SchoenPod

 It has been customary for me to give out some holiday CD’s during the December SchoenPod, and I will continue that tradition with a few Christmas hits that you should look for in your stockings this year.

First off, Wynton Marsalis sounds good doing any type of music. One of the places he shines most is playing melodies, and Christmas songs are full of great melodies. Two years ago, he released a CD called Christmas Jazz Jam, and it features so much joy and fun that you won’t mind it if it acidentally pops up in your ITunes in July. A quick check on Amazon has this CD sold brand new for $7.99, a bargain considering I listened to this CD about every day last December.

Next, Ella Fitzgerald has one of the most unmistakable voices in music history…when she sings a note, you know exactly who it is. Pairing her voice with the holidays just makes sense. Her soulful ballads and range of emotion are hard to fathom, and this swinging Xmas album would make a great introduction to jazz for someone who is just not sure about giving it a try. Brand new on Amazon for $8.92!!

Lastly, “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” is one of the most familiar Christmas songs we have. So many great artists have covered this song, but I always come back to the original recording by Nat King Cole. the song was written by the great Mel Torme, but Cole was the one who recorded it first, and for money, the best. He made many recordings of the tune, but look for the one made in 1946…that’s his first. At 99 cents on ITunes, you’ll download your way into a piece of Christmas history.

 September happened to be Schoenbach Appreciation Month, as my birthday was on the 22nd. (If you were one of the people that forgot to get me anything, I do accept late gifts.) Anyhoo, one of the gifts I got was the CD/DVD set of a great concert: Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton together, playing the blues!! What an exhibition of greasy, stanky, and juicy playing by an extremely talented group of musicians. Blues is normally thought of as a simplistic music, but in the hands of Marsalis, it becomes complex in almost a dixeland kind of way. Clapton sounds right at home in this jazzy side of the blues, and his voice has all the gristle that you’d want from an old bluesman. All in all, a terrific CD that will get you moving for sure!!!

THE SCHOENPOD

Art Blakey

It’s April, which means it’s Jazz Appreciation Month. Enjoy some serious swing!!!

I have been on a serious Art Blakey kick lately. Art Blakey was one of the most accomplished and baddest drummers around, and for many years, he led a group called The Jazz Messengers. This group would often feature the hottest instrumentalists around, who used this as a step to get to greatness themselves. Blakey’s groups were almost trumpet factories, because many great, historically great, trumpeters started their pro careers with him, like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Wynton Marsalis. My favorite album of the Messengers is “Night at Birdland” from 1954, featuring a young Clifford Brown on trumpet, and Lou Donaldson on alto sax. Clifford has long been one of my favorites, and on this album, you hear why his career as a sideman was so short, and why people like Miles Davis wanted to see him in concert. Donaldson’s sax playing is incredible, especially for someone who is usually an afterthought when you think of the great sax players of the 50′s. And Blakey punishes those skins, superimposing latin and swing at the same time, and doing it with ease. It’s rare to find a drummer that can create a story with a solo, but he can.

My wife’s favorite jazz artist is Thelonius Monk. He is a little more off the beaten path for most jazz fans…maybe that’s why she likes him. He was quite a prankster in real life, and this joy and quirkiness comes across in most of his music. He had many great songs that were covered by many artists, and his tunes are often credited for changing the way players played during his life. My favorite track is “Well, You Needn’t”, of which you can find dozens of recordings on ITunes to get a sense of the type of playing Thelonius did. I would recommend something live, so you hear the ebbs and flows of his solos and the band’s reactions to them. A great 99 cents to spend!!!
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Thelonius Monk

THE SCHOENPOD

By Mr. Kevin Schoenbach, Band Director

On my wife and I’s first trip to New Orleans, we were walking down the street and heard some amazing jazz, which is not uncommon. But this was REALLY good, and the crowd began to grow. The name of the group was the Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band, and the album we purchased was called “Shrimp Creole”. Be ready for screaming trumpet, greasy trombone, and a singer who packs more soul into her sub-five foot frame then most anyone. Their music is available on ITunes.

Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield had a jazz club in our hotel, and we were able to see him play twice while down there. The performance we enjoyed the most was just him and a piano player in a huge cathedral, playing mainly ballads. He has a CD out with just him and one of the elder statesmen of jazz, Ellis Marsalis, and this will move you beyond words.

