Tag Archives: music

Get Your Plane Right On Time

22 Thursday Aug 2019

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It’s not enough that Josh Turner plays perfect guitar and the best Paul Simon covers you’ll ever hear, but the freakin’ guy actually does the Artie Garfunkel part for “Only Living Boy In New York” as well. Just amazing.

The reverb is courtesy of a tunnel in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. And stay tuned for the announcement after the song. Wish I could hop on a plane.

More at Josh Turner Guitar

Pretty Little Angel Eyes

19 Monday Aug 2019

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It’s Monday morning, summer of 1961, Evergreen Avenue in Bradley Beach, New Jersey to be exact, and the kid across the street has hauled out his record player to the front porch and is playing Curtis Lee’s “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” over and over, far into the night, the fireflies flashing in syncopated time, stopped only by the sound of the approaching ice cream truck …

Thanks to YouTuber brianfromLI

Fool’s Gold

26 Friday Jul 2019

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The great and idiosyncratic Anthony Newley, singing, in costume, the song from Stop The World, I Want To Get Off! that had him laughing all the way to the bank.

Thanks to YouTuber Anthonay Newley

No Wonder My Happy Heart Sings

22 Monday Jul 2019

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As everyone knows, the major means of transportation in NYC is the hansom cab. Failing that, Monday morning, Bobby Rydell will fly. He had just turned eighteen in this clip, at a time when it seemed all the tv comedians were Jewish, and all the singers were Italian.

Thanks to YouTuber NRRArchives

Jazz and Self-Determination

16 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Photo by Lucas Allmann on Pexels.com

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These are some excerpts broadcast today on Arts Express from a fascinating panel called “Jazz and Self Determination” at this year’s Left Forum. The speakers you’ll hear in order are Jeremiah Hosea, Ras Moshe Burnett, Ahmed Abdullah, Greg Tate, and moderator Althea Sully Cole. Listen as they grapple with what self-determination means to a jazz musician both personally and creatively.

 

That Business Called Show

15 Monday Jul 2019

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Monday morning, Miss Merman doing what she did best.

Years ago, I was visiting someone in Roosevelt hospital in NYC, and to my surprise, there was Ethel, unpretentiously doing volunteer clerk work.

Thanks to YouTuber Alan Eichler

Heaven’s Door

08 Monday Jul 2019

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I’ve posted a great Dylan version of this song on the blog previously, but Monday morning I’m posting this one too, because it’s very good, and we’re all looking over our shoulders these days.

More at Josh Turner Guitar

All The Things You Are: Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald

01 Monday Jul 2019

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Monday morning, we go legit. If you follow my blog regularly, you might know that this is one of my favorite jazz standards (see here and here and here for other versions). But it was originally written for a Broadway play for two duets with a lush orchestra. Here are  two wonderful legit singers, Norm Lewis and the extraordinary Audra McDonald, with their heavenly version.

Thanks to YouTuber Kylie Briggs

Our Individual and Collective Identities: Music And Why You Like It, Part Two

23 Sunday Jun 2019

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A continuing conversation with composer and musicologist Nolan Gasser, author of Why You Like It: The Science And Culture Of Musical Taste. In part two of our interview with Gasser, we track down the connections of music to emotions, economics, class, politics, and psychology.

To hear part two of the interview, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program,  click on the grey triangle above.

You can listen to Part One of the interview here.

“I Like To-may-to, You Like To-mah-to”: Why You Like It, Part One

16 Sunday Jun 2019

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Why does one person enjoy listening to Mozart while another likes Taylor Swift and still another enjoys Kendrick Lamar? Nolan Gasser set out to uncover the roots of musical taste and ended up with a wide-ranging book about music, its origins, its structure, but above all else about Why You Like It.

Gasser, the author of Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste, talks with us about his Music Genome project for Pandora, and his explorations into the secrets of musical preferences.

You can hear part one of the interview I conducted, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI 99.5 FM NYC, by clicking on the grey triangle above.

You can listen to Part Two by clicking here.

Murder In My Heart For The Judge: Nellie McKay

06 Thursday Jun 2019

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Nellie McKay‘s version of the Moby Grape song. And dig the great Betty Boop cartoon to which she set it.

A week observing immigration court will have you singing this too.

More at Nellie McKay