Music Monday: Sketches of Spain By Miles Davis

Miles Davis, one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century (if not the greatest artist of the 20th Century) was always on the cutting edge. Between 1950 and 1975, Miles Davis defined the directions of jazz and yes, even rock music. Unlike many, he didn't just bust out a great album every couple years or so, he recorded multiple masterpieces every year of his career. 1959 was one of those years. He dropped two of the greatest jazz recordings in history, Kind of Blue, the definitive jazz ensemble album and Sketches of Spain, a work that seamlessly combines classical and jazz music. Miles had been recording with collaborator, Gil Evans off and on for ten years at the time of Sketches of Spain. Every time these two geniuses unite, something magical and innovative happens. Their first work, The Birth of Cool, was simply put, the birth of cool. Sketches of Spain fuses the tight compositions of classical with the looseness of jazz in a way that had never been done before and has never been done again.

It opens with Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)" a soothing yet intensely gorgeous work which shows off the great power of their jazz orchestra and Gil Evan's arranging. Evans had the great challenge of getting an orchestra to play a classical piece with a jazz feel and he succeeded well. Even without Miles Davis's haunting signature tone, the arrangements alone would leave this as a great work. The true star of record is still Miles Davis. Sketches of Spain features some of the most beautiful playing of his career. From the crying lament for a lost lover on "Saeta" to the charging flamenco of "Solea" Miles shows just how diverse and versitile he can be. This is an essential album for both jazz and classical lovers. Very few artist have ever produced a piece of this quality and it is truly scary think that Sketches of Spain may be only the second best album he recorded that year.

Music Mondays: Omnio by In The Woods...

I've decided that I need assignments to keep blogging on a regular basis. So, I am introducing music mondays. I'd like to improve my journalism skills a bit, so this is an exercise in objective reviewing of music. Every Monday, I will review a CD that I particularly like as a chance to practice this type of writing and let you the readers see into my expansive musical tastes. Also, as a companion, I will be doing Film Fridays and maybe a book day as well. So, I will start with a random bit of obscurity from my collection to kick off Music Monday (yes, I know that today is in fact Tuesday...shut up.)

In the Woods... - Omnio
Omnio, the second album by Norway's enigmatic In the Woods... stands as one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Released in 1997, predating both Lacuna Coil and Evenescence, it was one of first albums to mix gothic metal and the lush female operatic vocals that became so popular around 2000. The album is a bit of an anomaly, In the Woods... started as a black metal band and Omnio in some ways can be considered a black metal album. No, there is no screaming or distant symphonic guitars of the genre, but it still has a black metal edge.

This also is may be one of the most pretentious albums of all time. Mixing together the beautiful, atmospheric prog rock of Pink Floyd with the crunching guitars of black metal, this is the epitome of epic. The 15 minute first track "299.796 Km/s" opens with a lovely string quartet section, eventually adding harmonizing guitars, sweet harmonizing male and female vocals. Drifting in and out of textured prog and pounding metal, it is a dizzying listen that sets the tone for this five song album. It is not for everyone; metal fans may be offput by the non-metalness of it all and prog fans may find the Black Metal edge a bit too harsh, and everyone will find it to be stupidly artsy. That said, it cannot be denied that this is a gorgeous gothic masterpiece that can be at least respected by all. A must for fans of Evenescene, Lacuna Coil, Pink Floyd, or Emperor. Take the time to hunt down this hard to find gem in the metal section of your local record store.

Perfect Day

One thing that I love about perfect days is the forms such a thing can take. This varies from person to person and within each person, there are variations based on times and mood. Today, I had my personal favorite variety of a perfect day: the productive day.

I awoke at 10AM (hey, I worked until two in the morning last night!). The air of my bedroom was chilly, but not frigid. After turning off my alarm clock, I reached six inches to the left and grabbed my book. I sat in bed and read a chapter, enjoying the warmth of my three quilt cocoon. I couldn't justify sitting in bed too long, I had a list of things to do!

I followed a set of push ups with a cup of ultra strong coffee and a banana. I didn't dilly dally too long though; my laundry beckoned! Starting some washing was not my only required task for the day. There was a big bowl of chopped apples and pears, floating in a pool of lemon water, just waiting to be turned into chutney. With Dvorak's Fourth symphony, I made up a chutney recipe based on what I though chutney was supposed to taste like. Basically, I mixed my fruit with cider vinegar and brown sugar, then added not-so-random vegetables and seasonings. It smelled good at least.

With the chutney simmering, the steam did two amazing things to my house. It raised the temperature of house by twenty degrees (who says one can't live comfortably with a broken furnace) and it made the whole house smell like India...or rather Indian cooking, not fecal matter. I did a long workout then followed it with an hour of yoga and some meditation.

I then continued the meditation by cleaning the bathroom, emptying the litter box, and vacuuming the house. By this point, the random fruit and veggies had become chutney-like. I switched to Dvorak's First Symphony and start canning. This did not take long.

Now, I am sitting back, doing yet another meditative act, writing, listening to Frank Zappa with pfft of each jar sealing in the background. Life is good, especially when things get done.

At Home in the Dome

Yesterday, the Twins finished playing one of the greatest games of baseball I've ever seen, to finish an unlikely run for the playoffs again. They forced at least one more game in their lemon of a stadium, the HHH Metrodome, after already extending their by one. No matter how much we hate that place, it, much like theTtwins just refuses to die.

