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| Update your bookmarks. Here is the new address for the Hale web site: http://web.mac.com/niksuela/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html. | | |
| I have officially gotten the go-ahead from upper management (aka, my wife) to purchase the iLife '06 software. Since I am a Mac user and iLife '06 comes with built in blogging software as a part of iWeb, I will be moving over to my own blog on my .mac account. I don't have a forwarding address yet but I will put it up here as soon as I get one. My wife's xanga site will remain the same.
From what I have seen, iWeb allows you to make some pretty cool sites. Pastor Jeff Meyers has one here.
Late. | | |
| The last installment of my list of 30 or so great jazz CDs to enjoy during your next (or first) wine tasting party.
21. Timeagain - David Sanborn
David Sanborn is usually dumped automatically into the "smooth jazz"
category. For the most part, his music deserves the stereotype.
However, I would submit that any album whose rhythm section contains
Christian McBride on bass and Steve Gadd on drums is not a smooth jazz
album. Add in the talents of guitarist Russell Malone, trumpeter Randy
Brecker and vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and you've moved way beyond
smooth jazz land. Sanborn offers a beautiful rendition of the Stevie
Wonder classic "Isn't She Lovely" and Gadd lights up the groove on
"Sugar." Smooth or not, this album offers great jazz from a host of
great players.
22. The Melody at Night, With You - Keith Jarrett
Recorded as a Christmas gift to his wife Rose Anne in his home
studio, Jarrett's The Melody at Night, With You was never meant to see the light of day. ECM's
Manfred Eicher heard the music, felt it was tremendous, and wanted to
release it on his record label. Eicher was right. Quite simply, this is
one of the greatest solo piano jazz recordings ever. Jarrett, who was
in the throes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the time of the recording,
recorded ten standards in an austere style free of his normal
vocalizations. What remains is great melodies played by one of the
greatest living jazz musicians. Simply beautiful.
23. Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim - Sinatra & Jobim
The "Chairman of the Board" with his take on the sixties jazz/bossa
nova craze. This is a quiet, reflective album with lush symphonic
accompaniment (arranged by Claus Ogerman) and lovely guitar
accompaniment by Jobim. The Latin flavor is sort of in the
background--you don't get much more American than Sinatra, after all.
However, this is one of the most satisfying of Sinatra's albums, one
that you can listen to over and over again and still find surprising
nuances.
24. Charlie Parker: A Studio Chronicle 1940-1948 - Charlie Parker*
The
only boxed set I've included thus far. But what a boxed set it is. Five
discs, 125 tracks, exhaustive liner notes, and lovingly remastered
sound. It is all here...with a price of under $30. All of the great Bird recordings are in this set: "Ko-Ko,"
"Billie's Bounce," "Ornithology," "A Night In Tunsia," "Lover Man," and
"Scrapple From The Apple." Any understanding of be-bop begins with Charlie Parker. This is a great, budget-priced collection.
25. Deep in a Dream: The Ultimate Chet Baker Collection - Chet Baker
This one-disc collection contains 19 tracks chosen by James Gavin, author of the definitive biography of Chet Baker.
Not sure that it is the "ultimate" collection of trumpeter/singer's
music, but it does make a fine introduction to the tortured soul that
was Chet Baker. If you don't know the backstory on Baker, this quote
from Publisher's Weekly is perfect, "The 1988 funeral of famed
trumpet player and vocalist Chet Baker in
L.A. was emblematic of the disorder and dysfunction of his life though
he was world famous, only a small clique of loyal fans and family
attended, and they were fighting with one another." Out of that sort of
chaos came some sublime music, exquisite examples of the "cool jazz"
school of playing. The disc contains both instrumental and vocal versions of "My Funny Valentine," Baker's trademark song.
26. Something Else - Cannonball Adderley
Alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley was, of course, a member of the famous Miles Davis' sextet the recorded Kind of Blue. On Something Else
the roles are reversed: Adderley is the leader and Davis is the
sideman. The rest of the group is rounded out by drummer Art Blakey,
Hank Jones on piano, and Sam Jones on bass. On the surface, this seems
an odd grouping of musicians. Hank Jones was well-known for his swing
playing, Blakey was a be-bop basher and Miles was...well...Miles.
