Not Many Words of Mine, but some From a Young Anyjazz

Recent goings on in the USA, and actions by the President of same leave me with no words fit to print on a family-style blog. My best wish would be for the President to be removed by some means or other (25th amendment to the Constitution?) It appears that is not likely to happen. Yes, there's an election coming in November, when We The People could remove Donald Trump from office, but as things are going it would not surprise me at all if that election were to be postponed - or cancelled.

Sigh.

I found, among my notes, this piece written long ago by my husband, known online as anyjazz (he's now aged 83). It illustrates his early experience of the wretched racial hatred which, as we have recently sadly seen, lives on still among some groups, in some areas of the USA.

Here's his piece:

Breakfast with Joe Williams

Back in the late [19]fifties, my old friend “Z” [Zee] and I took our girlfriends to see Count Basie. I didn’t own a car but “Z” borrowed his dad’s new Cadillac for the evening and we were in top style. I think we impressed our girlfriends.


It was a dance/concert sort of event. Basie’s big band had a couple of current hits right in the middle of the era of Bill Haley and the comets, Richie Valens, Elvis Presley and Fabian sensations. Basie’s band had charted well with a lovely recording of “April in Paris” which would earn them a Grammy. Joe Williams, Basie’s vocalist at the time, had a hit with “Every Day I Have the Blues.” So, an evening with Count Basie was a big deal. Really. A really memorable three or four hours.


The first number was “All Of Me” designed to make everybody pay attention. Anyone who has heard the Basie arrangement of the number will know what I mean.


When Joe Williams sang his first number he looked uncomfortable. He looked frightened to me. Maybe it was just me. Well it was the first time I had ever been to a concert where there were uniformed police wandering around in the crowd.


After the concert, we stood around on stage chatting with the band members as they packed up. “Z” handed his bottle of W L Weller to trombonist Al Grey for inspection. Al looked at the dregs and then at “Z” for approval. “Z” said “Aw, kill it. It’s not enough to haul home anyway.”


Basie and Freddie Greene had left in a limo and the rest of the band members were loading onto the band bus. Somehow, Al Grey and Joe Newman got left behind and we gave them a ride downtown to the Lassen Hotel in the Caddy.


Later we all crowded into the Lassen Hotel diner for breakfast. It was about two in the morning.

We all found stools at the counter. I sat between Joe Williams and Joe Newman. Now, it might be necessary for a reminder here; this was in Kansas in the late fifties. The diner staff was not too comfortable with serving several black musicians, famous or not.


Joe Williams ordered two eggs over easy. In a few minutes, the waitress came with his plate. The eggs were raw. He looked at the plate and then at the waitress.


“He can’t eat those, they’re raw!” I blurted without thinking. The waitress nodded and took the plate back. (I think she agreed.) She returned with a fresh plate, cooked right. Joe looked at me and said “Thank you.”


It was years later that I figured out what had happened. It was not my first lesson in bigotry but somehow that night I think I learned a bit of just how awful it was. I was sitting there between two fabulous black musicians and I was in star struck. Others in the same room were not impressed, in fact they were disgusted. If my famous black friend had complained, he would simply have been refused service and ejected.


Later that morning, we bid the tired musicians goodnight and safe journeys and we headed for home.

Music Monday ~ Jeff & Haley (Goldblum & Reinhart)

I wasn't aware that Jeff Goldblum had musical as well as acting talent, until I listened to the video below and read about his upcoming album release (HERE).

‘The Capitol Studios Sessions’ is the highly anticipated album from Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

Goldblum, who has been playing the piano since he was a child, has performed with his jazz band at venues in Los Angeles and New York City over the past few decades. When he’s not filming, the actor hosts a weekly jazz variety show at LA’s Rockwell Table and Stage. Frequented by locals and A-listers alike, the show intersperses Goldblum’s love of jazz with his passion and skills at improvised comedy.

I was aware, however, that Haley Reinhart is a superb jazz singer. We first saw Haley some seven years ago when she was a contestant on American Idol. She didn't win, but came third. It's good to see her name popping up now and again; it appears she is, gradually, making quite a name for herself. Good!

Versatile Convertible Music evolving through encounters.

Sometimes a particular style of classic jacket (this probably applies more to female fashion) can have a variety of lives : for a working environment, out shopping, dressed up for a quiet date, with funky accessories for a party, with sober accessories it'd even take you to a funeral. This really works well when the original is a certain kind of jacket, beautifully tailored of the best quality material. As with a jacket, so with a melody.....but it has to be a certain kind of melody, beautifully constructed, wonderful chord structures, lyrical and memorable. This always strikes me when I hear jazz versions of standard songs and melodies. As long as the original is of superb quality it doesn't ever lose its charm, no matter into what genre it is bent and cajoled by talented musicians. This many-sided quality isn't apparent in just any old song or melody, the original has to have been constructed by composers who were masters of their craft.

Two examples, though there are dozens out there.

I've been thinking that the first example could quite easily be parodied and re-titled "The Sequestration Song". Such appropriate lines: "Don't you love farce?" (Usually I do but not when the players are supposed to be running a country!) ...."Quick, send in the clowns - Don't bother they're here"

Send in the Clowns, one of Stephen Sondheim's best known numbers. It comes from his show A Little Night Music. The story behind it tells of a middle-aged couple who split up because the female wishes to; the male finds another love, a much younger woman. The middle-aged female then finds she loved the guy all the time and tries to get back together with him, but .....no go, he's in love with his "child" bride. Here's a version of the stage show original with Judi Dench in the middle-aged female role:




Here's what happens when Stan Kenton and his Orchestra get a hold on it....it's bent and stretched, and even sounds a tad classical in places......but the same melody remains at its heart.





