With three tenor and two alto saxophonists, two trumpeters, two double bassists, a pianist and a drummer, John Coltrane and his big band got their freak on. Ascension, the forty-minute free jazz recorded in 1965, was Coltrane’s experimentation with dissonant tones and intensified textures.

Upon hearing country singer Willie Nelson performing with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis makes me wish I could have been at Jazz at Lincoln Center to fully experience the one-of-a-kind collaboration. Nelson’s charming baritone breathes some fresh country air into the 12-bar blues driven by Marsalis and his excellent sidemen: Walter Blanding Jr. on saxophones, Dan Nimmer on piano, Carlos Henriquez on bass and Ali Jackson on drums.

With his relaxed phrasing and impeccable timing, Nelson could maneuver his way around the slow, heartfelt blues as well as the fast, jumping swing. On the splendid opening “Bright Light Big City,” you can’t tell what city it is because the harmonica from Mickey Raphael suggests Nashville while the horns and keyboard lick suggest New York City. But it is this marvelous blend that gives the concert its distinctiveness. “Coldonia” is another perfect example. You could either do the honky-tonky or the hillbilly hoedown or even both if you have the skills.

Marsalis is a brilliant soloist and you could hear the influence of Louis Armstrong all over his big, bold blowing, particularly on “Basin Street Blues” and “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It.” Yet his most lustrous, indelible solo is on the fantastic closing “That’s All,” in which he wails a long, breathless riff on the high register. He is amazingly in control of the trumpet.

What make Two Men With the Blues a phenomenon is that both men from two different styles had found a common ground in the blues and that they were having a good old time playing together. So big up to Willie and Wynton for this rare gem and big props to Blue Note for capturing the special occasion on tape for those of us who missed the live sessions.

Tinna Tinh impressed me with her debut performance of “Tra Lai Cho Toi” on Van Son in Taiwan not because she looked kind of hot and she could rock, but she sang her own tune—something extremely rare among the young Vietnamese pop stars. Her new album strangely titled Mu Tac (Wasabi) features nothing but her original works. Although Tinna is half Vietnamese and half Czech, she writes and sings Vietnamese with confidence.

As a singer, Tinna has a strong, slightly gruff voice. In the opening track, “Hoa Lai Mau Xanh,” she knows how to maneuver her way around the upbeat drums and guitar riff. The best part is that she could make her Vietnamese lyrics flow so damn natural in a rock-up tempo. In the self-reflecting “Xin Loi Cuoc Doi,” she starts off by trading sentimental thoughts with a strumming guitar, but progresses into a hypnotic rock chorus.

The album actually gets a bit weary with the pop-rock flavors, but the closeout “Co May” stands out. The track begins with the street noise, follows by a simply strumming guitar, and proceeds with heavy rain and children’s laughter. A minute and thirty seconds into the song, she pours her heart out on a story of an abandon kid in the middle of the big world, in which she observed, “Mot lan di dao pho thay nha cao cua rong xe hoi, net mat sang trong / Lai thay mot dua be nam tren chieu tran truon co ro / Giua the gian menh mong trong be, nho be, cang be.” It’s quite a heartfelt tune.

Tinna has definitely stepped into the right direction. Keep up the passion and rock on.

In Thuy Nga’s last year talent show, Trinh Lam came in first and Quynh Vi came in second, but I concluded it the other way around. Need some proof? Listen no further than their new duo release Tinh Con Vuong Van, in which Quynh Vi is the one who picks him up where he doesn’t deliver.

Trinh Lam has a strong voice, but he doesn’t have the flow. He sings with the same tone on every track. His low register is so boring. His solos, “Don Coi” and “Mua Buon,” are snore-worthies. Even on the bossa-nova “Coi Mong” he could hardly ride the beat. He also tries too hard in his enunciation, which gets a bit irritating.

In contrast, Quynh Vi has less strength in her voice, but the clear and sweet qualities make up for it. Her intonation, of course, is impeccable. She knows how not to over dramatize a pop tune like “Em Da Tung Yeu.” But then on “Han Tinh Trong Mua,” she couldn’t reach the depth of the tune’s sorrow.

Nevertheless, Quynh Vi saves Trinh Lam’s ass not once, but twice on their duets. She starts off “Nua Vang Trang” so damn lovely. Her voice floats like clouds over the moonlight until Trinh Lam comes in and makes everything disappear. On “Nuoi Tiec,” Trinh Lam’s low notes sound so flat that making me wish the male part could have performed by Trinh Nam Son, the writer himself.

Cecil Taylor’s Silent Tongues is a mind-boggling masterpiece. His piano solos are delirious yet delicious, chaotic yet hypnotic. He has an amazing sense of rhythmic structure and his percussive attacks are simply crazy. (Imagine playing the drums on a piano.) His angularity and virtuosity are unexplainable. You just have to experience the album yourself. I am on my third spin and still getting high off his frenzied sounds.

