Be a Lady

8. Dee Dee Bridgewater – Afro Blue, St. James Infirmary (w/ New Orleans Jazz Orchestra), Love from the Sun (w/ Theo Croker)

9. Kurt Elling – Nature Boy, Matte Kudasai, Steppin’ Out

10. Esperanza Spalding – I Know You Know, Cuerpo Y Alma, Funk the Fear

11. Gregory Porter – Liquid Spirit, Holding On

12. Chet Baker – Do It the Hard Way, Everything Happens to Me

13. Nat King Cole – Unforgettable, Smile

14. Shirley Horn – A Foggy Day, Makin’ Whoopee

15. Mel Tormé – They Can’t Take That Away from Me, The Christmas Song

16. Etta Jones – Bye Bye Blackbird, Etta’s Blues

17. Joe Williams – Five O’Clock in the Morning, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

18. Nina Simone – I Put a Spell on You, Mississippi Goddam

19. Bessie Smith – Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, Devil’s Gonna Git You

20. Ray Charles – Mess Around, America the Beautiful

21. Joni Mitchell – Goodbye Porkpie Hat

22. Billy Eckstine – Oo Bop Sh’bam

23. Dinah Washington – Destination Moon

24. Jazzmeia Horn – Out the Window

25. Patti Cathcart – I’ve Got Just About Everything (w/ Tuck Andress)

26. Dianna Krall – Peel Me a Grape

27. Bobby McFerrin – Thinkin’ About Your Body

28. Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why

29. Harry Connick Jr. – It Had to Be You

30. Etta James – At Last