Second example:

My Funny Valentine a song written Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1937 for a musical: Babes in Arms. The song has been recorded my numerous vocalists keeping the original flavour intact: Linda Ronstadt's with Nelson Riddle's orchestra is a classic version. Miles Davis did his "thang" with it (link), as did many other jazz musicians. The music's quality never deteriorates, because something about the original has elasticity, resilience, an innate magic. Husband says it's all in chord structure, but I believe it's a tad more esoteric than that.



Paul Desmond on alto-saxophone did it his way:

Musical tradition is important but not fixed.
It evolves through encounters.
A Tibetan Master quoted by D. Rothenberg

Music Monday ~ Sir George Shearing

Born 13 August 1919: pianist Sir George Shearing.

I remember hearing his recordings played often on the radio during my UK lifetime. When I noticed that today would have been his birthday (he died in February 2011) I casually asked Husband if he knew of Sir George's music, half expecting a shrug-off; instead Husband said that Shearing was one of his early jazz heroes. Surprise! Next thing: Husband staggering in from the garage with a stack of George Shearing LPs. I'd been gauging his reaction from Sir George's later recordings, which were distinctly "middle-of-the-road", my kind of stuff, but classy with it (him, not me!) Having investigated some of Shearing's earlier jazz piano I can see why husband would enjoy him.

From sleeve notes on the 1974 album "The Way We Are".

Sir George Shearing, OBE (born, London, England, August 13, 1919 - February 14, 2011) is an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group which recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he has had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.

Born in Battersea, London, Shearing was the youngest of nine children. He was born blind to working class parents: his father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains in the evening. He started to learn piano at the age of three and began formal training at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.

He became known for a piano technique known as Shearing's voicing, a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower.
Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently draw upon the music of Debussy and, particularly, Erik Satie for inspiration.

No birth time is known, so a 12 noon chart is shown.

Quadruple Leo (Sun, Mercury, Jupiter & Neptune): he was always going to make his mark on some stage, some genre, some sphere, somewhere.

The opposition of Saturn at 00 Virgo - Uranus at 00 Pisces is an interesting parallel to his two styles: Uranus (the avant garde) = his earlier heavily into jazz years, balanced by Saturn (traditional)representing the more easy-listening styles of his later recordings, probably made in response to public demand, jazz by then being more of a "fringe" area with limited album sales.

AQUARIUS (my favourite - of course!)



SEPTEMBER IN THE RAIN ("one of his best", says Husband)



MAKIN' WHOOPEE



And...he sings: SEND IN THE CLOWNS

WHO IS IT?.......COULD IT BE.....?

This photograph was among a small collection of mixed old snapshots, cabinet cards and other photos my husband bought on a recent antique store trawl. There's a bigger version of it available on his Flickr page, together with a long string of comments from viewers, all surmising whether the woman might possibly be.......guess who? Lady Day: Billie Holiday? Husband researched the approximate date of the photograph using style of beer bottle labels shown in the photo, and puts it at around 1951.



As I commented at Flickr I'm not 100% convinced, it'd seem too good to be true that such a photograph would be lying around in a pile of old pics in an antique store in Clinton, Oklahoma, a town of less than 10,000 population on what was once the famous Route 66. Someone had thought it a photograph worth shooting though, either because the subject(s) was/were somebody well-known, or somebody who looked like somebody well-known, or because somebody who looked like somebody well-known was with somebody famous or......

The collection of photographs, possibly purchased by the store owner or or owner of a booth in the store, at an estate sale might have originally belonged to someone in the newspaper business, I guess, or it could simply have been a souvenir of a jazz fan. Anyway, the pic has initiated much Google-driven research.

Husband also has the photograph and some further detail up on his Lost Gallery pages, as well as in yesterday's post at his Thinks Happen blog, post titled A Familiar Face - or not?
There are dozens of photographs of Billie online, mostly studio or publicity poses though. Two examples:




As pointed out in Flickr comments: To further complicate things, not all Billie Holiday photographs look like Billie Holiday. Comparing album covers and promo shots, one might think that there were several people with that name.
Another "clue"....there's a photograph of Billie's fur stole, similar to the one in the photograph, preserved for posterity HERE.

An old post of mine touching on Billie Holiday's natal chart, for any passing reader interested is at
Magical Bonds: Billie Holiday ~ Lester Young

The mystery photograph will remain a mystery for all time, I guess, unless someone at some point sees it here, or more likely on Flickr, and recognises something about it that is decisive one way or another; it's unlikely to be the only shot taken at the time, maybe it was one of a set, or the best of a set. There could be others, similar, around somewhere with, perhaps, detail of who, when, where.

More views of the lady herself are shown in this video as she sings: One For My Baby (& one more for the road)"

Music Monday ~ Wild & Wonderful: Sydney Bechet

On this day in 1897, to a Creole shoemaker and his wife in New Orleans, Sydney Bechet was born. He was surrounded by the music of New Orleans from his first breath. He began playing clarinet around age 6. By the time he was 17 he'd played in many well-known local bands. He later swapped clarinet for soprano-saxophone....he was to become, along with Louis Armstrong first of the great American jazz soloists. When Bechet and Armstrong arrived on the scene jazz was still in its infancy, far from the soloists' artform it was set to become. Bechet and Armstrong were the avant garde.

A snip from Ken Burns' excellent TV/DVD series "Jazz"

By the 1920’s jazz had become truly a national music, dominated by great personalities who lived life with a vengeance. The details are often astonishing. New Orleans saxophonist Sidney Bechet was a musical genius, a megalomaniac, and a man with a violent temper. Before 1925, Marsalis tells us, only Bechet could share the bandstand with Armstrong without embarrassing himself. By age 22 he had served a prison term in England for a violent altercation with a prostitute.