It is hard not to get nostalgic about the old clunker. As a child, I loved visiting the dome and its vast domeness. It may be ugly, but it is an awe inspiring place. It may cause neck cramps from turning sideways in right field, but you can't help but love it. This is a popular blog topic, looking back at fond memories, but that is really all we can do. We can't just look at the dome and say "wow, what a charming place!" like Cubs fans can about Wrigley or Red Sox fans can about Fenway. All we can do it look at the great things we've seen in the dome.

One cannot deny that some of the best baseball ever played happened in the dome. Look at all the classic Dome moments in the 1991 World Series (aka Greatest World Series Ever): seeing the short and stalky Kirby Puckett jump 15 ft in the air the steal a home run, only to step up to bat later and hit one of the greatest walk off home runs of all time. Then the next day, seeing Jack Morris do the unthinkable, pitch a ten inning complete game shut out in Game Seven, I repeat, Game Seven of the world series. I need not mention last night's game, an instant baseball classic, the type of nailbiter that only seems to happen at the dome.

It isn't just the obvious big moments. Who doesn't love it when an opponent loses a ball in the ceiling or misplays a ball as the Murphy's Law of Astroturf changes the bounce. The noise. Who doesn't love the sheer noise of the place when packed to the rafters...or er teflon during playoff games. I'll never forget Game 3 of the 2002 Divisional Series, when the the deafening roar flustered Barry Zito so much, he threw the halfway between home and first base. That only made us louder.

The last eight years have been especially fun, we've had some great teams that seem to do unlikely, amazing things every season, this one being no exception. Since moving to Minneapolis, I've never been further than a half an hour bus ride from the dome. I took well advantage of that, randomly hitting up baseball games on my way home from work or on a boring Sunday afternoon. It seems as if the dome conjures up exciting baseball, to make up for all of its many shortcomings. Such wacky baseball could only come from a wacky stadium like the dome. I'm looking forward to outdoor Twins baseball , but it is hard to separate the team from the dome. The Twins have always seemed at home there.

My First Date

On Friday, I had my first ever first date. It was a bit different than my expectations though. The woman of interest was Cailin, one of my oldest friends. A little over five years ago, we'd been on the verge of dating, one could even say we platonically dated. In the end, we chose to see other people and I began my relationship with Manda. I've been basically in relationships since, but this romantic tension never completely went away and our friendship suffered. After my return from Australia, we found ourselves both single again and our feelings for each other resurfaced. Unlike the past however, we were both older, more mature and able to talk about it in a healthy rational way. After much discussion, we decided to giving dating a shot.

It excited me to begin a dating relationship with a date, the only problem was finding a way to have a successful first date with a person I've been friends with for seven years, a person I've shared dinner with countless times. I figured I'd go all out. I made a r eservation for a trendy, four star French fusion place downtown. On the day of planning, I received an email from my friend Osmo Vanska (our "friendship" is based on my love for his conducting and interpretation of great symphonic works) offering discount tickets to see the beautiful Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto performed by the fantastic Minnesota Orchestra. My date was set!

The dinner went very well. The food was fantastic and restaurant had a great atmosphere. Due to a concert and a Twins game, finding parking was problem and road construction forced us to walk six blocks to get to the restaurant only two blocks away. At certain points in our dinner, I'd look across the table and think to myself, "dang, my date sure looks good tonight," only to realize that I was thinking this about one of my best friends.

We joined Manda and her beau Dana for the show. It was admittedly awkward to double date with an ex-girlfriend on a first date, but the music erased all this. They opened with Sigfried Idyll by Wagner, an uncharacteristic vocal-less piece that was surprisingly subdued for Wagner. It lacked much of the bombastic epicocity of his typical work, but still had the swirling, water-like quality I've always loved about Wagner. Next was the 1st Piano Concerto, which, although not the best I've heard (this honor goes to Van Cliburn's definitive 1958 recording) was still fantastic. Music director Osmo Vanska has a knack for pushing through the themes we already know and love and making us focus of the ones that often get lost in the mix. The soloist Stephen Hough was incredibly virtuosic, not missing a note of the often dizzying crescendos. He lack a certain type of feeling I crave in such an emotional piece, but he handled the work well. The performance was recorded for an upcoming complete Tchaikovsky Piano and Orchestra box set the Minnesota Orchestra plans to release sometime. For fans of Tchaikovsky, hunt this down upon release. Recently, the Minnesota Orchestra released a fantastic new recording of Beethoven's Symphony Cycle that is also worth owning. Their 9th is the best I've ever heard of such an overdone symphony. I feel so honored to have an internationally renounced music director and symphony orchestra only miles from my house. They did an encore of the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Second Piano concerto, a work I've not heard but was well played. The night ended with The Miraculous Mandarin by Bela Bartok. I'm not a huge fan of Bartok or work from this period in general. It did not completely hold my attention, but there were some sections with Stravinsky-like rhythms that I really enjoyed. Overall, the concert was fantastic.

I have to say that this was a great night overall and I was happy to share it with such great company. No, it wasn't my first date ever, but it was the first time I dated somebody that I wasn't already my girlfriend. The night did a fantastic job at setting the tone for an exciting new relationship. Yay dating.