Not popular, definitely better. . .

. . . than most.

Artist Profile: Jazz Singer Johnny Hartman
By Jacob Teichroew, About.com Guide

Johnny Hartman
Born: July 23rd, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois as John Maurice Hartman
Died: September 15th, 1983

The Struggling Balladeer:
Despite his talents, jazz singer Johnny Hartman struggled to maintain a thriving career. Hartman caught a couple of big breaks during his life that seemed to show promise, but the racial and cultural milieu during his active years were such that he never earned the recognition he deserved while he was still alive.

Hartman’s first big opportunity came after he won a singing competition at age 17 in a Chicago supper club. The prize was a brief engagement with Earl Hines’ big band. Hines, whose band cultivated the talents of bebop stars such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, invited Hartman to join the group for a longer period.

Bebop: Not the Right Fit:
Hartman, whose strengths were his dulcet vocal timbre, emotional nuances, and meticulous phrasing, did not entirely fit into the bebop scene. He left Hines’ band to sing in Gillespie’s big band, but abandoned it in 1949 for a solo career.

Hartman distinguished himself from the majority of jazz singers in the 1950s by rejecting conventions such as scat singing and modifying standard songs. He prided himself on staying close to original melodies, allowing the lyrics to guide his musical interpretation. Some argue that for this reason, Hartman’s potential was squelched by promoters who weren’t interested in supporting a black musician who sounded thoughtful, intelligent, and romantic.

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman:
Hartman barely got through the 1950s as a solo artist, but got another big break in 1963. That year he recorded John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Impulse!), an album of ballads including Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life.” On the record, Hartman employs his rich baritone voice to convey the melancholia of various love songs. Hardly straying from the melodies, Hartman’s approach evidently inspired John Coltrane to do the same. The two complement each other perfectly, and the album is one of the best jazz vocal albums ever made.

While Hartman’s reputation got a boost after his work with Coltrane, he could not sustain it. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, when rock music pushed romantic jazz out of the mainstream, Hartman refused to compromise, recording jazz with bands led by Oliver Nelson and Gerald Wilson. His 1980 album Once in Every Life (Bee Hive), was nominated for a Grammy in 1981, but that was the last hint of promise in his career. He died in 1983 of lung cancer.

In part thanks to Clint Eastwood’s 1996 movie, The Bridges of Madison County, which uses recordings of Hartman in the romantic scenes, Johnny Hartman started to achieve posthumously the acclaim that he deserved while still active.




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(Fish) Bone caught . . .

. . . in your throat?. . .

(from http://fishbone.net/)
"On November 21st, 2011, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was played on to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to the Fishbone song "Lyin' Ass Bitch". The Roots drummer Questlove later explained that the playing of the song was "tongue in cheek". Fallon and the NBC network later apologized."

An egregious and unfortunate occurrence indeed. To imply that the singular female, republican presidential candidate intentionally tells untruths is unwarranted and unnecessary. And adding insult to injury, applying terminology normally applicable to canine subjects took the insult over the edge.

More unfortunate however, is the fact that neither Fishbone nor the Roots have written a song with a title like "Lunatic Lady", "Delusional Dame" or "Flaky Female", all of which would have been infinitely more appropriate. (see below)

(from the Huffington Post)
. . . that her campaign is helped by the fact that she hasn't "had a gaffe," an interesting -- though perhaps not surprising -- claim considering her knack for making misstatements.

"As people are looking at the candidate that is the most conservative and the most consistent candidate, I've been that candidate. I haven't had a gaffe or something that I've done that has caused me to fall in the polls," Bachmann told Greta van Susteren in a Fox News interview. "People see in me someone who's genuinely a social conservative, a fiscal conservative, a national security conservative and a Tea Partier. I'm the whole package."




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Too old to learn? . . .

(from today's news)
President Obama will give a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas on the economy today at a location the White House says was very specific in picking and meant to echo President Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt spoke in the very same town more than 100 years ago on August 31, 1910 where he presented his vision for American and the coming 1912 election. Obama is an avid appreciator of history, believes lessons from history can be applied to problems today and regularly consults with historians regarding current situations.

(from Harry Truman’s History Lessons
By Samuel W. Rushay, Jr.)
"My debt to history is one which cannot be calculated. I know of no other motivation which so accounts for my awakening interest as a young lad in the principles of leadership and government." –Memoirs by Harry S. Truman, vol. I (1955)

Throughout his long life, Harry S. Truman thought, wrote, and spoke about history. For Truman, history had a meaning that went beyond a casual interest. It provided him ethical and moral guidance and was a tool that he used to make decisions, most notably as President of the United States during his two terms of office, 1945­1953. As a student of Truman has put it, Truman "internalized" history and looked to the past almost reflexively whenever a problem or issue arose.




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Words sometimes fail. . .

. . . to describe what music can express. . .

There may be several more, but this song by Frank Zappa (and LAURA by Eric Dolphy from the Live in Europe Sessions) are two songs that absolutely MOVE ME! I can't describe how or why. They just DO! And I don't NEED to describe how or why, or try to convince ANYBODY else that they should move them, because that's NOT what it's all about. What it's about it is, enjoying WHAT MOVES YOU!

(But give it a listen anyway. It's quite wonderful.)




