{"id":555,"date":"2011-10-14T07:41:52","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T11:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summerofjim.com\/?p=555"},"modified":"2019-03-03T16:06:39","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T20:06:39","slug":"outside-the-lines-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=555","title":{"rendered":"Outside the Lines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zack and I have been trading playlists <\/em>for a bit.\u00a0 We both love music.\u00a0 And I am impressed with his devotion to current music and\u00a0<\/em>his interest in\u00a0music from “my” era.\u00a0 Still, there seemed to be something missing in our exchanges.\u00a0 There is a whole big music\u00a0world outside of The Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, The Ramones, U2 & Vampire Weekend (which I know Zack is aware of, and undoubtedly has already\u00a0explored). After receiving Zack’s latest CD, I began to tinker with a group of tunes that come from different\u00a0portions of my music “library”.\u00a0 My intention was to create a playlist that would\u00a0nudge Zack\u00a0a little further out\u00a0on the limb.\u00a0 A little bit of this, and a little bit of that.\u00a0 The sequence of the music is for the most part arbitrary… I fiddled with placing Mozart’s\u00a0No. 25 lower down in the order; but\u00a0I gave up trying to move it, and kept it in the four slot.<\/p>\n

1. “Take Five” Dave\u00a0Brubeck.\u00a0<\/span>I am not a huge jazz fan.\u00a0 But “Take Five” is something I could listen to every day and not tire of it.\u00a0 There is a soothing quality to it… pretty sax, and real good drums.<\/p>\n

2. “Orchestral Suite No. 2 -Minuet & Badinerie” by J. S. Bach.\u00a0<\/span>Bach was my first Classical love.\u00a0 Brandenburg No. 5 remains an all time favorite of mine.\u00a0 I became a fan on hearing Prof. Hugh Alan Wilson play an excerpt of\u00a0No. 5\u00a0on his harpsichord.\u00a0 This selection is from a collection of Orchestral Suites… it was my first stop after exhausting my Brandenburg Concerto CDs.<\/p>\n

3. “Theme From Schindler’s List” by Itzhak Perlman.\u00a0<\/span>There are any number of movie themes that I have loved… the theme from “Sophie’s Choice” also comes to mind.\u00a0 Maybe for the same reason, both have an inherent sadness.\u00a0 Perlman’s violin is superb here.<\/p>\n

4. “I. Allegro con brio. Symphony No. 25 G Minor, K183” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.\u00a0<\/span>After Bach, I found Mozart. Maybe seeing the movie “Amadeus” helped.\u00a0\u00a0But even before the movie I had taken to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik<\/em>.\u00a0 However, the movie introduced me to this piece,\u00a0included here in its\u00a0complete segment.\u00a0 It’s now my favorite Mozart selection.<\/p>\n

5. “Meadowlands”\u00a0by The Red Army Chorus.\u00a0<\/span>From my Russia days.\u00a0 This starts out on a real quiet note, barely audible… then it steamrolls.\u00a0 The Red Army Chorus?\u00a0 I wonder what they are called today?\u00a0 This version is shorter than I like; but I still think it musically portrays the expanse of the Russian steppe.<\/p>\n

6. “David’s Jig” by Natalie MacMaster.\u00a0<\/span>MacMaster is my favorite fiddle player.\u00a0 I have recently taken to traditional Celtic. This a great piece which includes an interlude where she drops\u00a0the fiddle to\u00a0her side and steps to the drums and guitar.<\/p>\n

7. “Kwazulu (in the Land of Zulu)” Miriam Makeba.\u00a0<\/span>My parents took me to the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford to see Harry Belafonte.\u00a0 Great concert, and also appearing was Miriam Makeba.\u00a0 She performed this song, and a couple of others.\u00a0 She was incredible, even to a little kid like me.<\/p>\n

8. “One For My Baby” by Frank Sinatra.\u00a0<\/span>From the “Chairman of the Board”.\u00a0 Maybe not my favorite Sinatra tune; but it certainly carries\u00a0the atmosphere of my days tending bar and the melancholy air of a late night.\u00a0 I have been on both sides of the bar for that.<\/p>\n

