Brain Food

Jump over to Casa Valdez to read an enlightening article on how a jazz musician's brain works while improvising. This is scholarly stuff - straight from halls of Johns Hopkins University - so be prepared...

In other news...

Nothing makes me feel both smarter and dumb(er) -simultainiously- then a good helping of Tim DuRoche. Recently, in the wake of this year's Cecil Taylor performance at the Portland Jazz Festival, Tim posted this gem.

"If you stopped and measured the 20th century’s considerable residue, the left-over facts and froth of modernity, the loam of cultural revolution and the flicker of the avant-garde’s ember (to wring the life out of simile and metaphor), you’d probably find that Cecil Taylor is an inevitability. "

Read the whole thing. Then go listen to Cecil Taylor. Then read it again. Repeat... I found the Winston Churchill quote at the end surprising. Never knew the old boy was that hip.

And finally...

A big thank you to Mr. Durkin for turning me on to Andrew Drubber and NewMusicStrategies.
I started reading his free book and I now feel like I am truly a part of the 21st century. A must read for any musician trying connect with the world.