When he came to Harlem he confronted saxophonist Coleman Hawkins for his disparaging remarks about New Orleans musicians. He played so fiercely in Hawkins’ direction that Hawkins ran off the bandstand, out of the building and down the street with Bechet right behind him, blowing his soprano saxophone all the while. Years later while touring Europe Bechet pulled a pistol on a French piano player who had disputed Bechet’s reading of a chord change. “Sidney Bechet does not make mistakes,” he told him, and challenged him to a gunfight. The result was a shoot out in the streets of Paris at rush hour. Bechet wounded three people, none of them his adversary, and went to prison for his deed, though he was released and deported less than a year later.

I'm interested to see whether his antagonistic temperament shows up in his natal chart. The version below is set for 12 noon as birth time isn't known.




I don't have far to seek! Saturn and Uranus exactly conjoined at 27 Scorpio harmoniously trine (120*) Mars at 27 Cancer and directly oppose his natal Sun at 24 Taurus. How to best describe this minus astro-jargon? Cat and dog fighting both see a bird and while continuing to brawl between themselves, chase it too.

If born after 4:00 PM Moon would have been in Mars-ruled Scorpio adding a further helping of intensity to his nature. If born earlier in the day, Moon in Libra (ruled by Venus as is his Taurus Sun) would feed into his early gravitation to music.

Gershwin's Summertime played by Sydney Bechet



Woody Allen's recent movie Midnight in Paris begins with a series of shots of scenic Paris set to Sidney Bechet’s lovely “Si Tu Vois Ma Mere.” Bechet’s connection to Paris began in the 1920s, when the city was a magnet for Western culture and home to many, now famous, expatriate black Americans fleeing from their county's toxic racism.

Si Tu Vois Ma Mere (translation:”If You See My Mother”…aka “I Remember When”) was composed by Bechet, reportedly after the death of his mother.




Another of Bechet's own compositions Petite Fleur

Music Monday ~ Great Jazz Guitarists

Now and again Music Monday will feature a trio of jazz icons, instrument by instrument, with brief astro detail along with an occasional link to archived posts or other sources. For the earlier post on tenor saxophone players see Greatest Sax Voices in Jazz.

I'm still on a steep learning curve when it comes to jazz - as with most other things in this life....but then, aren't we all? When pondering on jazz guitarists the only name I could come up with was Django Reinhardt (an early favourite of mine when he played with Stephane Grapelli on violin). This was the sum total of my experience of jazz before meeting Himself, my husband.

To fill out an iconic trio I took advice from Himself. He suggested Charlie Christian and Freddie Green as worthy of inclusion along with Django.

Freddie Green. That name sounds distinctly non-jazzy to my ear - brings to mind more the boy nextdoor, or the guy who ran a local cafe. But Freddie Green, known as "the dean of rhythm guitarists" filled the rhythm guitar slot for such jazz luminaries as Count Basie, Lester Young, Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday, during his 50-year long career.

«When he played with Count Basie, everyone knew that Freddie Green was half the orchestra on his own, the man who helped the band breathe. He was the "working lung", and as an accompanist he played "four-to-the-bar" like nobody else. The secret of his swinging lightness lay in the fact that he didn't play all the strings, merely three or four of them.» [Philippe Baudoin]

Basie's "left hand", as this humble rhythm player was dubbed time and again, the "fourth wheel on the Basie band wagon", a phenomenon only noticed when rarely missing. Freddie Green's rhythm work was immaculate, pure, elastic and bouncingly light, unlike any other. His commitment to rhythm guitar misled lesser guitarists to take Green's strict confinement to rhythm work for the mark of a second-rate player.
On the contrary, Green's rhythm work was high art.
See HERE
Freddie Green: born on March 31, 1911 in Charleston, South Carolina; died on March 1, 1987.

As in my earlier post on jazz sax players, I'd expect to find Neptune (creativity) and/or Uranus (innovation, inventive) hooked into personal planets somehow, somewhere, in the charts of jazz musicians. In Freddie Green's case, less so than others, because his job was not to be inventive or creative but to provide, and hold, the chord structure and rhythmic pulse of the piece. We can see that effect in his chart: Venus in Taurus (planet of music/the arts in its sign of rulership) is conjunct Saturn. If any planet can be classed as a structure-holding planet, Saturn can! I'd say that Venus conjunct Saturn, especially when in Taurus, is classic signature for Freddie Green's style, as well as his longevity as a performer (50 years was a long, long time in the music business back then, when so many great artists fell by the wayside!)

Tribute to Freddie Green







Charlie Christian's career was tragically brief. He was born in Texas but grew up in an Oklahoma City slum. His father was a blind guitarist and singer, two of his brothers were musicians. Charlie himself built and played cigar-box "guitars" during his school days. He became a respected local musician in Oklahoma, playing an amplified acoustic guitar as early as 1937. John Hammond, the famous talent scout and producer, heard about Christian, was impressed, and arranged for the guitarist to travel to Los Angeles to try out with Benny Goodman.

Although Goodman was initially put off by Christian's primitive wardrobe, as soon as they started jamming on "Rose Room," Christian's talents were obvious. For the next two years, he would be well-featured with Benny Goodman's Sextet

.

Tragically, Charlie Christian contracted tuberculosis in 1941, and died, aged 25 on March 2, 1942.

It can be said without exaggeration that virtually every jazz guitarist that emerged during 1940-65 sounded like a relative of Charlie Christian. It would be 25 years before jazz guitarists finally moved beyond his style.