9. “Camelot” by Richard Burton.\u00a0<\/span>Richard Burton had such a great speaking voice.\u00a0 Who would have thought that he could project as well in song.\u00a0 But he does.\u00a0 And Camelot<\/em>… I still remember when that was the term that was attached to the JFK years… to optimism, chivalry\u00a0and a youthful outlook. Very seductive sentiments.<\/p>\n

10. “Canon in D” by Johann Pachelbel.\u00a0<\/span>I can’t think of a more calming piece of music.\u00a0\u00a0Nor can I\u00a0count the number of times from my days at the Inn at Longshore, when I heard this on the harp being played before a wedding.\u00a0 I have also enjoyed the more contemporary versions done on YouTube with electric guitar.\u00a0 But for me, it’s still a version like this that is supreme.<\/p>\n

11. “Autumn Leaves” by Nat King Cole.\u00a0<\/span>What a set of “pipes”.\u00a0 I even love his Christmas songs.\u00a0\u00a0What is it\u00a0about French?\u00a0 There are certain tunes that just seem better<\/em> in that language, the poetry<\/em> better.\u00a0 This is the first time I came across the song\u00a0done in French.\u00a0 Just great Nat King Cole.<\/p>\n

12. “Brother Can You Spare A Dime” by Spanky & Our Gang.\u00a0<\/span>I had this album on vinyl in my Union years.\u00a0 I took to this track immediately.\u00a0 Curious, a Depression Era song that seems to have returned to relevance. How sad is that? Once I built a tower to the sun, now it’s done… buddy can you spare a dime?<\/em><\/p>\n

13. “Gary Owen” by Celtic Travelers.\u00a0<\/span>This is the second of the traditional tunes included here.\u00a0 This is the marching song for George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry.\u00a0 I love this for its melody\u00a0and its connection to history.<\/p>\n

14. “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by The Andrews Sisters.\u00a0<\/span>The Andrew Sisters are soooo good.\u00a0 Great harmony and timing.\u00a0Patty vocal lead, LaVerne and Maxene… nobody could do it better.\u00a0 Although Bette Midler did an excellent cover of this song, double tracking herself on the harmonies. My first connection to this song was in Abbott and Costello’s movie “Buck Private.”<\/p>\n

15. “Concerto for Violin an Strings in F. minor, No.4, R.297 ‘L’inverno’ 3. Allegro” by Vivaldi.\u00a0<\/span>This is from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons<\/em>… which maybe my favorite piece of music. Period. I love the pace and the urgency of the strings here. I have a DVD of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performing the Four Seasons<\/em>, and on many a day I have retreated to the den and submerged myself into sound and sight.<\/p>\n

16. “Con Te Patiro” by Andrea Bocelli.\u00a0<\/span>I have to believe that Bocelli draws on his blindness to create a depth in his singing… an emotional level that comes from a focus without the distraction that sight would impose.\u00a0 I have a version of this song in English.\u00a0 Also very good.<\/p>\n

17. “Pass Me By” by Peggy Lee.\u00a0<\/span>I had completely forgotten about this tune; but came across it when I recently watched the DVD\u00a0Father Goose, <\/em>a light comedy starring Cary Grant and Leslie Caron.\u00a0 I saw that film when it was released in 1964.\u00a0 My Father took me to Radio City Music Hall to see it.<\/p>\n

18. “I Remember It Well”\u00a0by Maurice Chevalier\u00a0& Hermione Gingold.\u00a0<\/span>Like Camelot, Gigi<\/em> was a musical that I did not see on stage… and I only recently saw the DVD.\u00a0 Great Lerner and Loewe collaboration on the music.\u00a0 And Chevalier and Gingold handle the timing in this song brilliantly.\u00a0 I love this song… the irony of faded recollections that can still retain a vivid warmth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zack and I have been trading playlists for a bit.\u00a0 We both love music.\u00a0 And I am impressed with his devotion to current music and\u00a0his interest in\u00a0music from “my” era.\u00a0 Still, there seemed to be something missing in our exchanges.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4320,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions\/4320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}