THE SCHOENPOD

By Mr. Kevin Schoenbach, Band Director ThE ScHoEnPoD John Coltrane has long been one of my biggest inspirations…his album “Blue Train” was the one that first got me so into jazz in the first place. Before he was considered one of the most influential figures in jazz, like most great jazzers, he was a sideman. Sidemen would wait for calls by bandleaders to fill out their bands, play a few solos, and compliment the bigger artists. Coltrane’s career as a sideman lasted only a couple years, mainly because he was just so good that every time he played, he was the best person there, often unintentionally upstaging the more famous artists. It became clear he was destined for stardom. There is a boxset I checked out from the library called “Side Steps” that comes with five discs, and chronicles Coltrane’s career as a sideman. While the boxset and the price may set you back a few bucks, you can start small on iTunes with the track “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” on an album by the pianist Elmo Hope. Listening to this, you can see why Coltrane steals the show…greatness is just so natural for him. It is a great track to put on while having a romantic dinner or relaxing by the fire, and would be a great springboard to buying a few more tracks off this amazing box set.

 

THE SCHOENPOD By Mr. Kevin Schoenbach, Band Director ThE ScHoEnPoD   Up for three Grammys this year, Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs have a great blues/rock album called God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise. LaMontagne’s voice is haunting, and you feel the soul of this man with every word he belts. The instruments accompany him beautifully…listen especially for the dobro (slide guitar) and piano work. My favorite song is track one, called “Repo Man”…there is a great funky guitar riff that I had to pick up my guitar and learn as soon as I heard it. Another Grammy nominee is Florence and the Machine, an electro-rock group from England. I happened to catch a live concert of theirs from the Isle of Wight Festival, and I was both impressed and weirded out…Florence is one weird girl. Her music, however, will make your head shake. A favorite song of mine is her cover of the 80′s hit “Addicted to Love“. It is very sultry, and does the original justice .   THE SCHOENPOD

By Mr. Kevin Schoenbach, Band Director ThE ScHoEnPoD A couple years back, there was a short-lived TV show on NBC called “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip“. It was a show about the making of a Saturday Night Live type show, but that’s neither here nor there. The music recommendation comes from their Christmas episode, in which they had some displaced New Orleans musicians play an arrangement of the traditional carol “O Holy Night.” It was, in a word, amazing. The beautiful harmonies arranged by composer W. Snuffy Walden brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard them, and I spent the next week feverishly trying to find a way to get my hands on the song. On ITunes, you can search “Walden Holy Night” and you should get it. Be ready to find a new favorite holiday recording!!!! Staying in the jazz idiom, jazz vocalist extraordinaire Diana Krall has some great Christmas stuff out. She was up for Grammy as best album of the year three years ago, so her music is very accessible to even people not enthralled with jazz. Her album “Christmas Songs” is outstanding…great, simple arrangements, often with just her and a rhythm section. She let’s the melody and her pure voice speak for themselves. Great collection of holiday music!

By Mr. Kevin Schoenbach

 

THE SCHOENPOD

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!! By Mr. Kevin Schoenbach, Band DirectorThE ScHoEnPoD I recently had the fantastic opportunity to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the CSO conducting debut of Ricardo Muti, their new music director. It was an amazing and historic performance, culminating in fireworks and Muti speaking to the crowd. They closed up their concert with one of my favorite pieces, “The Pines of Rome” by Ottorino Respighi. This is a four movement work with something for everyone, but the highlight for me is the fourth movement. If you like power and joy both smashed into one, this is the piece for you. (it has brought me to tears more then once) At the concert, they had to bring out 12 extra brass players just to accomplish the loudness required of it. There are several excellent recordings out there, but why not go with the world’s best orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The entire piece is well worth a listen, but if you only want to spend 99 cents, go with the fourth movement. As far as rock music goes, I went to Lollapalooza this summer, and one of the best live shows I have ever seen belonged to the Arcade Fire. They are a huge seven piece band from Canada, and when they tour, they add several members. You are libel to see several unusual rock instruments at their shows, like french horn, hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, all the orchestra instruments, accordion, and all the mallet instruments. Their latest CD, “The Suburbs” is getting rave reviews, but my favorite song of theirs is ” Wake Up”, from their album Funeral. If you ever saw previews for the movie “Where the Wild Things Are“, you heard this song, and it undoubtedly will make you smile. Check it out!!!