See http://www.playjazzguitar.com/charlie_christian.html".

Born on 29 July 1916 in Bonham, Texas. Here, creative Neptune conjoins his Sun and Mercury in Leo. Moon would have been somewhere from late Cancer to 8 Leo, so could also have been close to Neptune. Musical planet Venus is tightly conjunct Pluto - I wonder if that was a dark omen of his tragically early demise?








A violinist first, guitarist later, Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt grew up in a gypsy camp near Paris where he absorbed the gypsy strain into his music. A disastrous caravan fire in 1928 badly burned his left hand, depriving him of the use of the fourth and fifth fingers, but the resourceful Reinhardt figured out a novel fingering system to get around the problem that probably accounts for some of the originality of his style.

A free-spirited gypsy, Reinhardt wasn't the most reliable person in the world, frequently wandering off into the countryside on a whim. Yet Reinhardt came up with a unique way of propelling the humble acoustic guitar into the front line of a jazz combo in the days before amplification became widespread. He would spin joyous, arcing, marvelously inflected solos above the thrumming base of two rhythm guitars and a bass, with Stephane Grappelli's elegantly gliding violin serving as the perfect foil. Although he could not read music, with Grappelli and on his own, Reinhardt composed several highly original tunes. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/django-reinhardt-p7407/biography.

See also my own 2007 post ~ Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt - A Magical but Unlikely Pair of Aquarians>

Django Reinhardt was born on 23 January 19 in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium, at 10:00 PM according to Astrodatabank, with a "B" rating - not 100% reliable but it'll suffice for this purpose.

With Moon conjunct creative Neptune in Moon's rulership sign Cancer, and inventive Uranus just barely out of range to be considered conjunct Sun in Aquarius - Uranus's sign of rulership, Django had near enough a classic planetary lineup for a jazz artist. Venus, the musical planet is tightly sextile (helpful aspect) Mars in Taurus - reflecting his dynamic musical style. There's a Grand Cross in his natal chart linking Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter, this configuration usually signifies some kind of ongoing inner conflict, possibly manifesting in Django's case as his unreliability and tendency to be unpredictable.

Below, one of Django's own compositions Nuages (Clouds). The person who uploaded this video at YouTube wrote:

This was done just weeks before he died.
I recall the original liner notes, written by Charles Delauney ( a friend of D.R) stating that there was a "certain ennui about the session" ..a sadness and premonition that Django had that he didn't have long. Delauney stated that it was the most emotional version of "Nuages" ever done.

.

Music Monday ~~ Greatest Sax Voices in Jazz

Jazz was a closed book to me, until I met Himself (my husband). It's still a book open only at Chapter One. The jazz I enjoy most is the kind one might hear in a dark cellar bar, late at night, drink at hand - not too strident, not a cacophony of sound, but creative interpretation - making a familiar tune different, yet the same, exploring it and embellishing it.

Now and again Music Monday will feature a trio of jazz icons, instrument by instrument, with brief astro detail along with an occasional link to archived posts or other sources.

Kicking off with my own favourite instrument: the saxophone. Saxes come in 2 main sax "voices": tenor and alto (there are 3rd and 4th fourth, less common, types too: baritone and soprano).

If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it’s like the human voice. – Stan Getz

Because we're considering jazz, and jazz is arguably the most inventive of all musical genres, astrologically I'd expect to see Neptune (creativity) and/or Uranus (invention, innovation) linked somehow to personal planets - Mercury (communication) and/or Venus (music), or natal Sun or Moon. I guess we should bear in mind that Neptune also connects to addictive tendencies - something that troubled many of the greatest jazz talents.

I have no birth times for these artists, so 12 noon charts are shown below, so the rising sign/degree will not be accurate; position of the Moon will not be exactly as shown.


THE TENOR SAXOPHONE

Ben Webster (nickname: The Brute/Frog)
Born 27 March 1909 in Kansas City Missouri.
Sun Aries, Moon Gemini if born before 10pm, Cancer if later.

Note the very tight harmonious trine between Neptune (creativity - the soul of jazz) and Mercury(communication)- an important base aspect. Venus, the musical planet lies in Pisces, ruled by Neptune, not far from Mercury. Although Venus/Neptune are not in trine, because Pisces ruler, Neptune is involved, perhaps Venus could be considered an honorary inclusion.



Mutual reception= two planets placed in each other's ruling signs: here Mars lies in Capricorn, rulership of Saturn, Saturn lies in Aries, rulership of Mars. The two planets, aggressive Mars and serious Saturn combine forces in Webster's personality, and have relevance to his violent streak, and his nickname "Brute", more especially as Mars lies conjunct rebellious and unruly Uranus, in square (conflicting) aspect to Saturn.

Webster leaves a legacy as being known as one of 'Big Three' tenor players of the swing era along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young and is remembered as arguably the greatest of the Jazz saxophonists when it comes to playing a ballad. Ben Webster's sound has influenced future generations of saxophone players....
See HERE

He was a large and occasionally violent man of unusual affections and bizarre impulses. He slept deeply, and had a curious habit of punching anyone who woke him, even his grandmother. In the 1950s, he lived in Los Angeles with his mother and grandmother, the two people in the world closest to him. Jim Hall, the guitarist, once described the routine of picking him up to go to a job. If Webster were asleep, his mother or grandmother would lean over him and say, "Ben, Mr. Hall is here and it's time to go to work." Then they would jump back about two feet to get out of the way. On the other hand, when the name of a dead musician he had loved came up (Tatum, say, or Fats Waller), Webster could be moved to tears. More at archived post: http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2008/03/ben-webster-ballads-and-brute.html

Coleman Hawkins (nickname: The Hawk / The Bean)
Born 21 November 1904 in St.Joseph, Missouri.
Sun in Scorpio, Moon somewhere in Taurus.
Hawkins had Venus, the musical planet at 3* Capricorn, with Uranus, planet of innovation at 28 Sagittarius, forming what is known as an "out of sign conjunction", they are very close, but lie in different zodiac signs. It seems appropriate, then, that he should have been the musician(Venus) who brought a new(Uranus) element into the jazz scene, added to this, Saturn lies in one of its traditional rulersips- Aquarius, the innovative sign.

