Organs. Noise. I failed an old friend.

Let's start with Organs. I've shared with you how much I love organ music in many of my previous posts. Charles Barnett, at the First United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, played a mean organ and it blew me away as a child. He is responsible for my primal love of organ music. Always Widor....some of you know what I mean by that. Hearing Widor's Toccata on a huge pipe organ turned up to 11 (Spinal Tap reference) had a profound effect on me.

Similarly, when I ventured out of the classical music listening realm in 1978, thanks to the Beatles, I eventually landed on Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. All three of these bands used organs in some of their songs. First to hit me was Us and Them from Pink Floyd's landmark album Dark Side of the Moon. Richard Wright was the keyboard player for Pink Floyd and he wrote the music for the song Us and Them. This is such a great song and I never seem to tire of it. You may know I am a runner. I don't listen to music anymore when I run, but I used too. I will never forget an early Fall evening in 1995...going out for a run with this song on my Sony Walkman...that's a cassette tape player. Remember those? I was running along 119th Street in Overland Park, KS, at dusk, working through many feelings when this song came on. The quiet organ intro caused me to stop in my tracks.

Though not a pipe organ...I think this is a Hammond....it still has a tone and timbre that connected with me just as the big pipe organ in church. I was thirty years old. Cheryl and I were beginning to try to have a baby. I had so much on my mind at that moment when this song started and when I heard this beautiful organ, I just had to STOP and listen. Funny how I still remember that moment. David Gilmore's guitar joins in along with bass and drums. This album is recorded so well...perfectly. Tight and sensuous.

A few years earlier, Led Zeppelin recorded their first album called..Led Zeppelin. It was 1968. Lurking behind the sonic vocals of Robert Plant, the power chords of Jimmy Page, and the manic drumming of John Bonham was John Paul Jones on bass, keyboards and many other instruments. Jones had formal music education as a child, singing in the choir and playing the organ at church, He used his organ talent to wonderful effect on the song Your Time is Going to Come.

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On the other side of music, for me at least, is nothing...Quiet. Quietness. I do listen to a a lot of music every day, but I also like to have quiet in my life as well. But it's not always such an easy thing to find these days. I feel like we are inundated with noise. TV is noisy. Movies are loud. And the outdoors in my neighborhood is a freaking zoo. Stepping outside for some peace and quiet is impossible. Leaf blowers, mowers, cars, airplanes, locusts, kids riding crotch rocket motor bikes, cars, dogs barking, sirens in the distance, kids yelling as they jump on trampolines, air conditioners, power washers, power tools....to name a few...make it impossible to have true quiet. It really sucks how noisy my world is. And also, when you go to a ballgame, you are constantly being asked to "make nose" or "get loud.". Bullshit! Stop it already. I will cheer, clap, and yell when I want to. You don't need to tell me to get loud every 2 minutes. And of course, every stadium/arena has 50 gazillion watts of sound system power blasting music between every play. I wear earplugs every time I go to  ballgame. And church for that matter. Yes, I have become a grumpy 54 year-old man.

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I failed a good friend last week. My acoustic guitar, a 1962 Gibson J-50, has been a trusty companion of mine for 24 years now. She was born three years before me. I was playing her on a recent Saturday evening outside on the patio while I was keeping an eye on our son's cat, Puma. Puma is an indoor cat who likes to go outside, but she can only go out if one of us is outside with her. So I take my guitar out to play while she enjoys her outside time. On this particular occasion, as a storm approached, I set my guitar down so I could go pick Puma up and bring her inside. But I forgot to go back and get my guitar. I closed the doors, turned off the lights and went to bed. The next morning, as I backed the car out of the garage on my way to church, I saw my guitar resting against the side of the house. My heart sank. It had been outside all night and we had a full night of torrential rain and thunderstorms. I approached her slowly, trying to pretend she was OK. But she was completely soaked and weighed a hundred pounds. I took her inside and dried her off with a towel and set her in the living room to dry. A week later, she was warped, buckled and cracked. But the strings didn't break, and to my profound surprise, a week after that, she was still playable. Playable in the sense that she still made a sound like a guitar. I have accepted the fact that it will never be the same. There is too much damage to repair. And I need to buy a new guitar. I am not heartbroken. It is a piece of wood. I am a blessed man. I have my health, as does my wife and my children. Life will go on. But I am sad that I didn't take better care of this piece of wood.

A time capsule from 1968, Georg Solti, Apollo 8.

