(And it is already February)
Here is a new song called Walkabout.
Now wasn’t that fun?
Here is one you are sure to remember:
That was Chorale Number 81 by Bach, “Now That the Day Hath Reached Its Close.”
Finally, here are samples of a work in progress called “Monotony.” If you want to loop it, right-click over the song and select “loop.”
I woke up early this morning
With a cat sitting on my chest
He arrived without a warning
And he interrupted my rest
I asked him to be quiet
And to let me get some sleep
Please, won’t you try it?
I don’t want to hear a peep!
Then the room became dark as night
As if we had blown a fuse
Then I knew that I was right
I was a victim of the kitty-cat blues
Play the Blues…….
Photo by J. Catman
Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including “St. Thomas”, “Oleo”, “Doxy”, “Pent-Up House”, and “Airegin”, have become jazz standards. Rollins has been called “the greatest living improviser” and the “Saxophone Colossus.”
From the songook titled Maiden Voyage – Fourteen Easy-to-Play Jazz Tunes, here is my version of Doxy by Sonny Rollins (without the 20 minute improv). (This was updated on Tuesday, 12-20. There was a wrong note on the mp3, if you can believe it.)
Fast Version:
Slow Version:
Artwork by Paul Klee.
I have always heard that campfire stories should always be accompanied by music. To that end, here is a song from the songbook “Original Piano Duets for American Composers.” It is titled Around the Campfire. You may have heard another version if you were here yesterday.
And here is another song from the same book, titled Village Festival. I took creative license and named it Festival of Lights. I am not sure why.
See if you can name that tune. I will give you a hint: The composer was named Ethelbert Nevin. His birthday was on Friday, the same day I posted the first versions of this song. But I didn’t know it at the time. Spooky!
I just love learning about music and composers from the late 1800’s. That was an interesting time in music, don’t you agree? I see you are nodding your head. Any time in musical history is interesting if you look close enough.
(For extra fun, play it at 1.25 speed. Just click the three little dots.)
Here is a song called “Around the Campfire.” It is from the songbook “Original Piano Duets for American Composers.” It is more of a learning tool, like the rest of the songs in the book. Hence the repetition.
It’s time for you to name that tune. Or just listen to it. It’s entirely up to you.
These Bach Chorales are being downloaded at an ever-increasing rate. Listeners from all over the world are clamoring for more! Well, listeners, here are three more for you. And I have to tell you, I think number 56 is the best one yet.
I hope they bring as much happiness to you as they have brought to me. Because let’s face it, we could all really use a bit of that right now.
Check out these paintings by David Hockney. He certainly knew how to use color.
Do you know why people sometimes wear complementary colors? For the compliments, of course.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/david-hockney-the-splash-auction/index.html
Here are three more Bach Chorales for you. They are Chorale numbers 41, 43, and 44 in the Book of 101 Chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach. Everyone, sing along…..
This song is from an Academy Award winning film. I’m pretty sure. In any event, I have been working on it all day and it’s time to get it out into the world.
It was written over 100 years ago by Scott Joplin. He was born on November 24, 1868 and he passed away on April 1, 1917. He was an American composer and pianist. He is also known as the “King of Ragtime” because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, music that was born out of the African-American community.
During his brief career, he wrote over 100 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the “Maple Leaf Rag”, became ragtime’s first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music and largely disdained the practice of ragtime such as that in honky tonk.
For more on that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin
And here are some thoughts I thought worth sharing:
– Did you know that before I became a vegetarian I was in “Burgers and Acquisitions?”
– Do you like ambience? Take an ambien.
– I am a guitar player, which means I often fret.
– Even thugs sometimes need hugs.
– Nipples always come in pairs. You can’t have one without the udder.
Here is another song for you
To make you happy if you’re blue
It’s quite laid back and very mellow
And the opposite of blue is yellow
It is an original 12-bar blues that I am sure you have never heard before.
And here are two more Bach Chorales. Only 88 more to go….
Today seems like a good day for a song about the ocean. It reminds me of the people I knew in the Navy, before we all drifted apart.
How about a 300 year old Bach Chorale to start us off?
I took this melody:
And added some chords:
Bonus Tracks:
And don’t forget, all 100 Classical Songs can be played in the music player at the bottom of every page on this site, along with some other “creations.”
The Write Stuff 