Showing posts with label reed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reed. Show all posts

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Sincere . . .

 . . . genuine, talent. . .


(from http://www.irasullivanjazz.com/#!bio)
Hyperbole surrounds Ira Sullivan. It is evident in both his music and his life. His talent has been called "Pure lyric," "Fire," "Formidable," "Complex," "Ornate," "Unparalleled," "Haunting," or, more simply, "Legend." Some reviewers say he is a musical genius; others say this is an understatement. They cite his ability to pick up a strange instrument and, within a few days, to be as conversant with it as if he had been playing it for years. World class multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan plays trumpet, flugelhorn, peckhorn, tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones, flute, and an occasional round of drums, all of them impeccably and not as a gimmick. A master of almost the entire range of brass and reed instruments, he is known for his ability to come in cold and turn in a stellar performance. Ira is widely recorded and tours on the national and international jazz circuits. A five-time Grammy nominee, he serves as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. As a clinician, lecturer, and adjudicator in jazz workshops at universities and schools across the country and abroad, he finds that the History of Jazz programs that he initiated while attending high school in Chicago are now being replicated in many of these institutions. One if his current projects is an ensemble he calls the INTER/OUTER CONTINENTAL JAZZ QUINTET. Together, this unique and multi-ethnic group expresses a wide spectrum of the jazz milieu, dipping freely into both traditional and uncommon territory. Ira Sullivan feels that music is one of the finest gifts God has bestowed upon mankind. One of his greatest joys is leading Jazz Vespers at the many churches he plays, where the congregations share his belief that there is a dynamic spiritual connotation to this most American of musical styles. It is this spiritual impulse that most clearly defines Ira Sullivan's music. For forty years, he has ended his performances all over the world with the venerable hymn "Amazing Grace," a soulful salute to the Spirit within.





What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak

My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:

Ray Jozwiak: 2014

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Striving . . .


. . . for something . . . but not always being able to explain exactly what . . .



(from http://www.furious.com/perfect/ericdolphy2.html)
 . . . "Eric was a very, very gifted musician and a very nice guy on top of it," McCoy Tyner told me in a recent interview. "He had a very personal approach to playing and enjoyed expanding the limits of imagination. Eric played so many instruments, his pockets were bulging with all these mouthpieces," McCoy said chuckling at the memory. "He was the first guy to come on as a guest with the band. At the time he came along he was doing his own thing and made a tremendous impression. We felt that the quartet was self-contained. Jimmy, Elvin and I felt that we had built something and were still on that journey. We didn't exactly understand where John was going in terms of adding Eric. We were like little kids in a sense like this is our band and we want to keep it that way. But then again it wasn't like we didn't want to share our experience. John was the leader and he was the one that made the final decisions. He decided that maybe if I do this, this will cause something else to happen. And it did! They played so differently. Eric added another dimension to the sound. John never rested on his laurels. He was like a scientist in the laboratory always searching for something new or different. By adding Eric he was expanding the music. John and Eric had a very different type of life experience. Eric had a very academic approach. He studied a lot. John coming from the South had that real gutsy approach. His father was a minister and his grandfather was a minister. He spent a lot of time in church and you could hear that in the music. At the same time there were points where the two met and could make something very interesting happen."

"Eric added a very interesting component to the music," McCoy continued. "John believed in what Eric was doing. He wanted to help him. At the same time he wanted to open the music up. It was a very good experience for Eric as well, being surrounded by the quartet. Ole was one of the highlights of Eric's presence. He had his own approach to the bass clarinet. He had personal things he would do on the instrument and got sounds out of it that you normally didn't hear on a bass clarinet. He was very animated and very enthusiastic.". . . (Note:  Be patient. Eric's solo starts at about 4:07)





What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:

Ray Jozwiak: 2014

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Zimbio
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Thursday, February 13, 2014

An Entrepreneur. . .