I was in the mood for Bruckner last week, so I pulled this album out of my dad's collection. It's a double album set...the Bruckner 8th Symphony. I opened the album and it was like opening a time capsule. My dad had saved the receipt from Discount Records on 201 North LaSalle Street in Chicago, Illinois. It's dated 12/26/68. We moved to Chicago from Kansas City shortly after I was born in 1965. My dad loved Chicago. I think next to Paris it was his favorite city in the world. Nearest to his heart was the Chicago Symphony. Also saved in this record album was a full page from the December 17, 1968 edition of the Chicago Daily News. Specifically, the article about the selection of Georg Solti as the new Music Director of the Chicago Symphony.

On Wednesday, December 24, 1968, the world watched the broadcast of Apollo 8 circling the moon. The crew read from the Book of Genesis. I don't remember watching the broadcast, and neither does my mom. But she feels like we probably did.
The next day was Christmas Day, One of the gifts I received was a snow shovel, which on two separate occasion, I sliced my head on...both times requiring stitches to close. But that's another story..or two.

I assume my Dad got some money for Christmas because the next day we were on the way into the city (we lived in the South suburb of Park Forest) to buy records! I wish I could remember this particular trip but I don't. But he took me often, and I believe my grandfather, Jim, went with us too. He and my grandmother, Mary Quinn,  were in Chicago visiting us for Christmas in 1968.
Regardless, I still have the records he purchased on 12/26/68. The other one was the Bruckner 4th Symphony, Istvan Kertesz conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. And my, look at the prices...both records for $11.31.

Georg Soli did become the new Music Director and started his new post in early in 1969. He held this position until 1991. What a fabulous run.

KC VITAs, Dear Lord-John Coltrane, possessed...with sanity. Healing.

I went to see KC VITAs this afternoon at St. Peter's Catholic Church here in Kansas City. This was the second of their Summer Series 2019. Jackson Thomas is the Artistic Director of this very gifted choral ensemble whose mission is performing contemporary choral works by composers from all over the world...40 to date. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jackson a few years ago and have been a fan of his and this organization ever since. That Kansas City is home to such a cutting-edge and ground breaking ensemble is no surprise given his dedication to his art, as well as the talent and dedication of the singers who give their time and hearts to this endeavor. Today's program consisted of thirteen works which presented a wide range of polyphonic ideas and styles. I am not a choral music expert, but to my ears, these were innovative, dynamic and interesting works. They were:

The Prow by Matthew Lyon Hazzard of North Carolina (Regional Premiere)
Chasing Eclipses (from the Back of the Black) by L. V. Wood of Kansas (World Premiere)
When the Rain Comes by Bonnie McLarty of Kansas
Joy, Shipmate, Joy (from Voyaging) by Christian Guebert of California (Regional Premiere)
Translucence by Donna McKevitt of Great Britain (United States Premiere)
Sitivit anima mea by David Nunn of England (United States Premiere)
Wessobrunner gebert by Chris Williams of England ((World Premiere)
Hide and Seek (or a Life in Tow Minutes) by Francis Kayali of Illinois (World Premiere)
Telling the Bees by Philip W. Riegle of Illinois (World Premiere)
Lux Aeterna by Carlos Cordero of Venezuela (World Premiere)
Starlight by Austin Theriot of Nebraska
A Present from a Small Distant World by Alex Eddington of Canada (World Premiere)
I carry your heart with me by Jonathan Reid of Texas (World Premiere)

The performance was first rate. The accompanying pianist, Charles Dickinson, positioned right next to the group, gave the music its instrumental base with perfect balance and volume.

The sequencing was clearly thought out because the concert flowed effortlessly from one work to the next. Such pacing is important to both the performer and listener.

This concert...all of KC VITAs' concerts...are FREE to the public. Please consider making a donation so these concerts can continue to be free to all. Here is the KC VITAs website: https://www.kcvitas.org/

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July 17, 2019 marked the fifty-second anniversary of the passing of John Coltrane. Hands down, he is my favorite saxophone player of all time. Let me go even further than that....he is one of my favorite musicians of all time. He left us far too soon. But his musical legacy is huge. One composition that has always stood out for me is Dear Lord, which he recorded on May 26, 1965. I like what Michael Cuscuna wrote in his liner notes for the album The Gentle Side of John Coltrane:

"Wise One, Welcome, and Dear Lord come from 1964 and 1965, a period when the passion of John Coltrane's spirituality were most graphically and effectively expressed in his music. His love and respect for his fellow human beings, his inner peace and growing understanding and his constant searching came through his writing and playing and permeated every nerve and fiber of those who were willing to really listen. That was the sound of a man possessed...with sanity."