Although Adolphe Sax actually invented the saxophone, in the jazz world the title "Father of the Tenor Saxophone" became justly associated with Coleman Hawkins (1904 - 1969), not only an inventive jazz giant but also the founder of a whole dynasty of saxophone players. Before Hawkins, the saxophone (itself "born" in 1846) was mainly a favorite in marching bands and something of a novelty instrument in circus acts and vaudeville shows.
See HERE

The liner notes for one of his albums begin:

"Coleman Hawkins? Man, he invented the tenor sax!" It is hard to disagree: Hawkins was the first man to solo on tenor, the first to record in the bop style, and the first to record unaccompanied on the instrument, with "Picasso" in 1948. More at archived post: http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2007/05/arty-farty-friday-5.html

Lester Young (nickname: Pres/Prez)
Born 27 August 1909 in Woodville Mississippi. Sun Virgo, Moon somewhere in Capricorn. He had Mercury conjunct Jupiter in Virgo in trine to Neptune in Cancer, with Uranus in trine to the Mercury/Jupiter conjunction. Here we have Neptune, Mercury and Uranus linked - again.

(He)was a quirky and likable character who held an influential position in the evolution of jazz. With his tenor sax – usually held at an extremely odd angle, up in the air and horizontally splayed out to the side – he literally played the instrument like no one had ever done before and was irritatingly impossible to copy. He also dressed the part of an eccentric and distinguished himself by wearing long overcoats and a pork pie hat …

Part of Lester’s genius was an uncanny ability to achieve a tone that was as weightless as meringue – he almost alluded to the notes in a chord rather than simply playing them. See HERE

Young's sax playing is the horn equivalent to (Billie) Holiday's voice; melancholy, melodic, and understated. Prez could dance solos around Holiday as well as he could support her when she delivered her own musical soliloquy. They seemed to anticipate the others movements just before they happened.More at archived posts: http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2009/07/magical-bonds-billie-holidaylester.html

AND http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2009/05/cool-part-2.html

Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster: It Never Entered My Mind

Lester Young with Teddy Wilson on piano - All of Me

Music Monday ~ The Jazz Age: That Other Uranus in Aries Era

It's often written that The Jazz Age, in the mid 1920s, coincided with the last transit of Uranus through the zodiac sign Aries, which is true enough. Thing is though, the artists who brought about the Jazz Age had almost all been born while Uranus transited Sagittarius, with Pluto transiting Gemini - in the opposing sign.

So, although when jazz burst onto the scene it represented all that was new, unexpected and sounded more than a little eccentric to unaccustomed ears, it was more than simply the result of Uranus transiting Aries. Jazz was really the result of a generational pull from Sagittarius/Gemini reacting to Uranus in Aries.

Does that make any sense?

Here's a video overview from YouTube:



And in Europe - Paris, France ~



This current transit of Uranus in Aries will not see a generation of young(ish) people with generational Gemini in their astro-blueprints. Some will have generational Sagittarius, in common with the earlier Uranus in Aries crowd, but this time coming via Neptune. Generational Pluto in Libra (as it was in the 1970s and early 80s, instead of in Gemini, as in the 1920s, is a big difference. That generaion is now of an age to be making waves of some kind, as Uranus transits Aries. Libra tends to be laid back, maybe even lazy at times, hardly the ones to be interested in communicating vibrant new ideas. That's not to say they won't have something good to offer in some other area, a calming influence upon a worried world perhaps?

We owe a lot to that old Pluto in Gemini generation - we really do. They left us treasure troves to cherish in every sphere of the arts.

Music Monday ~ Taste in Music ~ Astro-indications?

Typing the words "musical taste personality" into a Google search box will bring up countless articles, blogs, surveys, questionnaires and statistics on the topic of whether personality defines a person's musical taste - or vice versa. There's material dating from 2003 to 2010, with information in a variety of depths and complexity. The conclusion: apparently it does.

The following, chosen mainly for its brevity, comes from Psychology Today in 2003, written by Colin Allen: The Sound of Personality

Does music preference really predict character traits? It may be an indicator of personality traits, according to new research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study pinpoints musical tastes with respective attributes.

A person's album collection may actually say quite a lot about him. It may be an indicator of personality traits, according to new research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study pinpoints musical tastes with respective attributes.
"Music preferences are a manifestation of our personality," says lead author Peter J. Rentfrow, a psychology graduate student at University of Texas in Austin. He found that, when it comes to personality traits, there are four major groups.
(I've inserted numbers)

1.People who enjoy blues, jazz, classical and folk are more likely to be creative, open to new experiences and enjoy abstract ideas. They often lean politically to the left.

2.Rentfrow found those who liked pop, country and religious music tend to be more extroverted, trusting of others and hard working. They are often more practical and lean politically to the right

3. People who prefer alternative music, rock and heavy metal are inclined to be physically active and adventurous.

4. Dance and hip-hop fans are apt to be more outgoing, athletic and agreeable, yet they were also more likely to view themselves as being physically attractive.

