A Penchant. . .

I've always had a penchant for humor in music.  It doesn't always have to be in-your-face silly (not that I'm against THAT!), but for me, humor makes everything, especially music, more real, more fallible, more entertaining, more universal and maybe even more palatable.  And instrumental music can contain just as much humor as lyrics.

Laughter always attracted me as a child, whether it be an adult with a wry grin that does magic tricks, Jerry Lewis mugging for a crowd in ape-fashion or  the outrageous puns and sight gags on old television programs like 'Green Acres.'  That was always my preference when it was up to me.

Musically, I always searched for the novelty songs (mostly by [Noel] Paul Stookey) when I purchased a new Peter, Paul and Mary LP.  I discovered Spike Jones in old movies on television.  Louis Prima could always swing, croon and entertain with a twinkle in his eye and laughter in the music.  Later it was Frank Zappa (who also named Spike Jones as an influence), Jim Stafford (more subtle than Spike) and even Fishbone.

Then there is the humor that is unspoken but still ever present in the music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Dexter Gordon (constantly quoting pop, children or seasonal songs in solos), Roland Kirk, Eric Dolphy laughed much in his leaping intervals and birdsong impersonations, Dave Frishberg (subtle, dry and sophisticated lyrics), Cannonball Adderley, Sun Ra and even David Murray.  I love it ALL.

(Thinking of this song today was the seed for my reflection on humor. . .) 

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:

(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

Tweet

My Introduction . . .

. . . to jazz . . .

. . . occurred during what would have been my senior year of high school if I hadn't waived my 12th year to begin college early.  Further, if I hadn't waived my 12th year, my introduction to jazz would have occurred much differently and most certainly much later.

In addition to sheer boredom with the high-school routine, the impetus for my attending the (then named) Community College of Baltimore was the fact that they had a radio station; as a career in broadcasting was precisely what I had in mind for my future at the time.

The station, which began as a student education facility, was quickly becoming a public radio force of some potency. Soon to be capable of broadcasting a signal of 50,000 watts, the facility was manned by a combination of media professionals, technical experts and a host of students. The format at the time encompassed a variety of programming including talk, community service, ethnic, rock, classical, broadway and showtunes and . . . jazz.  My first concentrated and serious exposure to jazz occurred working at WBJC-FM radio about forty years ago.

The jazz included Gato Barbieri, Chuck Mangione, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Lucky Thompson, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Lennie Tristano, Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, Sonny Stitt, Phil Woods, Dizzy Gillespie and many, many more and (oh yes) . . . Charlie Parker.

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:

(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

Tweet

Speaking of . . .

. . . jazz

Spring Jazz Festival
at Elk Run Vineyards
15113 Liberty Rd, Mt Airy, MD 21771
(410) 775-5089

For Tickets Go To:
http://www.elkrun.com/spring-jazz-festival/

The Elk Run Spring Jazz Festival features two days of jazz performances, along with vendors, crafts, hayrides through the Mt. Airy vineyards and wine tastings.

Saturday June 14th
Noon-1:30  Howard Burns Trio
1:45-2:30    Ray Jozwiak
2:30-3:15    Laura Baron
3:30-5:00    Ronny Smith and Friends

Sunday June 15th
Noon-1:30  Time Squared
1:45-3:15    Josh Bayer Trio
3:30-5:00    Darryl Brenzel Quartet

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:

(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

Tweet

School . . .

 . . . of jazz


Jazz originated in the late nineteenth century in the Southern United States combining some European harmony and forms with African musical elements such as blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms and syncopation.

As it spread many distinctive styles evolved such as  New Orleans jazz dating from the early 1910s, big band swing, Kansas City jazz and Gypsy jazz from the 1930s and 1940s, bebop from the mid-1940s, Afro-Cuban jazz, West Coast jazz, ska jazz, cool jazz, Indo jazz, avant-garde jazz, soul jazz, modal jazz, chamber jazz, free jazz, Latin jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion and jazz rock, jazz funk, loft jazz, punk jazz, acid jazz, ethno jazz, jazz rap, cyber jazz, M-Base and nu jazz.

Louis Armstrong said to Bing Crosby on the latter's radio show, "Ah, swing, well, we used to call it syncopation, then they called it ragtime, then blues, then jazz. Now, it's swing.  Armstrong also said, "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know. In a 1988 interview, jazz musician J. J. Johnson said, "Jazz is restless. It won't stay put and it never will".  Ellington said, "By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with."

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:

(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

Tweet

We Complain . . .

 . . . the floor's uneven . . .

. . . When we simply don't know how to dance

In a sentimental treason

Each word is charged as every glance



My foes approach and I start singing

How do I defend against my friends?

The treasure buried where I fumbled

The ball into the tiger's den



Maddened fingers spar

With the laughing strings

I was very close but no cigar



We were on the corner with our cup

The lad with light feet made the girl light up

Putting the pep back into the step

Where you would leap is now where I have leapt



I'm an easy victim of nostalgia

I was making friends among the blind

The filament was bright at high noon

Radiating from the signs



Maddened fingers spar

With the laughing strings

It was very close but no cigar



Find the low denominator

With a hundred pairs of eyes

Leaning on an arm that failed us

Against the grain it's common life



I was choking on imagination

Still I know I get the gist

Sifting through a tired memory

In Paris turning with the twist


Close But No Cigar
by John P. Graboski
(Oho [Jay Graboski, David Reeve, Ray Jozwiak]
recorded at Band Bash 2014 - “You’re With the Band!” -May 24, 2014)





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:

(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

Tweet

Elections . . .

. . . in Syria??

 “Force is all conquering, but it's victories are short lived.”
― Abraham Lincoln 

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
― Albert Einstein

"Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."
Mahatma Gandhi

“I was not designed to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.”
― H.L. Mencken

“. . . the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
― Karl Popper

“I find I am much prouder of the victory I obtain over myself, when, in the very ardor of dispute, I make myself submit to my adversary’s force of reason, than I am pleased with the victory I obtain over him through his weakness.”
― Michel de Montaigne

“Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know more.”
― Confucius

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:

(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

Tweet

A Horse Is A . . .

. . . Horse. . .


Are YOU at a loss for a clever name for your horse?  Are you tired of acey-deucy names for your horses? Do words fail you when the situation calls for a snappy equine moniker?  Are the only horse names that come to YOUR mind Fury, Flicka or Wildfire?

Well YOU need worry no more!  Call US- ACME Horse Handles and your horse naming troubles will be over!

We will provide you with a hard-boot, added-weight, head of the stretch horse name of your choosing. . . and we also give you a 30day guarantee where we will replace your horse name absolutely free if you're not satisfied with the first one.

Sweat (horse-sweat?) no long over what you will call YOUR future triple-crown winner.  Suffer embarrassment no longer over your horse's lackluster name.  We come up with odds on horse names across the board.

Call us today at 123-WENAMIT.  That's 123-WENAMIT today.

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:

(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

Tweet