Somehow it all comes together splendidly.
27. Love Songs: Best of Verve Songbooks - Ella Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald made many "songbooks" recordings during her career (they have been collected into a massive 16-CD boxed set) from various composers such as Kern,
Gershwin, Berlin, and Porter. This disc collects the "best of the best"
onto one disc. Fitzgerald's performance on the tune "How About Me?" is
a great example of how great jazz singing can be.
28. Lady in Satin - Billie Holiday
This recording is a lot like a bad car accident. You want to look
away from it but, somehow, you can't. Holiday herself said that this
was her favorite recording that she had made. Her voice was a shadow of
its former self, having been reduced to a morbid croak by years of
heroin abuse. There is fragile, harrowing beauty to be found here.
29. The Ken Burns Jazz Collection: Thelonious Monk
What to say about the music of Thelonious Monk? My wife hates Monk's music. I like it in small doses. To me, Monk's overuse of the whole tone scale borders on comic. That said, I love the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall disc.
It deserves all of the accolades and awards that it gets. This disc is
a nice, moderate introduction to Monk's work. It even manages to bring
together onto one disc Monk's best work from the Blue Note, Prestige,
Riverside, Columbia, and Black Lion labels. The important stuff is all
here: "'Round Midnight," "Straight, No Chaser," "Brilliant Corners,"
"Blue Monk," "Epistrohy," and "Ruby, My Dear."
30. The Ken Burns Jazz Collection: Sarah Vaughan
The best one-volume introduction to the music of Sarah
Vaughan. Again, as with the Monk disc above, Ken Burns' collections
have the advantage of widespread cooperation of many different record
companies. This is not just "the best of" Vaughan on one label. This is
a true, career-spanning collection drawn from all over. This is the
main advantage of the Burns series. Vaughan's version of "They Can't
Take That Away from Me" is wonderful here.
*Alternate: The Ken Burns Jazz Collection: Charlie Parker. If your wallet cannot stand the hit of a boxed set, this is a good one-disc intro to Bird's music.
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| I love interlibrary loan. I
have used it extensively since my college days. If my local library
didn't have an item...no problem. Fill out an interlibrary loan slip
and, in a few days, they would get it in from some other library.
This past week I received "The Frank Zappa Guitar Book" on loan from
the library at K-State. The book contains transcriptions of many of the
guitar solos from "Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar," "You Are What You Is,"
"Joe's Garage," "Sheik Yerbouti," and "Zoot Allures." Many of drummer
Vinnie Colaiuta's drum parts.
All of the transcriptions were done by guitarist Steve Vai. To say that
this is daunting transcription work--not to mention sight-reading, if
one is so inclined--is a massive understatement. Say what you want
about Zappa's blasphemous, scatological lyrics, but the guy
was a pretty amazing musician. Especially when he took his own advice,
shut up, and played his guitar.
I scanned a couple of pages of the music. I apologize in advance for
the poor job scanning. I'm just thankful to have a scanner at all. If
you wish, you can click on the pictures to launch a larger image.
This first scan is from the tune "Hog Heaven," the second song on disc
one of "Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar." I love the notation in the third
system, "mass spewage." Now there's a musical notation phrase you won't
learn in Kent Kennan's The Technique of Orchestration."
Now
this is an obtuse piece of music. This is taken from "Pink
Napkins," the last tune on disc two of "Shut Up 'n Play...." The
rhythmic complexity here is mind-boggling. The groupings in the sixth
system down (measure 35) are unbelievable.
I know that he is going to try this so I'll just say...Jonathan...have fun sight-reading and/or singing this music.
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| On his blog, Pastor Mark Horne gives the following example of a dialog that might go on inside of a Christian's head:
I'm going to pray the sinner's prayer
again. I prayed it two years ago, but I didn't really understand it,
the importance of Christ's death and it's relationship to my sin.... Of
course, that was why I prayed it two years ago. A year and a half
earlier I prayed it. But I wasn't even done with kindergarten back then
so there's no way I could have meant it. That's why I got baptized that
second time. Which reminds me: I'm going to need to talk to my pastor
about scheduling a new one.
