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Blog Advisory System

Alexey Nikishin has such a great eye for erotic art. This has to be my favorite piece.

Crooked I throws a freestyle at X-man and I-man.

If I have to pick one album to introduce someone who would like to get into jazz, it has to be Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. No doubt about that.

Erroll Garner is one of my personal favorite jazz pianists for his astounding orchestral concept. Listen to his interpretation of “Don’t Be That Way” and you will figure out why. By applying the full range of the keyboard, he was capable of creating a big-band effect. With the “kicking” beat on the left hand and “strumming” chords on his right, Garner’s stride technique not only reinvents the popular tune, but also making it his own.

Even though Blake Lewis held down the Latin vibe for the night, I voted for Sanjaya Malakar so that idiot can stay on top of the roof for a couple more weeks. Damn, I missed Melinda Doolittle’s performance.

After calling Rutgers’ women basketball players “nappy-headed hos,” the grumpy, old Don Imus pointed his finger to hip-hop music for his misogynist and racist remark. Like the protesters yelled, “Imus must go!”

Anyone who loves Peanuts cartoons should be familiar with Vince Guaraldi’s music. He’s the main man behind the wonderful scores. I’ve been jamming to A Boy Named Charlie Brown Soundtrack again and again. How can you not hook on something as magnetizing as “Linus and Lucy?” It must be that West Coast Jazz flavor, in which Guaraldi has both hip and melodic tone in his keyboard style. Love those crisp drum brushes from Colin Bailey and engaging bass walks from Monty Budwig as well. The trio has done an exceptional job of pleasing both children and parents without compromising their artistic vision.

Thuy Duong’s interpretation of “Toi Oi! Dung Tuyet Vong” is my standard of how a Trinh Cong Son’s composition should be sung. If she doesn’t feel despair, than you shouldn’t either. Mad props to the producer as well for the gorgeous orchestration. Love that bass thump.

Our man Trong pitched me Washington Post‘s “Pearls Before Breakfast” by Gene Weingarten over the weekend, but I didn’t get to read it until now. The Post hired Joshua Bell who is a virtuoso classical violist to perform at L’Enfant Plaza during the rush hour to conduct an experience. The outcome was that most commuters would just pass him by without showing any appreciation. The fact that people ignored him not because they had to move on with their daily jobs, but no one gives a damn about dead music.

The article does remind me of the street vibes in NYC. It’s the similar kind of street musicians and performers that gives the city its liveliness. I remember one late night I was coming back to Poughkeepsie from Grand Central, there was this old saxophonist blowing alone in the empty station while the train passing by. He was not a great player, but he had this really dark and raspy tone like Ben Webster. He closed his eyes and played John Coltrane’s “Greensleeves” in a very slow tempo with minimal vibrato. I didn’t stop and listen either because I had to catch the train or else I had to wait two more hours to catch the next one.

Trinh Cong Son’s music has been reinterpreted many times before, yet no one dares to make his songs sound “sen.” Well, not until Manh Quynh covers “Xin Tra No Nguoi.” He has done a pretty damn good job of killing the song. I can’t listen to it anymore even from the incomparable rendition by Tuan Ngoc. These days every singer still comes out with a Trinh’s songbook, but if Manh Quynh releases one, I am sure everyone else would stop, and we might as well burry his tunes.