My country seems to be full of insanity. Mass shootings. I look to music to find comfort and hope,

Classics in Commercials: GEICO and Grieg

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) wrote perhaps his most famous work, In the Hall of the Mountain King, in 1875. It was part of his Peer Gynt Suite. Today, 144 years later, this famous melody line is used in commercials and films worldwide. I heard it the other day in a GEICO Insurance commercial. The commercial depicts two fans of rival baseball franchises (KC Royals and St. Louis Cardinals) vying for a parking space. Take a look:

I don't see any historical correlations nor connections between Grieg and baseball. When it was premiered in 1876, baseball was indeed a professional sport in the Untied States. But Grieg never came to the United States, so he never attended a baseball game. Whether or not he even was aware of the game I can't say. But none-the-less, his music graces this commercial.

America

Today is the 4th of July. My neighborhood is coming alive with fireworks this afternoon following a rain shower. By dusk, it will be a war zone. I am listening to music with headphones on, trying to ignore the explosions.
This is our National Birthday...Happy Birthday America. You are my country and I love you. I am also am very ashamed of you...the genocide of our native peoples, slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, lynching, violence against gays and lesbians, industrial poisoning of our environment, corporate greed, inequality for, exploitation of, and marginalization of women, antisemitic immigration quotas in the 1930's that prevented so many Jews from escaping the Holocaust  .....deep breath....and on and on.
How does this place work? I don't know...but it does. As fucked up as so much of our past is...and our present, I still would not want to live anywhere else. I pray that we all can take a deep breath and figure out how to make the future better for our children. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA.

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My current listening project: listening to Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, 1-32 in order. I just finished no. 20. So far , no. 8 stands out as my favorite. No. 14, the Moonlight Sonata, holds up very well. In fact, I realize that I have taken it for granted all these years. It is one of the best known pieces of music in history, one that I have turned away from. But I rediscovered it's greatness this week.

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I have the same feeling about baseball as I do about America. It's my favorite sport...I love it so much. But I am also very conflicted by it's dismal history of exclusion, bigotry and labor unrest. But I love it none-the-less. And I am also a fierce critic of the game as it stands today. I feel like the game is out of balance. Offense is the goal now...home runs in particular. I don't get excited by home runs. I get excited by pitchers who know how to throw strikes...keep the ball down in the zone, and change speeds. Alas....I am a dinosaur. Last weekend, the Red Sox and the Yankees played two games in London. Baseball is trying to develop a global presence. The first game was Saturday. Cheryl and I watched a good part of it before we left to go kayaking. Three hours later when we came back, the game was still on. And it continued for another hour. When it was finally over, the Yankees had won 17-13, and it took 4:42 minutes. This was the third longest 9-inning game in MLB history...those poor British bastards. A four hour game is crap. I found a box score for a game in 1897 between the Chicago Colts (soon to become the Cubs) and the Louisville Colonels (soon to fold) where the Colts won 36-7. The Colts scored in every inning, a feat that has only occurred twenty times in history. This game only took 2:15 to play. Imagine how long it would take today...
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Back to the first part of this post...America...our country is so beautiful. I am so blessed to be an American. Classical music is alive here too. We have so many incredible musicians making music in the USA. There is no shortage of talented, and gifted performers here. I am thankful. 

Brothers, Fathers, the Dream Academy and Daniel.

Father's Day was yesterday. I took time to slow everything down and think about what that means to me. It means everything. My grandmother used to tell me...constantly...that I could never understand how much she loved me. I was a gift to her. She lost a child after my dad was born, His name was Daniel. He only lived a few weeks after he was born...he had a heart condition that could easily be corrected today, but not so in 1944. When her only son had a child, me, I filled the void left by her loss of Daniel, and my parents gave me his name as my middle name. Timothy Daniel Hazlett. My dad told me he remembered the day they came and put Daniel in a small box after he died and took him away. So heartbreaking. His loss never left her. When my children were born, I totally knew what she meant about love...and now I tell my children the same thing she told me..."you can never know how much I love you." We end every phone conversation with "Love You.". And every in-person conversation ends the same way..."Love You." I pray every day for their safety, health and well being. I pray that they find their way to God...that their faith is strong in Him. Father's Day is not about golfing and barbecue for me...it is about praying to God and giving thanks for my children. It is a gut-wrenching realization of how the love of your children will bring you to your knees and make you weep for joy.