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Big mouths. . .

. . . never get you anywhere.

It's true what they say about the empty barrels and the noise they make. First-hand experience speaks volumes. My problem is that I can go for years remembering and practicing that invaluable lesson but then out of the blue, either a little too much familiarity, ill-perceived humorousness or possibly liquid conversation stimulator- whatever the reason, I act as though I've never learned any lesson AT ALL.

Well, let me tell you, one relapse is worth a thousand words. (does that make ANY sense?) What I mean to say is, I consider the lesson well, re-learned. Now I have to make sure that I can persevere, even through a little too much familiarity, ill- perceived humorousness or possibly liquid conversation stimulator and continue to keep my BIG MOUTH shut!






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Easy What!!???. . .

. . . One time, I went into a record store (do they exist anymore?) looking for the latest release by kd Lang. Problem was, I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it under country, jazz, soul, vocal, folk and when I finally did ask for assistance from an employee of the store, they said, "kd Lang, that would be under 'EASY LISTENING'". Now I don't know about you, but I perceive 'EASY LISTENING' to mean Kenny G., and pop music that is so innocuous that it's barely there. MAYBE I'M WRONG. But that's my perception.

Therefore, I thought, (and still do to this day) kd Lang does NOT belong in the 'EASY LISTENING' bin. That's not to say that she isn't easy to listen to. It's only to say that she should not be dismissed as innocuous, easy, simple, unobtrusive Kenny G-like music BY ANY MEANS!!!

I beg you, please LISTEN to kd Lang. . .




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What's in a word. . .

(from Merriam-Webster.com)
Conservative
a. tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional
b. marked by moderation or caution (a conservative estimate)
c. marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners


(from AddictingInfo.org)
The Greatest Liberals In American History And What They Did For Our Country

(George Washington) The Father of Our Country was a liberal, as were most of the founding fathers. Washington became the first President to serve under the newly formed Constitution that gave more powers to the federal government. And contrary to what most conservatives believe of Washington today, he did not support war.

(John Adams) Adams, like Washington, also did not care for war. Adams signed into law the first health care mandate in American history. This health insurance was for sailors and it allowed them to get care provided by the federal government paid for through a tax.

(Thomas Jefferson) Jefferson believed in separation of church and state and purchased the Louisiana Territory even though the Constitution says nothing about buying land. He was also a big proponent of a free press. He believed in human rights and he did not try to repeal the mandatory health insurance mandate instituted by John Adams. Jefferson was also a big cheerleader for France and believed corporations should be restricted from having too much power. Jefferson also supported a system of national infrastructure, and approved funding of the National Road.

(James Madison) The Father of The Constitution was also a liberal. By conservative logic, anyone who grows government power is a liberal. Madison virtually wrote the Constitution himself, which by itself created a stronger more powerful federal government. Madison also believed in separation of church and state and kept the health mandate instituted by John Adams.

(Benjamin Franklin) Franklin was a journalist who believed in a free press, and he was a scientist. He also instituted the first public fire house in Philadelphia, and believed in a government run postal service.

(John Quincy Adams) As president, Adams proposed a program of modernization and educational advancement which was intended to achieve national greatness through economic growth and a strong federal government. He was able to enact part of his agenda, while paying off much of the national debt. Animated by his growing revulsion against slavery, Adams became a leading opponent of the Slave Power and argued that if a civil war ever broke out the president could abolish slavery by using his war powers, a correct prediction of Abraham Lincoln’s use of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Adams strongly opposed American military intervention in independence movements but supported moral support for such movements as American policy. He took the oath of office on a book of laws, instead of the more traditional Bible, to preserve the separation of church and state. He also supported internal improvements (roads, ports and canals), a national university, and federal support for the arts and sciences.

(Abraham Lincoln) Lincoln, like most Republicans of his era, was a liberal. He was the first President to pass an income tax into law. He ended slavery. And he saved the Union from being destroyed by Civil War. He also signed the Homestead Act in 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost. The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, also signed in 1862, provided government grants for agricultural colleges in each state. The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States’ First Transcontinental Railroad, which was completed in 1869. He also modernized America’s economic, communications, and financial infrastructure.

(Theodore Roosevelt) Theodore Roosevelt is considered the greatest progressive in American history. He supported the Meat Inspection Act, worker’s rights, breaking up corporate monopolies to spur competition and lower prices, and later on he was an advocate for national health care. In the social sphere his New Nationalism platform of 1912 called for a National Health Service to include all existing government medical agencies, social insurance, to provide for the elderly, the unemployed, and the disabled, limited injunctions in strikes, minimum wage law for women, an eight hour workday, a federal securities commission, farm relief, workers’ compensation for work-related injuries, an inheritance tax, and a Constitutional amendment to allow a Federal income tax. The political reforms proposed included women’s suffrage, direct election of Senators, and primary elections for state and federal nominations.

(Richard Nixon) Although hated by most liberals, Noam Chomsky (himself on Nixon’s enemies list) has called Nixon, “in many respects the last liberal president.” Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency by executive order, expanded the national endowments for the arts and the humanities, began affirmative action policies, started the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks to reduce ballistic missile availability, and largely continued the programs of FDR, JFK, and LBJ.




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