Ladies Home Journal 1921..."Does Jazz Put the Sin in Syncopation?"

Read this article HERE.  It was published in 1921 by Anne Shaw Faulkner, head of the Music Department of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in the Ladies Home Journal magazine.  It's fair to say that she wasn't a fan of the new music of the time - jazz.  Take this quote for example...

"But 'jazz' is an unmitigated cacophony, a combination of disagreeable sounds in complicated discords, a willful ugliness and a deliberate vulgarity."

A wee bit harsh, no?

You have been replaced...meet Jazzbot.

OK, so "Jazzbot" is not going to replace you anytime soon.  However, scientists in the Takanishi Lab in Japan are working on it.  That is right, "Jazzbot" is capable of learning to play hip little jazz lines.  Check it out HERE!  You better start practicing, Jazzbot is coming for you, and he/she is stainless steel baby!

Nintendo Jazz?

If you are worth your salt, you have checked out the classic Miles Davis album "Kind of Blue" by now.  If you haven't, there is no hope for you.  The end.  Only joking of course, but this post will be much more enjoyable if you are familiar with the original recording.  Check it out... type it in the google... it will come up in many ways.  (I like calling it "the google".  It's very 1975.)  Some guy with too much time on his hands duplicated the album note for note as an 8 bit recording.  This is the "So What" cut.  If you play video games more than you play jazz you'll still enjoy this one, but you should maybe take a break and practice once in a while.  I'm just sayin'.

Your Brain on Jazz.

"Scientists have discovered that when jazz musicians improvise, areas of their brains associated with inhibition quiet down, and those involved with self-expression heat up."

While this isn't a major shock to jazz musicians, the way this was discovered was quite interesting.  Check out how they put together the experiment HERE. and even better, check it out HERE, there are pictures and everything!

The Bloop!

Turn up your speakers and kick back as you take in the jazzness of the Bloop!  You see... even the earth (or whatever is living down there) wants to add some tensions in there. 
''The Bloop is the name given to an ultra-low frequency and extremely powerful underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) several times during 1997. According to the NOAA description, it "rises rapidly in frequency over about one minute and was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on multiple sensors, at a range of over 5,000 km. The source of the sound remains unknown...''

''Scientists determined that its wave pattern indicates it was made by an animal, and not a giant electromagnet sucking a plane out of the sky, as the creators of Lost were no doubt hoping.''

''While the audio profile of the bloop does resemble that of a living creature, the system identified it as unknown because it was far too loud for that to have been the case: it was several times louder than the loudest known biological sound.''

''There is no animal big enough or loud enough to make that kind of noise, not by a long shot. Not a blue whale, not a howler monkey, not a startled teenage girl.''

Cold Duck Time!

If you're thinking about those long necked orange things hanging in the windows in Chinatown, erase that thought.  This is the Eddie Harris jazz classic "Cold Duck Time."  Lets start with a video of some guy's hands (the hands belong to the oddly named Volvoxburger) doing their funky best to duplicate the legendary pianist Les McCann . There is a transcription of what Volvoxburger's hands are doing if you click HERE.

Next dig some Les McCann and Eddie Harris doing what they do best live.  Mr. Holober recommends this one, and that's about as good a recommendation as you are going to get.