If Lil Wayne is not the best rapper alive like he claims himself to be, he is definitely the most eccentric one. On his new album, Tha Cater III, Weezy (his nickname) doesn’t flow the same way twice. Sometimes he lands ahead of the beat and other times he rides behind. His raspy voice falls, rises and distorts (courtesy of Auto-Tune) as he spits in streams of conscious, in which he invites listeners to swallow his words and taste his thoughts, but if they are too nasty, spit them back at him.

Most of the time, he lets his drugs do the talking. On the bizarre opener, “3 Peat,” he raps all over the place from shooting grandmother to kidnapping the baby to Viagra to Adam Sandler to ESPN to sex. Sometimes his intoxicating, surrealistic style comes off brilliant. On “Dr. Carter,” for example, Weezy rhymed over a groovy jazz-inflected beat describing his cure for hip-hop: “As I put the light down his throat / I can only see flow / His blood’s starting to flow / His lungs starting to grow.”

Among a handful of guest appearances, Jay-Z is a perfect match even though their styles are completely opposite. On “Mr. Carter,” one can hear that both are virtuoso of flow. The different is that while Weezy is letting loose, Jiggaman is in total control. It’s quite rare to see Jay-Z shares his heir with another: “Young Carter go farther, go further, go harder. Is that not why we came? And if not, then why bother?”

Even with a bunch of radio-friendly misses like “Got Money,” “Comfortable” and “Lollipop,” Tha Cater III is a strong work. “Tie My Hands” is a chilling track about Hurricane Katrina, and the album-closer “Don’tGetIt” is a fantastic sample off Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” in which he rambling about jail and Al Sharpton.

Let’s face it. Marriage kills your sentimental mood. It’s good for a guy like me, but not so for a guy like Quang Dung. I don’t make a living baring my soul; he does. In his new album, Va, he covers mostly heart-rending ballads, but he sounds more pathetic than persuasive.

Right off the opening track, Lam Phuong’s “Mot Minh,” you can tell that he’s not feeling it. When a man, who is married to a beautiful wife and welcomed a cute son into his life, sings about loneliness, do you really believe him? He doesn’t convince me at all. How pitiful is that for a man to cry on a woman’s shoulder: “Anh khoc tren vai em / Anh khoc tren vai em / Mot lan cuoi, mot lan cuoi cung?” He must be her bitch. Some songs you just can’t switch the role and assume that it will sound right.

Musically speaking, Va is just an average work. Le Quang’s productions are generic and sedative. Can’t blame the producer for not feeling inspired when Quang Dung hardly pushes his vocals. Even on a mid-tempo “Tieng Dan Toi” (by Pham Duy), he doesn’t even switch up his flow to ride with the beat. He plays safe throughout the album by delivering only in his comfy range and refusing to take chances. Evaluate between his and Tuan Ngoc’s version of Tu Cong Phung’s “Tren Thang Ngay Da Qua,” and you’ll see clearly why Tuan Ngoc is still irreplaceable.

I am getting a kick out of today’s pop albums in Viet Nam. Even the most heartbreaking tune could make you giggle. Minh Hang’s Mot Vong Trai Dat is a perfect example. The album is filled with real talk like “Long Ich Ky,” “Nguoi Dien Yeu” and “Yeu Lam Anh.” Get past the lame-out rap, range-less delivery, breathy vocals, generic arrangements, and what you get is straight-to-the-point conversation. The duet between Minh Hang and Thanh Dai Sieu on “Chia Doi Mot Trai Tim” cracks me the hell up. Not because of their vocal chemistry, but their shameless approach. You just have to forgive a guy for such a sincere confession: “La tai anh co loi khi anh da yeu ca hai / Khong muon mot nguoi phai buon cung khong muon bo mat ai.” He sounds so damn sweet even with such a wimpy voice. He just happens to love two girls even though he doesn’t want too. Don’t you wish you could get away with shit like that? I envy you, kid.

Sure, Duc Tri continues to collaborate with Ho Ngoc Ha even after they broke up, but does he give her a hundred percent of his effort? Hell no. Judging from her new and previous albums, he doesn’t give a shit. Can’t blame the guy though. Any dude would have done the same. Although he is not totally responsible for her new release, the least he could do was to give her some advice. Khi Ta Yeu Nhau is her lamest album up to date. Sort of like high-end restaurants with tasteless food, the productions are crisp and top-notch, but lack the flavors. Her voice is dark and raspy, but she sounds more sleepy than sexy. The lyrics are so banal that the only line sticks out after listening to eleven tracks is “Cho du anh khong cao lam / Ma trong anh rat duyen.” Thanks for throwing us shorties a bone.

As I sat down to write about “our story,” I couldn’t possibly sum it up without delving into the details. Dung and I met through my website (Visualgui.com). I invited her to a movie. On our first date, she impressed me with her appetite by cleaning up a huge plate of shrimp pasta at ten o’clock at night. The long hours we sat by the Hudson River trading our stories. The first time we held hands and didn’t want to let go. The days filled with continuous emails back and forth. The evenings filled with food, music and laughter.

