Without a Song captures some of the finest live performances from trumpet virtuoso Freddie Hubbard backed up by his impeccable rhythm section: Roland Hanna (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums). While title track displays Hubbard’s quicksilver solo over the band’s hard-swing tempo, “Body and Soul” shows off their lyrical balladry. “Space Track” and “Hub Tones” are among the unreleased gems.

Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s debut novel, Thirsty, is the story a woman who lived through an abusive relationship. The book is set in a mythological town somewhere in Pittsburg around the booming of the steel-making industry in 1880s. Although Thirsty is very dark, there were moments of lightness and hope.

To provide the companion web site the dramatic look and feel, a striking steel mill artwork by Craig McPherson as a backdrop. To balance out the dark tone, the title of the book is set in white, large typeface. The blue butterfly was also added to give a sense of hope. In contrast of the homepage, which is completely dark to convey the mysterious tone, the secondary pages turned white for readability.

Thirsty is an exciting project for me simply because I haven’t done a site like this before. The best part of the work is hitting the target on the first attempt. My first draft is usually my best work. This project has definitely brought the creative juice out of me and I am looking forward to doing another book site.

Trieu Hoang’s seventh release, Xuc Cam, takes damn near three years to complete, yet the quality pays off. The lyrical contents are forgettable, but the flows and the productions are memorable. Right off the opening track, “Buong Xui,” producer/songwriter Nguyen Hong Hai crafted a wicked beat (rock-pop with a club flavor) to go with Trieu Hoang’s throaty voice. The result is stunning. The title track gets even better with just Trieu Hoang pouring is heart out on nothing else but the solo piano. Unfortunately Trieu Hoang’s own tunes bring down the album. “Hen Uoc” is straight Chinese-melody jacked and “Yeu” is just ill-rhymed. Even a top-notch production can’t save lyrics like this: “Moi dem anh ngu anh mo / Chi thay em ma thoi (Every night I sleep I dream / I only see you).”

An impressionistic work of art, Unit Structures is chaotic, energetic, yet tightly controlled. From the opening “Steps,” jazz avant-garde Cecil Taylor leads his septet into the world of abstraction. His percussive piano bursts like fireworks on 4th of July allowing the reed section to roar with ferocity. Like many of Taylor’s albums, Unit Structures is not so pleasing on the first spin. Time, patience and opening ears are required to appreciate the masterpieces.

“It’s music, and I like it,” Miles Davis responded when being asked if his 1959 release, Sketches of Spain, was really jazz. 50 years later, the provocative collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans on the Latin flavors still sounds as fresh as it was first recorded. What makes this album so damn delicious is the way Gil Evans’ sensual, textual arrangements hugged like clouds around Davis’ fragile, pointed trumpet. The legacy edition includes extraordinary materials, such as alternates and live version of “Concierto de Aranjuaz.”

Haven’t heard My Tam’s “Hát Với Dòng Sông” for quite a while. It’s still quite catchy as hell. Not sure why many people were tripping off on the hook: “Tình yêu đến em không mong đợi gì, tình yêu đi em không hề hối tiếc.” I personally love the line. It’s a lyrical way of saying “I really don’t give a fuck.”

On our way home from Wildwoods, we had a flat tire in the rear passenger side. We didn’t know how or when it happened. All that we could recall was that we heard either a pop or we hit the pothole after about 2 miles from the hotel. We drove for about 10 miles and stopped in to get gas. One of the employees at the gas station noticed the flat. It was completely flat.

I pumped air into the tire and checked to see if there was any hole. Couldn’t spot anything. So I drove on and stopped every 15-30 minutes to see if the tire was deflated. Nothing happened. We drove all the way home, which was like 5 hours. The tire still looked fine.

I checked it again this morning and it still looks fine. Does anyone know why or how it deflated? Or if this has happened to you before?

The first phrase of unifying the GW’s web experience is now live. Read more about the redesign here. My role was to import the content of the School of Business into Vignette.

Because Cu Dao’s hair isn’t growing evenly, I have been itching to shave his head. In the past, I shaved both Samantha and Eric, but I couldn’t do it to Cu Dao yesterday. My hands were shaky so I let Dana do it. I also made a promise if we were to shave his head, I would shave mine as well. So I lived up to my words. Obviously, Cu Dao looks so much cuter than his daddy.

Cu Dao has been sleeping through the night for more than a week. We put him to bed around 10 and he doesn’t get up until 5:00. That’s the great part. The not-so-great part is that he doesn’t like feeding through the bottle. It took him an hour and a half yesterday for me to feed him 3 oz.

It has been quite a busy week for Cu Dao. Last Thursday we drove 4.5 hours to New Jersey for my brother-in-law wedding. We had fun seeing the family again. Thanks to Thu Hoai and the Magic Night for kept us on the dance floor. I also took some great photos for the newly wedded couple as I was trying to hone my photography skill. My family (mom, sister, Sammy and Eric) also joined us at the reception. Then we all drove back to Virginia on Sunday. My folks hang out with me around the area while Dana at work for the past three days. Got a speeding ticket right in D.C. These damn cops.

Dana, Duke and I will be joining my in-laws in Wildwood for the weekend. I am looking forward to relax and to win some money at the Casinos. I still have one more week to spend with Cu Dao before returning to work.

He is up now. I better take him out for a stroll. Enjoy your Friday. Peace out!

One of the cool things about jazz is that you could make any classic tune sounds fresh if you have the right chops to do it. The proof? Check out Sophie Milman’s third release, Take Love Easy, and her tasty, sexy rendition of “My One and Only Love” in particular. She has the sultry voice, an impeccable sense of rhythm and a gift for interpretation to not only reinvigorate jazz standards (Duke Ellington’s “Take Love Easy”, Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Triste”), but also give rock tunes (Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” and Joni Mitchell’s “Be Cool”) new flavors. Her distinctive version of “Day In, Day Out” (music by Rube Bloom and lyrics by Johnny Mercer) and “Beautiful Love” are highly addictive.