I hope it takes this time. It gets awfully scary wondering when the prayer will really be acceptable.
One of the comments that Pastor Horne received on the post was interesting. The visitor to his site wrote:
I am reminded of a comment a woman once made to a friend of mine. She had just finished the first of the infamous Left Behind
books, and she said, "It was so scary, after I finished it had had to
pray the sinner's prayer a couple of times just to make sure."
Just
to make sure. A couple of times. The sinner's prayer. THE sinner's
prayer. What is this "sinner's prayer"? Where did it come from? Who
wrote it? It's not in the Bible, like the Lord's Prayer. It's not in
the [Book of Common Prayer], like the Prayer of Humble Access or the Collect for Purity.
So, whence this "Sinner's Prayer", and who made it the sine qua non of conversion?
Many of us grew up under the same tyranny. I
grew up under a huge "tyranny of doubt." I admit that I silently prayed
the just-to-be-sure sinner's prayer (for the umpteenth time) right
after watching the "Thief in the Night" movie at a youth lock-in at a
friend's church. I once talked to a man who said
that his young son struggled with assurance of salvation. This man's
advice to his son was to direct him back to his AWANA certificate given
to him on the night that he "asked Jesus into his heart."
This is madness.
It seems that we "New Testament Christians" (now there's a phrase for
ya) struggle with the same things that the people of God struggled with
before Christ. That "something" is unbiblical presumption.
The Scriptures are full of exhortations to the people of God to
"circumcise
their hearts" (cf. Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4) and live in a manner becoming
that properly adorns their profession. Both John the Baptist (Matt. 3)
and Paul (Rom. 2) challenged the same presumption of lawless covenant
presumption.
We are no less prone to presumption today. This time, however, we presume that no one is really
in the covenant, in spite of the best evidence to the contrary. Oh
sure, every church contains a handful of "super saints" that one can
point to and say, "Now that guy...he is definitely in. Same with that lady over there." Again...madness.
Our church gives communion every week. It is my favorite part of the
service. There are so many rich exhortations that one can use to exhort
the precious saints of God during that time. I used this one, blatantly
stolen from Doug Wilson, a few weeks ago. I ties perfectly into the
topic at hand:
Jesus Christ invited Judas to this meal, knowing what was in his
heart. Jesus Christ warned Judas about his peril, in much the same way
that God warned Cain about sin lying in wait for him. And the greatest
possible grace and the greatest act of treachery met together.
But the Table was not defiled. God’s holiness is never defiled. The
treachery of Judas was used by the sovereign hand of God to accomplish
the salvation of the world, and when it was used, it was discarded. The
Table is still here, and all over the world God’s people are streaming
to it, while the 30 pieces of silver have long vanished.
Along the shoreline, waves pound the rocks, but we should not worry
about the rocks. Rank hypocrites by the thousands have come to this
Table, only to break themselves on it. We do not need to worry about
the Table.
We preach the gospel, we admonish, we warn—but we do not fence the Table for the sake of the Table.
Hearing these words, mindful of our own remaining sinfulness, we
might be tempted to shrink back. We don't want to be broken on this
Table. But yes, you do. That is precisely what you want. You
don't want to be broken as Judas was, fair enough. But you should want
to be broken as Peter was.
We are sinners, and God is holy. There is no way to come to Him
without being broken. In just a moment, I am going to break the bread,
in imitation of how Jesus broke the bread. If you are broken there,
that way, in Him, the end result is resurrection and everlasting
communion. But if you are here without trust and faith in Jesus, and
you partake, then like Judas you have no choice but to go out into the
night.
But you are invited to stay. You are invited to trust. You are
invited to repent. You are invited, warmly and cordially, to believe in
Jesus Christ, genuinely, from the heart.
Amen! And I would only add this: If you doubt your salvation, then
God's command to you is to repent and believe. And if you still doubt
after doing that, God's command remains the same. | | |
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