Today’s musician is singer/songwriter Helen Folasade Adu, better known to those enjoying 1980s smooth jazz, as Sade. Her first chart topper was Your Love is King, featuring saxophonist Stuart Matthewman. This image is a clip from the video for that…
Here we are, halfway through the 30 Day Music Challenge. And we come to one of the giants in Western music, Ludwig van Beethoven. I love the intensity of his music. There is so much passion and life and feeling…
He’s one of my favorite composers; Leonard Bernstein. West Side Story. Candide. 3 Symphonies. Choral works. And so many more. I invite you to visit Bernstein’s YouTube channel. You’ll find many videos of him discussing various composers and their works. Like…
Day 13 of the 30 Day Music Challenge is Beatles! My song choice is Here Comes The Sun.
The 30 Day Music Challenge gets personal with a request for each participant to compose on day 12. Compose Music for Music Challenge You can write music without knowing a stitch about notation or harmony or instruments. Here are some…
I love Swing music. Especially love Swing music played by a Big Band. I play tenor sax in a 19-piece big band in Portland, The Bureau of Standards Big Band. I get a kick out of playing these charts of…
Ear Worm. It’s the same ol’ song. Over and over again. It might be a song you like. It might be a song you don’t. Whichever it is, you can’t get rid of it. It’s an ear worm! A few…
Joan Baez is today’s musician in my 30 day music challenge. At age 72, she is still going strong as a performer. Her soaring soprano voice continues to inspire us. From the ’60s Vietnam War protests to today’s Occupy Wall…
You can interpret each day’s word any way you like in the 30 Day Music Challenge. The only “requirement” is to name a song that fits the word in some way. When I created the list, I was thinking about…
Day 7 of the 30 Day Music Challenge is Bebop! Every saxophonist alive today owes some debt to Charlie Parker, one of the original bebop artists and arguably one of the most innovative. I was attending Indiana State University when…
30 Day Music Challenge word of the day is waltz. One-two-three, one-two-three. Dance music. Strauss. Schubert. And Bill Evans! I love his jazz waltz, Waltz for Debby.
Da da dahh da dat da dat da daahhhda dat da dat da dahhh — Sousa-like intro to a March. #30DayMusic Day 5 is march. Instead of choosing a March as in piece of music or song, I chose to…