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I remember when Ferris Bueller's Day Off was released in 1986. It may be John Hughes' best movie, and it still holds a special place in my heart. Hughes was the master of modern-day teen angst, and he had a keen ear for great music. One example is this instrumental arrangement of the Smith's song Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by the band The Dream Academy.

I love how this arrangement uses a church organ, acoustic guitars hitting a major seventh chord hard, a synthesizer with chime sound, and last but not least...a beautiful English horn. (David Gilmour, the awesome guitarist from Pink Floyd, produced the Dream Academy's debut album.)
I was born in the '60's, came of age in the '70's and reached manhood in the '80's. This music means a lot to me.
Another song I will share from the Dream Academy, and used in another great John Hughes film called Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is called Power to Believe. It's used at the end of the film when Steve Martin and John Candy finally reach the end of their epic journey and go their own way. Steve Martin finally figures out that John Candy is all alone. It is a very moving moment.

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I enjoy a dram of scotch or bourbon most evenings, usually with a few ice cubes. I look at my arms and hands extending from my body to the keyboard. I don't understand fully what is happening, but my fingers start hitting the keys and out come these words. I am thankful that I can write. I am thankful for the music that inspires me. They go together perfectly.
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I will end this post with a piece of music that truly touches my heart. Fratres by Arvo Part (1977).
I watched Saving Private Ryan the other day...it was June 6th, 2019 to be precise...the anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944. The Greatest Generation...these Bands of Brothers saved the free world. Fratres means Brothers, When I listen to this, I think about those young men..those boys...those Brothers...charging the beaches of Normandy on that cold morning. Withering machine gun fire. Blood. Death. Sacrifice. I played in a jazz big band for many years after college. I was in my 20's...the rest of the guys were in their in their 60's. A couple of them served in WW2 and took part in the D-Day landings. We played so many gigs, and we had a lot of time to talk on breaks. But they didn't say much about what the did or saw in the War. Our drummer Earl was almost deaf, and he had the shakes. Our piano player told me once that Earl suffered from shell shock. He told me that Earl had seen German soldiers lined up after capture and run over by Allied tanks. Earl was a shell of his former self. But I will always appreciate and honor what he went through so I could play great big band music in a free country.

Roaring of the Full Organ: Louis Vierne in Kansas City

Louis Vierne (1870-1937) was a French organist and composer. I love organ music, and I have long enjoyed Vierne's music. My favorite work by Vierne is his 24 Pieces en style libre, op. 31. No. 15 in this composition is the Arabesque. A stunning, haunting, soft, moving, slightly disturbing, melancholy, and profoundly original work. You know me...I get something in my ear and I listen to it over and over and over. This is just such a piece.

The 24 Fantasy Pieces were composed in 1913-14. Thirteen years later, Vierne came to America for a concert tour, and he performed in Kansas City at the Westport Presbyterian Church on April 1, 1927. I found the review of his performance in the Kansas City Times.

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Louis Vierne , French Organist, Heard at Westport Presbyterian Church.

     Louis Vierne, who played last night the new Reuter organ in the Westport Avenue Presbyterian church, would have commanded the honest respect of his audience even had he been less generously endowed musically.

     For M. Vierne is almost without sight, an affliction that in any musician is sufficient to blast a career, and one that is especially hard for an organist , since no two organs are alike, and all are controlled from scattered stop pulls, inconspicuously placed pistons, and irregularly located foot pedale-to say nothing of the pedal keyboard and such ordinary matters. So that the loss of sight means usually the loss of a career.

     But not with M. Vierne. He solves a good part of his difficulty by carrying with him a young secretary, who not only assists him in the usual secretarial ways, but also pulls his stops and sets up his combinations for him. The remainder he does by pure ability, and so well he need ask quarter from no one. The element of spontaneity was lacking; its inclusion would have been too much to ask. The interpretations had a fixed character, and gave an impression of "predestination" thoroughly in keeping with certain religious faiths.

     But for the remainder, the audience had reason to be thankful. The organist has, for one thing, a delicate sense of color values, and he is not of the type that startles an audience periodically with sudden roaring of the full organ. His climaxes were subtly prepared, and more subtly led away from than usual. His dexterity was sufficient, and his fingers (and feet) were extraordinarily accurate considering the fact that sight did not direct them. 

     A good deal of the music was M. Vierne's. For the most part it is a strange mixture of French sureness of touch and neatness with German sentiment, especially the closing set of six "Fantasie Pieces," each of which was very surely wrought, and definite in character.

     The visiting organist came under the auspices of the Kansas City chapter of the National Association of Organists, of which chapter Hans Fell is president. M. Vierne is titular organist of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

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