The memories are endless; therefore, I would like to do something a bit different instead of writing a novel about us. One of the things that connected us is music, particularly Vietnamese intimate ballads. So we wanted to put together an album with the songs we have loved and shared. And instead of writing the sleeve notes, I put together the “love notes” for the seven tracks that recollect glimpses of our story:

Tình Tự Mùa Xuân
Music & Lyrics: Từ Công Phụng
Vocal: Tuấn Ngọc

I can still remember the fresh vibe of the clear, breezy summer night like yesterday. On a dark, lonesome throughway, I was driving Dung home from our first date. We glanced at each other as “Tình Tự Mùa Xuân” began:

Em lại đây với anh
Ngồi đây với anh
Trong cuộc đời này.
Nghe thời gian lướt qua
Mùa xuân khẽ sang
Chừng như không gian đang sưởi ấm
những giọt tình nồng.
Come to me,
Sit by my side,
Share this life with me.
Listen to the time glide by,
As the soft approach of spring,
Warms the air
And our tender tears of love.

I didn’t need to say a word. Tuấn Ngọc’s romantic voice said it all.

Bài Ca Hạnh Ngộ
Music & Lyrics: Lê Uyên Phương
Vocal: Thiên Phượng

Although the journey ahead could be rough and treacherous, we can make it if we hold on to each other’s hand. We promised never to get go like Lê Uyên Phương had suggested:

Rồi mai đây đi trên đường đời
Đừng buông tay âm thầm tìm về cô đơn.
Later, on the journey through life,
Don’t let go of my hand to seek your quiet solitude.

Vì Đó Là Em
Music & Lyrics: Diệu Hương
Vocal: Quang Dũng

Dung used to call me “dẽo miệng” (slick mouth) when I lip-synced the following lyrics to her:

Không cần biết em là ai
Không cần biết em từ đâu
Không cần biết em ngày sau.
Ta yêu em bằng mấy ngàn biển rộng
Ta yêu em qua đông tàn ngày tận
Yêu em như yêu vùng trời mênh mông.
Who you are doesn’t matter,
Where you’re from, I don’t wonder,
What you’ll be, I don’t worry.
My love is a thousand oceans strong,
My love will fight winters and eternities long,
My love, like the sky, will always be.

Sure my dear, I love you just the way you are.

Nụ Hôn Gởi Gió
Music: Hoàng Việt Khanh
Lyrics: Hiền Vy
Vocal: Quang Lý

Besides Hoàng Việt Khanh’s composing skill and Quang Lý’s gorgeous delivery, what makes this contemporary folk tune irresistible is Hiền Vy’s playful poetry:

Môi em mọng đỏ, là đỏ như mơ
Cho anh nhờ gió hôn vào là vào môi em.
Your full red lips, crimson like a ripe apricot,
Let me summon the breeze to give them a gentle kiss.

Dung pointed out how folks back in the days revealed their feelings in such a graceful approach. I wanted to sing this tune dedicated to Dung on our wedding day but my voice fails me.

Niệm Khúc Cuối
Music & Lyrics: Ngô Thụy Miên
Vocal: Thụy Vũ

We danced to this romantic ballad together for the first time and we knew it has to be the theme song for our wedding:

Cho tôi xin em như gối mộng
Cho tôi ôm em vào lòng.
Xin cho một lần, cho đêm mặn nồng
Yêu thương vợ chồng.
Be the pillow I embrace,
Let me hold you in my arms,
Let us share warm nights together,
Loving one another as husband and wife.

Rồi Đây Anh Sẽ Đưa Em Về Nhà
Music & Lyrics: Phạm Duy
Vocal: Mộng Thúy

A lovely ballad from Phạm Duy reminds us of the days we sat in the Eastman Park talking about life, family, music and everything else until two in the morning. Accompanied by a simple, elegant piano, Mộng Thúy’s sensual soprano brings back the memories:

Rồi đây anh sẽ đưa em trở về
Về nơi công viên yên vui lặng lẽ.
Hãy ngồi đây, ghế đá ngày xưa
Dưới hàng thông có gió lửng lơ.
And I will return with you
To the quiet park of our youth,
Where we may sit on the old bench
Under pines caressed by the breeze.

Bài Không Tên Số 28
Music & Lyrics: Vũ Thành An
Vocal: Tuấn Ngọc

Our story is long and filled with memories and this is just the beginning. Each day our love grows stronger than the day before and we’re looking forward to sharing our lives together like Vũ Thành An had written:

Cho đến trăm năm vẫn còn say
Xin đến trăm năm không rời tay.
Until a hundred years pass, our love shall never end,
For a hundred years more, never letting go.

The big day is coming, so I won’t be blogging much. After the wedding we will head to Jamaica for a short honeymoon; therefore, I am going to leave you with the album we have compiled for you to enjoy while I am away. Thanks everyone for being such wonderful visitors.

Thanks to Trong Do and Anh-Chi Do for all English translations.