In the study, Rentfrow and colleagues surveyed 3,500 students, examining their musical tastes, along with their self-perceptions and mental acuity. He suggests that taste in music develops according to personality traits.

If musical taste and personality are linked, and personality and astrology are linked, then astrology and musical taste must be linked....or is that fallacy of composition or division...or some other obscure form of faulty reasoning ? Never mind!

Trying to link taste in music to astrological indications in a natal chart would have to be a "suck-it-and-see" type of experiment. There are so many astrological ways musical taste could manifest. For instance, the "four major groups" indicated in the above piece might be seen to relate to the four astrological elements, and their predominance (or not) in a person's natal chart might indicate what type of music that person would likely prefer. Doesn't Group #1 sound spookily akin to the Air signs (Gemini/Libra/Aquarius)? And Group #2 to Earth and Water. #3 and #4 to Fire?

No person is ever likely to fit exactly into one group - these or any other contrived groups. We're all made up of a highly complex mix. My husband, for instance, a lifelong avid jazz fan, has no Air (Group #1) astrologically, but has a "splash" chart (planets spread around the circle) indicating a wide span of taste. He has often been heard to say that in spite of his preference for jazz "there's no music I do not enjoy". So... chart pattern may also be a consideration here.

Then there's the matter of individual planets. The position of Venus, planet of the arts, in sign and house has to be significant.

Identifying musical taste from a natal chart is not going to be straightforward - or 100% reliable - nothing in astrology ever is.

Digging further I found this at McGill Reporter ( Volume 39: 2006-2007):

Question: Why do we like some music and not others.

Answer:
By: Daniel Levitin, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and the McGill Program in Behavioural Neuroscience, holds the Bell Chair in the Psychology of Electronic Communication.

Our musical tastes begin to form in the womb. By 12 weeks, the fetus has a completely functioning auditory system and is able to hear music through the amniotic fluid (it sounds something like listening under water). One-year olds show clear preferences for music that they heard in utero. Until roughly the age of eight, children absorb whatever music they hear, during the time when the brain is working hard to make billions of new connections.

Just as there are "critical periods" for language acquisition, there appear to be critical periods for the acquisition of music listening. As children hear music, they develop neural systems -— schemas — to capture the structural and tonal regularities of that music. Beginning around age 10, as the brain's mission shifts toward pruning out unused neural connections, musical tastes focus around the music we're used to. At about age 12, music begins to serve a social bonding function and we use music to distinguish our social group from others: this is the kind of music people like us listen to, that music is for them. As young teens, our musical tastes are further refined by what our friends are listening to. Most of us base our adult musical tastes on what we liked when we were 12 to16. In some cases, through effort, we can expand our musical tastes as adults. But if we had relatively narrow tastes in our developing years, this is more difficult to do because we lack the appropriate schemas, or templates, with which to process and ultimately to understand new musical forms.

Each generation develops a particular pattern of musical taste, different - often wildly different - from the generation before, yet certain members of each generation will have tastes which vary from that of the majority of their peers. Classical music, and jazz have lived on in spite of rock, rap, punk, country etc.

From my own experience I'd be inclined to add another factor likely to contribute to a person's musical taste - i.e. people one happens to encounter on the journey through life. If I had never met a certain country music artist back in the late 1980s I'd know exactly nothing about country music. Instead, because I met this person, my musical taste was led along a country music path, almost exclusively, for around ten years, and this was in the UK where country music is very much a "fringe" taste. Many years later I met and married Himself - a lifelong jazz fan.


I've realised that my taste in music is evolving/expanding still. Expanding is a better word than evolving in this context. In evolution, the old is left behind as defunct, in this case the old is still cherished. My taste before I met Himself ran to Sinatra, light opera, musicals (movies and Broadway-type), Sinatra, country music, Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Sinatra, occasional pop/rock songs, Sinatra. I now find my list includes some (emphasis on some) jazz; but what seems to me to be a bigger change: I have a much better appreciation of music without lyrics. I'd always been a "lyrics freak", but recently I've begun to enjoy just the music - for its own sake. This may seem like a subtle change, of little importance - but for me the change is huge!

I don't know how much my move across the Atlantic has to do with this expansion of taste. The move shunted my astrological ascendant from Cancer to Aquarius. Now I come to think about it, that does kind of fit astrologically. Cancer relates to all that's sweet, emotional and sentimental (and to Group #2 above). Aquarius (also my Sun sign) relates to a somewhat different scene - a need to listen with the head as well as the heart perhaps (and links to Group #1 above).

So, tidying-up this rag-bag of thoughts:

Factors contributing to musical taste:

Early influence from parents, peers, education.
Personality - astrological indications.
Influence, in adulthood, from people met on life's journey.

A person's taste in music might "congeal" at any point, or it could continue to expand throughout life, the difference depending largely on personality type..... back to astrology!

Music Monday: Barry Manilow ~~ Texas Gypsies

Today's post is a two-parter, mainly about Barry Manilow and his astrology, but first a word or two about a super band we saw at our local theatre on Saturday evening: The Texas Gypsies. There's no data available for astrological mumblings about these guys, but I do want to recommend their shows to any passing reader who has an opportunity to see them. The band is wonderfully entertaining for both musical nincompoops like me, and well-informed music-heads like my husband.

Now, if y'all thought there's nothing to be found in Texas, music-wise, but twang and country music, y'all are seriously mistaken! There's a large fraternity of jazz musicians in North Texas who intermingle to form several different groups/bands. One such band is The Texas Gypsies, based in Dallas. They came to our hometown with horns and drums along with guitar and double bass. We were superbly entertained in a variety of styles: New Orleans jazz and blues, western swing and big band music, along with a Django Reihnardt-type of jazz, and a sprinkle of The Beatles. Much of their repertoire will be familiar to jazz, swing and pop fans. The group has a full repertoire of original music too, it can be sampled on their 2007 album Cafe Du Swing. What makes the show extra special is to see how much the musicians are enjoying themselves - as well as delighting the audience.


