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On Saturday evening we saw Chris Brubeck and his group "Triple Play" perform at our local theater. What a treat! I went along with slight trepidation, not knowing whether my meager appreciation of jazz would be enough to prevent boredom and earache setting in. I needn't have worried. Unlike his famous Dad, Dave Brubeck, Chris and his companions, Joel Brown and Peter "Madcat" Ruth don't concentrate solely on jazz, they offer an eclectic mix of folk, blues, funk and classical, along with some jazz proper.
Astrologically, all I can tell, and from the mouth of Chris himself, is that he and Joel Brown (center in the photograph) share a birthday (but not the same year). That birthday, according to Wikipedia, is 19 March (3 days from my husband's, who is an avid jazz fan). Chris commented, from the stage, that this could be part of the reason he and Joel get on so well. Their two natal Suns sit around the last degree of Pisces. Chris has Mercury and Jupiter in neighboring Aries. The husband's natal Sun is at first degree of Aries with two planets in Pisces. I'm wondering whether this Aries/Pisces cusp area might be a jazz and musically infested zone. I shall look into it later.
I chuckled to myself when Chris Brubeck, told about one of the group's songs. It concerned the wife of a Mississippi riverboat captain. She studied astrology, numerology, biology....all the ologies...and was known as "Mrs. Hippie" (groan!) That, I thought to myself, is the one and only time I shall ever hear the word "astrology" uttered from this particular stage in deepest Bible-belt Oklahoma!
These are three highly talented musicians, but just as important, to me, they are three guys with appealing personalities strong enough to project across the footlights. I always feel let down when artists decline to talk to their audience. Chris (on piano in the photograph) chatted a lot, explaining sources of songs and pieces, sprinkled with with tales of his famous father. The guys looked as if they were really really enjoying themselves, as well as entertaining an enthusiastic audience. If a passing reader ever has the opportunity of attending one of their concerts, they should take it - no doubt at all, whatever their musical taste.
This is the only YouTube presentation I could find of the group, it's a pity the piano isn't featured. I recognise those shirts! The group play a piece called "New Stew Opus 2", which I recall he told us was the name his father preferred, as sounding better than the original title "Memphis Soul Stew".
More detail at these links
http://www.brubeckmusic.com/tripleplay.html
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/music/faculty/Brown/brown.html
http://www.madcatmusic.net/tripleplay.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Brubeck
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We have a few more jazz and musical evenings on the horizon now too. We intend visitng San Antonio, Texas later this week, weather permitting. A late birthday treat for moi. We've planned such a trip on two previous occasions and had to postpone, so I'm not holding my breath. While in San Antone we'd like to see The Alamo of course, and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band who will, we hope, be playing at "The Landing" next weekend.
I'm planning to absent myself from the blog for a week, after tomorrow's post (also on a musical topic). Setting out this morning is not on the cards - freezing rain, sleet and frozen roads hereabouts. Drivers in this part of the world are not equipped for, or experienced in, driving in these conditions and should be given a very wide berth - we will not tempt fate! Weather should improve later today. Any interesting eventualities while we're away, possibly connected to the eclipse, Mercury Retrograde, Jupiter in Aquarius will be posted via laptop from wherever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A WEE UPDATE eclipse-wise:
As I mentioned in Sunday's post my husband's younger daughter has a birthday on the 26th, the day before mine, so the eclipse was on her natal Sun too. We sent her a card and gift late last week; my husband called on Monday morning to ensure it had arived. Haaa! She had forgotten it was her birthday because she had been moving home all week, and forgot to let us know. Hopefully the card and gift will be re-directed (Mercury Retrograde?) Now there's a bit of symbolic eclipse-driven change for ya - or is it? I'm not quite ready to eat my words yet, cherry on top or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Astrologically, all I can tell, and from the mouth of Chris himself, is that he and Joel Brown (center in the photograph) share a birthday (but not the same year). That birthday, according to Wikipedia, is 19 March (3 days from my husband's, who is an avid jazz fan). Chris commented, from the stage, that this could be part of the reason he and Joel get on so well. Their two natal Suns sit around the last degree of Pisces. Chris has Mercury and Jupiter in neighboring Aries. The husband's natal Sun is at first degree of Aries with two planets in Pisces. I'm wondering whether this Aries/Pisces cusp area might be a jazz and musically infested zone. I shall look into it later.
From the husband's camera.
I chuckled to myself when Chris Brubeck, told about one of the group's songs. It concerned the wife of a Mississippi riverboat captain. She studied astrology, numerology, biology....all the ologies...and was known as "Mrs. Hippie" (groan!) That, I thought to myself, is the one and only time I shall ever hear the word "astrology" uttered from this particular stage in deepest Bible-belt Oklahoma!