Miles Davis

 

May Artist:

 

 

Miles Davis

 

 

 

 

I was reminded recently about the greatness the most sold record in jazz history, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. The album features the quintessential frontline of Davis on trumpet, Cannonball Adderley on the alto sax, and tenor sax legend John Coltrane. The horn players have such a different way of approaching improvisation, and the differences blend perfectly to form a record that every music lover should own. Miles Davis is in the thick of his cool jazz phase, and plays very simply and beautifully, aided by his trademark harmon mute. Cannonball plays much more bluesy with fast phrases, and Coltrane shows his dominance of the chords by flying through them with reckless abandon.

This album is great for people just getting into jazz, a candlelight dinner, or a high school jazz musician looking for different styles of soloing to listen to.

 

April Artists:

 

Jazz Appreciation Month

 

Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Jazz Band

 

 

Let’s get back to jazz this month, especially since April is Jazz Appreciation Month. In honor of the event, I have two recordings for you to check out. The first one is a newer one, and it is by Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Jazz Band. The band is comprised of some of the best studio players that L.A. has to offer. Goodwin writes with his players in mind, and his arrangements and compositions reflect the talent he has in his band. My favorite Big Phat Jazz CD is called Phat Pack, and it features songs not for the faint of heart…no slow dinner music here, just songs that will sonically knock you on your butt!!! Favorites on this CD are “Cut n’ Run”, “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”, and a great version of “Play That Funky Music White Boy”.

Dave Brubeck

The second CD is completely different, and definitely would do well for a candlelight dinner or a lazy night on the couch. It is by the artist selected as the 2010 Jazz Appreciation Month Artist, Dave Brubeck. This name should be familiar to a lot of music fans, and he is the writer of “Take 5″, one of the most famous compositions in history, and one of the only ones in quintuple meter. The CD is called Time Out, and it features Brubeck on piano, as well as Paul Desmond on saxophone, and there are few artists who play as smooth and with as much passion as Paul Desmond. Brubeck is known for being one of the pioneers of the cool jazz movement, and he wrote lots of music for the Charlie Brown series.

 

Last weekend, I saw a concert up in Milwaukee of a band called The Low Anthem. If I could describe them in two words, they would be “fantastically unusual.” Let’s talk about the instruments…a woman played clarinet very well, sang smoking high vocal harmony, played some guitar, crotales (basically a set of bells in the shape of discs instead of bars) and a bit of drums. Another guy sang, played an old school pump organ, and drums. Another guy played upright bass and accordion. And the last guy played guitar, drums, keyboards, clarinet, and soprano euphonium. The drumset had a concert bass drum as its focal point. It was very, very impressive to say the least. While most of their music is on the contemplative side, they did have some rocking bluesy numbers; check out “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around” if you want to see what I am talking about. Being able to play many instruments is something that us band directors are used to , but being able to play them well enough to perform on is another story. For something very different, give them a listen…they have 2 albums, both available on Itunes.

January’s Artists:

 

 

 

Anthony McGill

Gabriela Montero

Itzhak Perlman

Yo-Yo Ma

 

 

 

Were you one of the millions of people to watch Barack Obama get inaugurated almost exactly a year ago? If you did, you may remember a piece of music that happened a mere couple of minutes before this historic event took place. It was a musical collaboration between four of the most accomplished musicians in music today: clarinetist Anthony McGill, pianist Gabriela Montero, and tow household names in classical music, violinist Itzhak Perlman and cello player Yo-Yo Ma. When you couple these heavyweights with the fact that composer John Williams (composer many great movie soundtracks like Star Wars, Jaws, and Indiana Jones) arranged the piece, you have a song that will go down as one of the most beautiful pieces ever. The arrangement of two classics is called “Air and Simple Gifts“ and is well worth the 99 cents it will cost you on ITunes. Even if you are not a classical music lover, this piece is a must for IPod’s everywhere.