(Click on photograph to enlarge it)

The band can be made up of from 3 to 9 musicians depending on venue. Our friend and relative, Jeff (TNPOTUS with commenter hat on) who organised the show tells me that the band members "just kind of come and go, depending on the gig and their availability. It's sort of a "collective." (Yes, that's right, a SOCIALIST band!!)" Well then - how could I not become an immediate fan?

All five of the guys on Saturday were superb musical artists and craftsmen, but one immediately caught my attention: Mike Sizer, who played saxophone and clarinet. Mr. Sizer seemed to me to be something special, even among such talented company. I joked that I'd become a groupie! A little Googling when back home brought up that Mike played with the famous Dukes of Dixieland for 6 years....that alone on someone's résumé is enough to impress my husband who wandered off and came back with 4 or 5 old LPs of the Dukes from way back. Mike, of course, joined the band in later years, can be seen playing with them on several videos at YouTube. As well as playing in other well-known bands, he has been a guest soloist with the Texas Wind Symphony, has done lots of studio recording based in San Francisco, and his work has appeared in ads and industrial videos.

Other band members for Saturday's show were: Steve Curry, brilliant guitar player and vocalist; John Hewitt, double bass and great vocals; Andrew Griffith drums, and excellent on trumpet: Freddie Jones.

See their website and hear clips of their music:
http://www.texasgypsies.com/listen/index.html

Photo #1) by husband, #2) by husband's daughter Karen.)





AND....now for SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT


Barry Manilow is one of those artists whose songwriting and singing have been unfairly held in disdain by the brigade who think they are, or more accurately were, "hip". Neil Diamond is another such artist. I've written about Neil already, as one of my all-time favourites, and as it happens I learned the other day that Neil has at last been nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - not before time!!!

"Hip" is in the eye and ear of the beholder, and to this particular beholder those, especially music professionals and critics, who consider themselves "hip" enough to deride someone in public places and written pieces - continuously - are in no way "hip" themselves - just the opposite in fact.

I've never followed Barry's career in detail, but was always glad to hear his songs played on radio shows. I hadn't given his personality much thought, to be honest, until I saw him in the role of mentor on the also oft derided TV show American Idol. He was one of the best, most caring most constructive and helpful mentors ever, in my opinion. From then on I've had a whole lot of admiration for him.



Barry will be heading towards the big 70 in a year or two, but he's still singing well. In 2009 his regular show at the Las Vegas Hilton was well received. A review by Megan Edwards HERE is a good read.

Some lyrics from one of his best-known recordings (written in collaboration with Jack Feldman; Gerard Kenny; Drey Shepperd & Bruce Sussman) "I Made It through the Rain" seem to reflect his own experiences:

I made it through the rain
I kept my world protected
I made it through the rain
I kept my point of view
I made it through the rain
And found myself respected
By the others who
Got rained on too
And made it through
When friends are hard to find
And life seems so unkind
Sometimes you feel so afraid
Just aim beyond the clouds
And rise above the crowds
And start your own parade
'Cause when I chased my fears away
That's when I knew that I could finally say
I made it through the rain

Born on 17 June 1943 in Brooklyn, New York at 9:00 AM. (Astrodatabank)



Saturn just 8 degrees from his Gemini Sun connects to a couple of things - his longevity as a performer and work ethic; and possibly to the crtics who have dogged him throughout his career. Mercury and Uranus conjoined in the early degrees of Gemini reflect a guy who was never afraid to be apart from the crowd: different. Unlike John Lennon (last Monday's subject) who always felt "different and hip", Barry may not have seen himself as "hip", or different from anybody else, but he was able to carry the perception of him by his critics with consummate grace, something which is exceptional and unusual in itself. The four Gemini planets combined relate to his obvious ease of communication with his adoring fan-base.

Moon in warm-hearted, expansive Sagittarius opposes Saturn in Gemini, probably providing a balanced enough outlook for Barry to survive that unfairly critical background which followed him around for so long.

Venus in Leo sits right on the ascendant angle of his natal chart (if time of birth is near accurate). This translates as planet of the arts/music placed in the strongest position of all in any chart, and in Leo, sign of the showman, which Barry undoubtedly is.

Jupiter in Cancer, semi-sextile (helpful aspect) to natal Sun adds sensitivity and comapassion to his lightning-fast Geminian mental reflexes.

Weekend in New England(My favourite)
written by Randy Edelman.

Music Monday ~ Aranjuez, Rodrigo, Miles & The Miners

This Monday, another classical piece popularised by use in movies, or performance by artists from differing musical genres: Concierto de Aranjuez by Spanish 20th century composer Joaquin Rodrigo. This was originally a composition for classical guitar and orchestra, written in 1939. The Adagio is best known, easily recognizable, and used in several movies, television shows, and commercials. Many will have heard the Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez without knowing its title or composer. I never tire of listening to this piece. I have a home-compiled cd containing 7 or 8 different versions, one after the other - I love 'em all!


Joaquín Rodrigo was born in Sagunto, Valencia, Spain on St. Cecilia's day (St. Cecilia is patron saint of music): 22 November, in 1901. His only daughter, born 27 January (so was I) is named Cecilia too, almost certainly after the saint. At age three Rodrigo lost his sight almost completely, the result of an epidemic of diphtheria. He confirmed that this event undoubtedly led him into music as a profession.

