Hello folks,

My inspiration for a post this week is at an all-time-low so please enjoy this cut instead.

This tune is called “Revised Music For Low Budget Jazz Quartet” by guitarist/composer David White. Dave will correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this tune was inspired by a Paul Hindemith composition and weaves in and out of the classical and jazz genres. I think it may fairly be described as “third stream” music proposed by Gunther Schuller back in the 50s. The “Low Budget Jazz 4-tet” in question is Big Neighborhood featuring David on guitar, Phil Parisot on Drums, Doug Miller on Bass, and myself on alto sax. We recorded this album back in 2005 and released on Origin Records.

The jazz improvising in this tune begins about 3 minutes in and is worth the wait. I’m really pleased with the way the bass and guitar solos came out, and even pleased with my own solo (which doesn’t happen often). Phil gets some drum space at the end to play us out in a modern sounding extended tag. If you like it, the disc and mp3s are still available on the Origin Records website or on iTunes.

Hearing it again brings me back to the many rehearsals it took to pull together Dave’s and Doug’s highly contrapuntal music in the often non-standard forms and time signatures those guys used so much. Thanks for dropping by.

Welcome to our new international guests and my apologies for boring you with yet more on the U.S. election.  I can’t resist updating my earlier post on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), our modest source of government sponsored arts funding now that our election is decided. The NEA has been a loved target and scapegoat for conservatives for decades. The Heritage Foundation claims that “The NEA Will Continue to Fund Pornography” and “The NEA Is Welfare for Cultural Elitists” in their ten good reasons to defund the NEA. Additionally, they point to it as if it were (like the freeloading 47% of Americans) a huge financial burden that, if eliminated, would solve our fiscal problems. (The NEA’s annual budget is actually 0.0000091% of the national debt….Really!)

I am personally indebted to the NEA because, in spite of their committment to pornography and elitism, they saw fit to award me a grant to study with David Murray back in 1986, an opportunity for which I will always be grateful. This modest sum (and I mean modest) helped finance my move to New York, allowing me to hang with David and sit-in with some of his regular bands. Back then his big band and octet performed regularly at Sweet Basil and I would often fill-in at rehearsals for the frequently absent John Purcell.

My point here is to contextualize our priorities here in the US by comparing the annual NEA budget with the total spending by the combined campaigns for the Presidential election…and… the FINAL (estimated) NUMBERS ARE IN!

The projected total spending to “influence” the 2012 election according to OpenSecrets.org is $5.8 billion up from $5.2 billion in 2008. The entire 2012 NEA budget weighs in at a fraction of this sum: 146.2 million down from 155 million in 2011. We see that even under a Democratic PREZ, life isn’t great for the arts, but I think we can safely say that the institution itself will survive. You will remember Governor Romney’s rule of thumb for prioritizing budget items from the first debate: “Is the program so critical, it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? If not I’ll get rid of it.”

So in answer to the Governor’s now moot hypothetical question, Jazzdinosaur’s in-house amateur economist says, “YES, at these prices, it is worth borrowing from China to fund the arts! The US Government’s 5 year borrowing cost is .65%. Since September 2011, annual inflation has been 2%.
. The US Government is earning 1.35% on its investment in jazz, art, and elitist pornography.”

Use this link if my player doesn’t work for you:voltajazz_fintalabo

Not-nearly-famous-enough New York jazz tenor giant Rich Perry of Mel Lewis and Marie Schneider fame will be here in SEATTLE at Hiroshi’s this Friday, October 19th, and at Boxley’s on Saturday, October 20th. DO NOT MISS THIS CAT! I dropped in to Tula’s last night and the show was awesome. I used to enjoy Rich’s outstanding solo work back in New York in the late 80′s when we were section mates in various big bands.

Also, I will appear with the YOUNG LIZARDS this Thursday, October 18th at Boxley’s as we prepare to send-off Ty Bailie who is taking a breather from the crappy Pacific Northwest weather down in Los Angeles. Come hear tunes from our impending cd release (title and details TBD).

Speaking of “Rich” it looks like the lawyers pulled the repost I did of the Steve Marcus/Buddy Rich Youtube video on my earlier post. Here’s a replacement video of Steve on tenor blowing a great solo on a tune based on the chord changes from “Cherokee”. Fantastic player. I would see Steve on a gig from time to time in New York back in the 80s. I learned of his death a little while ago. His obituary is here.

SALES DATE PARTNER ARTIST ALBUM SONG PAYABLE
Apr 15, 2012 Spotify Chris Fagan Lost Bohemia Blues Caricature $0.00470000
Apr 15, 2012 Spotify Chris Fagan Lost Bohemia Blues With a Rub $0.00470000
Apr 15, 2012 Spotify Chris Fagan Lost Bohemia Mob Rule $0.00470000
Apr 15, 2012 Spotify Chris Fagan Lost Bohemia O Cristo Carioca $0.00470000
Apr 15, 2012 Spotify Chris Fagan Signs of Life Whisper Not $0.01850000
Apr 15, 2012 Spotify Chris Fagan Signs of Life Whisper Not $0.02340000

ETC….

It was great to see those of you who attended the 9th Annual Ponyboy Records Jazz Picnic.  Hop on over to the Ponyboy Facebook Page and start bugging Greg to upload more pictures of the many Pacific Northwest jazz celebrities that performed at the event.  The event was an all-around success, although my wife was disappointed that there were no actual ponies at the event.  We did have tons of great music, no rain, and some actual early autumn…I won’t say warmth but…lack of coldness.  Also a special thank you goes to Valarmo’s Pizzeria for sponsoring our segment of the show!

The Lizards and I enjoyed our performance tremendously, in part because of the large appreciative audience, and in part because it gave us another chance to perform the new material we will record at Studio X later this month.

The Lizards were also pleased to have joining us, a robust horn section consisting of Mike West (ts), Greg Lyons (trp), and Mike Tooley (bone) on Greg’s arrangement of the the classic Wayne tune, Yes or No.

Stay tuned folks and I will try to point you to some pictures as of the show as they come out.

The Young Lizards

The Lizards will be performing live at Boxley’s Friday, August 17th at 7:00 pm. As usual, there is great food, drink, and company at Boxley’s. Cover charge is zero. Hope to see you there.