Category Archives: music

We lost the great pianist Oscar Peterson this week. (NY Times Obituary)

I regret never having seen him perform live. My favorite records are “We Get Requests,” and “Sonny Stitt Meets the Oscar Peterson Trio.” Both showcase his amazing piano playing, as well as the great big-band like arrangements that his trio played.

Here’s a monster performance of Duke Ellington’s Caravan, with NHOP on bass:

Tonight I saw Sonny Rollins at Boston’s historic Symphony Hall. It was the first time I have seen Sonny live in over five years. I could hardly wait, especially since the last performance I attended was later released as “Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert“.

Since then, Sonny has made changes to two of the chairs in his “orchestra:” Kobe Watkins succeeded Perry Wilson on drums, and guitarist Bobby Broom took over for pianist Stephen Scott (a personal favorite).

The evening got off to a fast start with the up-tempo tune “Why Was I Born?” The song jumped into energetic, extended solos from Sonny and Clifton Anderson, but the overall effect was muted by a poor sound mix that dimmed the energy coming from the stage. Kobe Watkins sounded great on this tune; I thought he swung harder than Perry Wilson, who was more of a calypso player. Next up was the Ellington classic “In a Sentimental Mood,” which, in the past, had been a feature for Stephen Scott. This time the “Dean” of NYC bass players, Bob Cranshaw, took the featured solo, followed by percussionist Kimati Dinizulu. Dinizulu’s solo was astonishing: he captivated the crowd with a mix of shakers and conga drumming. The set concluded with the Calypso “Nice Lady.”

The second set opened with “Sonny Please,” the title track of Sonny’s new album. This vamp-based tune featured solos and unison playing from Sonny and Clifton Anderson, with Sonny quoting “In a Sentimental Mood” during his solo. After that song, Sonny announced that they would have to cut the second set short, since they played for an hour and a half before itermission. The crowd was really disappointed, but that was redeemed by the closing numbers: the “theme song” the Everywhere Calypso, which segued into a few choruses of “Tenor Madness” to close the show.

Here are the Boston Herald and Boston Phoenix reviews of the concert.

A live performance of Alabama, in honor of Coltrane’s 80th birthday:

(via DO THE MATH)

In celebration of Sonny Rollins’ 76th birthday, and brand new album, “Sonny, Please,” nine classic concert videos have been released on SonnyRollins.com.

My favorite one is this 1981 performance of “Moritat” with George Duke, Stanley Clarke, and Al Foster:

I think this must be an encore, since Sonny is the only soloist on the 8 minute track. (And I believe that this is a pretty rare song for him to play live.) This clip captures Sonny’s amazing presence on stage: his massive tone, how hard he swings, the momentum in his melodies. You can tell that its a pretty special moment from the shit-eating grin on Stanley Clarke’s face.

The new issue of Seed has an thought-provoking article, “How we Know,” that discusses K. Anders Ericsson’s research on expert performers, like brain surgeons and concert pianists. Ericsson found that practice accounts for most of the difference in performance that could otherwise be attributed to “talent”:

“For example, when Ericsson studied classical pianists, he found that the winners of competitions had practiced over 10,000 hours by the age of 20, while less accomplished performers only practiced between 2,000 and 5,000 hours.”

The 5,000-10,000 hour figure sounds about right. The saxophonist Bill Pierce once told one of my friends that he would need to practice 4 or 5 hours a day, for 4 or 5 years, in order to play at a professional level. That works out to about 4,800-7,500 hours, right within the range that Ericcson describes.

And, as Ericsson’s work suggests, the greats may just outwork everyone else. Remember, Coltrane was so obsessed he was known to practice in the dressing room between sets, and Sonny Rollins once said that he practiced 18 hours a day during his famous sabbatical on the Williamsburg bridge.

Sonny Rollins accompanying Leonard Cohen! This is heavy!

I saw “I’m Your Man” about a month ago, but, aside from loving Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah, I haven’t really heard much Leonard Cohen before that. I highly recommend the movie, and need to dig more of his stuff.

I saw my first concert in way too long last night: King Wilkie at Johnny D’s. It was a great time – an intimate, relaxed, and fun show. I’m glad I made it out on a Tuesday night.

King Wilkie is about to head into the studio to record their first album for Rounder, and they played a lot of new material, including some great ballads with very polished arrangements. Frontman Johnny Mac was pretty funny all night, teasing the Rounder brass, and making light of the fact that King Wilkie doesn’t go “uptown” too often. I am looking forward to hearing their new record.