Rodrigo's natal chart (below)doesn't initially shout "composer!" to me. I wonder, had it not been for the diptheria and subsequent blindness, whether he'd have been more likely to follow some other career path? Outside circumstances ought always to be taken into consideration in tandem with astrological indications.

His Sun and Mercury in Scorpio indicate a passionate nature, but the stellium (cluster) in Capricorn linking Jupiter, Saturn and Venus lends a stern air of no-nonsense to the chart, with Saturn's limitations modifying Jupiter's urge for excess. Mars and Neptune were in opposition from the last degree of Sagittarius and first degree of Cancer, which again reflects some kind of challenge to creativity. I don't usually mention Chiron, but here it could be of of note that Chiron, asteroid known as "The Wounded Healer" is opposing Neptune along with Mars, making this opposition even more significant, bearing in mind Rodrigo's early illness and blindness.

Moon would be in Aries, whatever his time of birth. With both Sun and Moon signs ruled by Mars Rodrigo was equipped, temperamentally, to deal with all challenges his life brought to him. He appears to have done so, with great success.


12 noon chart shown as time of birth is unknown.



The Concierto de Aranjuez was inspired by the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the spring resort palace and gardens originally built by Philip II in the last half of the 16th century. The work attempts to transport the listener to another place and time through the evocation of the sounds of nature. (Wikipedia)

Link to a classical version played by John Williams. Among the many musicians who have interpreted this piece, possibly the most surprising was jazz legend Miles Davis in collaboration with arranger Gil Evans. (Link to this at YouTube) It forms part of the famous 1960 album Sketches of Spain. Miles Davis said: "That melody is so strong that the softer you play it, the stronger it gets, and the stronger you play it, the weaker it gets."


Other versions include those by famous violinists, clarinettists, The Modern Jazz Quartet and other jazz combos, classical guitarists, and easy listening orchestras. Lyrics have been added - Egyptian born Greek singer Demis Roussos used the music for his song Follow Me. In 1967, the French singer Richard Anthony brought out a single named Aranjuez Mon Amour, with lyrics by Guy Bontempelli. Il Divo sing a version too. The Shadows released their take in 1979" Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto.

In the film School of Rock, it can be heard when the children are playing in music class. In Brassed Off it was played by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. In that film, the concerto is sometimes referred to as "Orangejuice". Plain-spoken Yorkshire folk would be inclined to do that. It's one way to get their tongues around unfamiliar words.

Away from popular music, some Jewish cantors, specifically of Sephardic tendency, have adopted the main melody from the Adagio for the Kaddish, one of the most important parts of the Jewish liturgy. This can be seen especially in Sephardic congregations of Latin America (Mexico and Argentina), as well as in Israel. The phrasing of the Kaddish verses corresponds almost perfectly to the phrasing of the Adagio, resulting in a surprising religious effect and tone color.

Of all the beautiful renditions of Aranjuez available on video, from classical through middle-of-the-road to jazz-inspired, I've picked the one that made me weep as I listened and watched the images. Reading comments afterwards, it appears that I wasn't the only one. It's the "Orange Juice" version by Yorkshire's Grimethorpe Colliery Band, featured in Brassed Off, with images of Yorkshire and from the British miners' strikes in 1984/5. Dark days. Many in Britain will never forget them. A way of life for a generation of brave men was lost then, as the Conservatives' economic policies closed coal mines around the country in favor of nuclear power. Our strong support for the miners meant exactly nothing to demon Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. I still cringe at the thought of her - to this day! Nowadays coal mines are not the way ahead, but for decades we depended on what those men risked their lives to provide.

I believe Rodrigo would be pleased that this music can still help to evoke strong emotion.

Summer Soltice with Walt Whitman & Charlie Parker

Walt Whitman's prose is as lovely as his poetry. He had natal Sun in Gemini by the way. His natal chart was covered in a 2008 post HERE.
This piece of his prose fits rather well on this Summer Solstice:

An Early Summer Reveille

Away then to loosen, to unstring the divine bow, so tense, so long. Away, from curtain, carpet, sofa, book—from “society”—from city house, street, and modern improvements and luxuries—away to the primitive winding, aforementioned wooded creek, with its untrimm’d bushes and turfy banks—away from ligatures, tight boots, buttons, and the whole cast-iron civilize life—from entourage of artificial store, machine, studio, office, parlor—from tailordom and fashion’s clothes—from any clothes, perhaps, for the nonce, the summer heats advancing, there in those watery, shaded solitudes. Away, thou soul, (let me pick thee out singly, reader dear, and talk in perfect freedom, negligently, confidentially,) for one day and night at least, returning to the naked source-life of us all—to the breast of the great silent savage all-acceptive Mother. Alas! how many of us are so sodden—how many have wander’d so far away, that return is almost impossible.

And - more pure class: Charlie (Bird) Parker with his version of Gershwin's wonderful Summertime.

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on 29 August 1920. Raised in Kansas City, Missouri, found fame in New York City as a jazz saxophonist. He's counted as one of the legends of that genre, died as a result of drug abuse at the tender age of 34. He had 4 personal planets in meticulous Virgo, opposed by maverick planet Uranus and Moon in Pisces (time of birth unknown, but the opposition of Moon is more than likely). I'd say that this opposition is key to both his musical genius and his inability to free himself from his addictions.

Parker's soaring, fast, rhythmically asymmetrical improvisations could amaze the listener; nevertheless close inspection shows each line to hold a complete, well-constructed phrase with each note in place. Parker's harmonic ideas were revolutionary, introducing a new tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Although many Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuoso technique and complex melodic lines he was also one of the great blues players. (From a potted biography HERE)

Solstice Greetings!