TightRope

Lately, I have been on the edge and this song pretty much describes my life right now. Either there is a light at the end of the tunnel or a train/locomotive. I feel like I am on a “tightrope”. As such, this song also describes the current situation with public libraries. Apparently, they are thinking of closing five public libraries in the Birmingham area. So hats off to Janelle Monae for coming up with a song that is kind of a neo-blues/pop song that may just bring tuxedos back into main street fashion. Yes I use to wear tux ties to church. What?

Supernatural

Santana - Supernatural (Legacy Edition)

For nearly 40 years, Santana (the band) has captivated legions of fans. With there Mexican infused rock, Santana lead by guitarist Carlos Santana has taken fans on culutrual and spitiural jounrers since the mid 60's. As with any music group that has last this long, reinvention of the wheel becomes necessary in order to appeal to a new generation.  With Santana, one of those period came in the late nineties. With the support of his Arista Clive Davis, the concept album Supernatural born. A blending of modern pop, rock and R&B mixed with Carlos Santana's fiery Mexican infused guitar rifts made for an album, that reivigorated a band muticulutal awareness and garnered the band 15 x platnum albums and  nine ggammy awards just within the continetal United States. So, how can you make an album that has ganreed such wide spread succeess even better. Technically, you can't. But for an avid or casual listener you can offer a special edition of an album that made 1999 a wondeful year to embrace the such a legendary band.

As with, most Legacy editions of albums, the second disc is the star of the show. Either there is fluff on the second CD. An example of such an album would be the Legacy Edition Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien. If you own some of Satriani's more recent live albums, then you are not missing anything.  However, if you buy the deluxe edition of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On? Listeners are treated to a conert on the second disc that is arguable Gaye's banner moment concert wise. But back to the album at hand. Sanatana's legacy edition Supernatural is not on the same level  as Gaye's What's Going On. But, Carlos and his crew aim for that level of spiriality. Gems such as Ya Yo Me Cure focus more on the band itself and not the hybrid collaboration that made the inital release such a success. A shame that these and tracks like the tribute to Bob Marley Exodus/Get Up Stand Up; Exodus\ Get Up Stand Up did not get released earlier. However by itself, the second disc might not have garnered the level of success that the orginral release of supernatural did. In the end, this collection is well worth the buy. The 2nd disc is not a filler CD. It just happens to be further proof that Carlos Santana is Supernatural.

The Man in The Machine: Pat Metheny's Orchestrion

One of the main features of jazz that has attracted me to this genre of music is the use of  improvisation; creating a spontaneous musical idea based on internal and external stimuli. An example of such an occurrence is the gathering of multiple human musicians. Emotions react to emotions, drummers react to SBDs (Silent But Deadly......). The human psyche is an unpredictable feature that makes improvisation so inviting. With that being said, what happens when your musicians are all robots that think in binary code. Normally, when someone says that they are talking about just a computer program reacting to calculated random response. However, I am talking about computers responding to a human being's emotions using the rudimentary tenants of improvisation. This is sort of what acclaimed jazz guitarist Pat Metheny tries to acomplish with his lastest album, Orchestrion. Taking his cues from the types of machines that are the title and subject of his album, Orchestrions are machines that play music and are designed to sound like bands or orchestras. They are normally operated by one person and utilize foot pedals or more commonly, sheet music to produce sound.

 

As such, what about the freaking album? A collaboration between man and machine typically yields preconceptions of a piece of work that is calculated and artificial.  However, with Orchestrion, Metheny uses the idea of Orchestrions and combines them with 20th century solenoid technology to bring about an album that is remarkably more organic than any of his previous solo works.

 

The machines play the music that he has written. However, there response is not precise. His one-man orchestra includes a bass, pianos, marimbas, guitar-bots and blow bottles all working on software programs and solenoid switches controlled by Metheny's musical response via guitar picking and pedals.  The opening title track is the usual affair that all Metheny fans have been use to, but with less drawn out solos. This was one theme that Metheny focused upon too much on his last group album, The Way UP.  The response from the robots was much like Metheny playing with himself. So what does this have to do with Librarianship? What?!!!!! What indeed.  Librarians are in a occupational flux where they can no longer depend on there co-workers for help. They have to use their own creativity more so than ever to facilitate patrons to learn and find information. New technologies, such as standardized and advanced blogging are ways in which 21st century librarians are communicating with the masses from long distances. Ok, enough with the library moment. The consensus of the Pat Metheny album, Orchestrion is that it is Great!!  He accomplished his goal. Conclusively, this album shows me that new horizons from Jazz still exist beyond the realm of acoustic musicianship.

http://www.patmetheny.com/