Grave Error

The past few days have been perfect spring days here in Madrid, and today was no exception in my neighorhood of Chamberí (sunny and 75ºF). First I set out to to visit the newly opened museum at the Chamberí ghost metro station. In 1966, Metro de Madrid closed the Chamberi station, but it continued to exist in darkness along line one between the Bilbao and Iglesia stations. For the past 40 years the trains have continued to pass through the station without stopping, and you can peak out the window for a glimpse of the ghost station. The station has just been restored to its 1966 aspect and converted into a museum.

After visiting the museum, I took a walk a through my neighborhood and made this low budget video to “Alabama Song” by the Sextet of Orchestra U.S.A. from the obscure album Mack the Knife and Other Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill. The album’s highlights are Eric Dolphy and John Lewis, and Dolphy’s bass clarinet on “Alabama Song” is perfect for any sunny day. If the video quality is too ghetto for your taste, at least you’ll enjoy the wonderul music.

Thelonious Monk. He was a very strange, eccentric, and cool character — completely unique in every sense. Sometimes you just have to watch to fully enjoying listening.

A friend of mine gave me John Coltrane’s Olé about six years ago, but it was not until last year in November that I really listened to it closely. Then a few weeks later while in Marrakech, I suddenly could not get the tune out of my head. From that moment on, I have become a Coltrane addict, and for no reason in particular, I found myself this past weekend listening over and over to “Olé“.

Although the piece appears to be dedicated to Spain, it is much more reminiscent of Northern Africa. With the exception of McCoy Tyner’s big piano cords and Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet both of which give the feel of a paso doble at a bull fight, the rest of the music is like you’re in Marrakech’s Djemaa el Fna or in a medina. Eric Dolphy’s flute reflects the incessant sound of North African flute players in the plaza and on the streets, and the excellent play between the two bassists (one plucking, the other one using the bow) together with Elvin Jones’ drums create the almost spiritual trance. And then there is John Coltrane soaring over the rest.

In a second rate effort to replicate this experience, I have created this third rate nine minute video (from the 18 minutes that the song endures) with photos from Spain and Morocco.

Rewrite just pointed me towards this review in The Economist of Ben Ratliff’s new biography of John Coltrane. Here is the review in full: (more…)

Last night I went with some friends to hear the Joshua Redman Trio at the Festival de Jazz de Madrid 2007. Opening for Redman was a quartet lead by Carles Benavent. Benavent, a veteran who has played alongside Paco de Lucía and Jorge Pardo, was pretty good, but the contrast between the first and the second shows was enormous. (more…)

I have significantly slowed down my leisure reading and substituted it with podcasts. I haven’t given up reading altogether, but I generally go through a period each year where I take a little break from books. Now one of my favorite podcasts for listening to while falling asleep or traveling is NPR’s Jazz Profiles.

Even if you’re not much of Jazz fan, I think that listening to Jazz Profiles is still fairly entertaining at least for anyone who is interested in 20th Century U.S. history. Jazz is such a unique American experience and art form, and the stories of its musicians are very much a part of that experience. (more…)

Yesterday I finally arrived home to Maryland/Washington, DC. For some reason the eight hour flight seemed longer than usual — and I was taking a direct flight from Madrid for the first time in six years. One thing that I found interesting while looking at those maps they show on the screen on the flight was just how immense the world was. I was about two hours out over the Altantic and the map was showing cities like Paris, Madrid, Santiago, Rabat, and others. The couple sitting next to me where Indians who had emigrated to the US about 10 years ago and had three very nice boys. Two rows ahead of me was my co-worker Gon’s sister and two daughters. I was thinking about how rich the world was with such diversity of people and places.

Anyways, I arrived home saw my father, cleaned up a little, and about one hour later left to Bethany Beach with my mom where her youngest son and his girlfriend were waiting for us. As when I am always about to go home, I go onto Amazon and buy all of those books I have trouble locating in Europe and all of the music I can’t find on iTunes. So when I arrived yesterday afternoon, I found the following books and music waiting for me, which I put in my bag and set out for the beach: (more…)

Jazz drummer and innovator Max Roach has just passed away. Roach, along with Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes, is one of my all time favorite drummers. In particular, I am fond of his work with the late Clifford Brown and the album Money Jungle with Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus. His We Insist! Freedom Now Suite was one of the first jazz pieces to cover issues such as racism and slavery at the very commencement of the Civil Rights Movement. (more…)

While on the farm in Menorca this weekend with William, Yasmine, Sanaa, Waya, and little Leo, William put on Joe Henderson’s Page One (with McCoy Tyner on piano!), and I loved it. William was also telling me about how he subscribes to and downloads podcasts from iTunes onto his iPod. He has pretty much the same taste in radio and news as I do, so once I got back to Madrid, I decided to go through the iTunes podcast library to see what I could find.

What I found were some of my favorite shows that I always look forward to seeing or hearing whenever I am back home. In particular, I enjoy watching the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS every evening at 7:00pm with my father. They just don’t have news shows, debate and analysis this good anywhere on European TV. Next, I love driving in my car and listening to NPR. Once I subscribed to my favorite stuff, I then proceeded to download Henderson’s Page One. I am afraid (figuratively, not literally) that the music and podcasts will distract me from finally finishing My Name is Red. Anyways, here is a list of the podcasts I have just subscribed to (if you have any other good ones, let me know): (more…)

The last few days I have been looking for Asmahan’s version of the song “Emta Hata’raf”. Actually, I already have a different version of the song on the album Orient Express by the Yuri Honing Trio and really love it (I also love the song “La Inta Habibi” from the same album). I hadn’t originally known that “Emta Hata’raf” was a fairly well-known Arabic song sung by Asmahan (I didn’t even know who she was either) from the 1930s. I was also looking for a good solo oud player and singer like the music my Bro and I heard in Marrakech. In looking, I came across Farid El Atrache (who happens to be Asmahan’s brother, go figure).

In any event, Fadi recommended the oud virtuoso/jazz fusionist Anouar Brahem, but I already had three of his albums (Barzahk, Astrakan Cafe, and Le Pas du Chat Noir). Nevertheless, I hadn’t listened to any of them in years as they have always been a little too much on the mellow side for my tastes. Then today while browsing through my iTunes library, I came across Astrakan Cafe and decided to give it another go. It’s really a great sound, but what is really great is the cover photo on the album Le Pas du Chat Noir.