These are three highly talented musicians, but just as important, to me, they are three guys with appealing personalities strong enough to project across the footlights. I always feel let down when artists decline to talk to their audience. Chris (on piano in the photograph) chatted a lot, explaining sources of songs and pieces, sprinkled with with tales of his famous father. The guys looked as if they were really really enjoying themselves, as well as entertaining an enthusiastic audience. If a passing reader ever has the opportunity of attending one of their concerts, they should take it - no doubt at all, whatever their musical taste.
This is the only YouTube presentation I could find of the group, it's a pity the piano isn't featured. I recognise those shirts! The group play a piece called "New Stew Opus 2", which I recall he told us was the name his father preferred, as sounding better than the original title "Memphis Soul Stew".
More detail at these links
http://www.brubeckmusic.com/tripleplay.html
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/music/faculty/Brown/brown.html
http://www.madcatmusic.net/tripleplay.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Brubeck
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have a few more jazz and musical evenings on the horizon now too. We intend visitng San Antonio, Texas later this week, weather permitting. A late birthday treat for moi. We've planned such a trip on two previous occasions and had to postpone, so I'm not holding my breath. While in San Antone we'd like to see The Alamo of course, and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band who will, we hope, be playing at "The Landing" next weekend.I'm planning to absent myself from the blog for a week, after tomorrow's post (also on a musical topic). Setting out this morning is not on the cards - freezing rain, sleet and frozen roads hereabouts. Drivers in this part of the world are not equipped for, or experienced in, driving in these conditions and should be given a very wide berth - we will not tempt fate! Weather should improve later today. Any interesting eventualities while we're away, possibly connected to the eclipse, Mercury Retrograde, Jupiter in Aquarius will be posted via laptop from wherever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A WEE UPDATE eclipse-wise:
As I mentioned in Sunday's post my husband's younger daughter has a birthday on the 26th, the day before mine, so the eclipse was on her natal Sun too. We sent her a card and gift late last week; my husband called on Monday morning to ensure it had arived. Haaa! She had forgotten it was her birthday because she had been moving home all week, and forgot to let us know. Hopefully the card and gift will be re-directed (Mercury Retrograde?) Now there's a bit of symbolic eclipse-driven change for ya - or is it? I'm not quite ready to eat my words yet, cherry on top or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh I love their sound, T. I'm a sucker for a mean harmonica. I would love to hear the piano, though.
ReplyDeleteOur snow and ice has taken a rest. I was getting so sick of it.
Happy happy happy birthday, my dear.
Enjoy your trip.
XO
WWW
WWW ~~~ thank you kindly for your good wishes! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe harmonica, for me, is usually in the same category as bagpipes and chalk on a blackboard, but "Madcat" is a master - has a very special way with the instrument - I actually enjoyed it!
Weather looking grim even for tomorrow, so I've called the San Antonio hotel and shifted our booking for a day. By Thursday this icy stuff should have moved on (fingers crossed).
RJ~~~ Huh?
ReplyDeleteInfest can mean to overly populate...." (Wikipedia)
:-)
On second thoughts I could have used a word which has a less negative alternative connection...
"music-friendly zone" perhaps.
Maybe it was the memory of some earachingly strident jazz I've occasionally heard - on trumpet that caused "infest" to spring to mind as I typed. (Miles Davis excluded).
I do love a bit of jazz. In the raw, nothing gets deeper into the soul.
ReplyDeleteAN ~~~ I can see the attraction, and do enjoy its milder forms, but I find the (raw?) extremes of the genre just about intolerable. My ear drums must be delicate. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSo pleased you enjoyed Chris and the guys. I've been following Chris and Madcat since the early '70s, when they were part of that "rock group" he mentioned during the show. Group was called New Heavenly Blue and they played rock/jazz fusion music before it came into vogue late in the '70s. Their persona on stage was their persona off stage, which is always a delight for me. Felt like I was hanging out with some of my oldest friends, and when you take into account we're all four Baby Boomers of approximately the same age (OK, I'm the elder one by a year), we had some great discussions. The Next First Lady of the United States insists Triple Play is the best group since I became the "presenter."
ReplyDeleteWisewebwoman: Chris Brubeck has piano licks that are nearly on par with his father. A shame it doesn't stand out on these clips.
TNPOTUS ~~~ It seems that we only saw the tip of Triple Play's iceberg on Saturday. :-)
ReplyDeleteHope we get a chance to see 'em again.