. . . was opening a 'music studio' in our very own east Baltimore neighborhood (speaking of accordions).   (I always thought the term 'music studio' sounded impressive.  Sophisticated, cultured and exclusive.)  This studio was to be called the Maryland Accordion Institute.  (Talk about impressive, sophisticated, cultured and exclusive!)  The phone call was telemarketing for prospective clientele, namely wee sprites who were interested in learning to play that prince of all reed instruments, king of the Bohemian beer hall, and butt of many, many jokes - the accordion.  But, this was not the perception held by myself at the time.  Nor was it the perception held by many in a similar position at the time.  It was, quite honestly (and truly, unashamedly) an interesting and desirable proposition.  I was, indeed, VERY interested in learning to play the accordion.  DAMNED interested.  Those Sunday afternoons listening to Dad play his accordion, combined with my natural love of music, possibly even my lack of ambition and talent on the guitar, all united in my seven year old brain forming a profound hunger to learn to play the accordion.  As odd as it sounds, I did not regret at the time, nor do I now regret not pursuing the 'cool' -er musical path of playing the guitar.  It just never occurred to me that that's what I should have done.  And I never looked back.

You haven't lived . . . until you've heard forty seven accordionists playing HALLELUJAH I'M A BUM on a cold, Monday evening in November.  Kinda warms the cockles of your heart.  We used to have 'band practice', not as in a conventional 'band' of various compatible instruments rehearsing together for a performance, but a 'band' meaning a group, and 'practice' meaning just that.  And many of us most certainly needed practice. Theoretically, the concept had musical merit.  Playing with other music students promoted an understanding of time, tempo and dynamics, following a 'conductor' (of sorts) and taught cooperation, support, sympathy, patience, harmony, rhythm and accompaniment.

The configuration was four rows of metal, folding chairs of about 8 - 10 facing the conductor (an accordion teacher, most often Mr. Edward (Taylor) Krawcyk, whose back was to a row of assorted couches and chairs where the parents of the students sat to 'enjoy' the music of their progeny.  The protocol had the 'new' or less senior (accordion-wise) students in the first row, with students 'promoted' to the following rows as they progressed in skill, or sometimes when they merely 'hung in there' for a period, with or without really improving technically at all.  And the coup de gras for seriously dedicated students of the squeezebox, during each band practice, was the opportunity to perform a solo.  Only two rows of students were allowed to perform a  'solo' each week, simply because of the one-hour time limit of the weekly gathering.  The first two rows would offer solos one week, with only the 3rd and 4th rows the following week.  And Oh Boy, did I look forward to my time to 'shine' with a solo every other week.  This performance opportunity was not taken lightly, by myself at least, and much time and toil was taken in the selection, preparation and eventual performance of my bimonthly accordion solo. Yeah, that taste of public attention, appreciation, the thrill, the communication, the connection between performer and audience cannot be underestimated.  It's not ego.  It is a need.  Like a drug.  The accordion band practice refined my experience and perception of the performer/audience relationship.

After several years of accordion band practice sessions, which were really low-calibre concerts, I'm not quite sure what inspired or motivated me since nothing clear remains in my memory of the motivation, I wrote my first original composition. "You couldn't play the music so you made up your own,"  was one good-natured comment I received from the father of another accordion student at the conclusion of accordion practice on the night I chose to perform an original composition as my solo.  In fact, it was my very first original composition. The piece was entitled THE NEW YORK STRANGERS.  It was essentially, half blues and half folk song. It was not verse-chorus-verse-chorus, or verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus in structure.  It was first-part-second-part (repeat).  It had lyrics.  Very simple lyrics which I, unfortunately (and embarrassingly) do remember so will not repeat here.  It was inspired by. . . nothing in particular but the need to write an original composition.  Well, isn't that ENOUGH? The best part of the entire experience, and the finest nuance of the memory, is the look of pride on my very own father's face as I received congratulations from several listeners that evening.

There were times when I felt that I had ALWAYS taken accordion lessons.  Then there were times when I felt that I would never STOP taking them.  But through the twenty-twenty vision of hindsight, they were ten years well spent on lessons which exposed me, I can now say unwittingly, to a wealth of music theory.


Henry
©1997 Raymond M. Jozwiak
from 'Songs from Our Circle 4'




What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html

My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:

Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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 Directory