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INTRO
Starting today and continuing on a regular basis (more or less weekly), I am making available on this page a free MP3 for download. The recording will be of my group in one form or another, either from a recent gig or rehearsal session, and mostly from here in New York City. The sound quality will certainly vary, as the acoustics in each room are very different. Additionally, the placement of the microphone affects the sound tremendously (the balance of the band, the timbre of the instruments, etc), although I'm getting better at picking the best spot for the mic...:)

I have two microphones that I use to record into my iRiver MP3 recorder (model IFP-795) - a basic Sony Stereo Condenser Mic (ECM-MS907) which costs about $70-$80 and a more expensive Audio-Technica AT-822, which costs about $250-$300. The sound quality is remarkably clear from both of these mics, and since the Sony is smaller, I've been using that one more often. But I must say that I love my Audio-Technica more! Finally, all of these MP3s are encoded at 128K and run between 5-10mb large.

MUSIC IS DIFFERENT
One of the qualities that sets music apart from all other art forms is the temporal aspect of its creation. That is, music only exists in a time frame from a beginning to an end. As it passes through time, it delivers information that affects the listener immediately, and unless its recorded, it's gone forever (except for the impression singed into the listener's memory). Unlike the visual arts or literature, you can't go back to the performance - unless, of course, it was recorded.

Now with jazz music, one of its central aspects is the immediacy of improvisation. The idea comes into the musician's head and it goes out into the world through his or her instrument. Poof! ...the musician is then on to the next idea - usually in a split second time frame. I would say that of all of the millions or billions of bits of creativity that come out of the musician's instrument, only a tiny, minuscule fraction of those are ever recorded and preserved.

MUSICAL MOMENTS
Don't get me wrong - there are many moments of creativity that just plain suck. They might be ideas that aren't fully formed, or are boring, or obnoxious, etc. Yet we jazz musicians rarely have any of our music recorded. Think about the vast repertoire of jazz recordings since the early 20th century. If you multiplied those by a million (or probably much more), you might approximate the amount of creativity gone unrecorded...lost forever. It would be wonderful, in fact, if every jazz club just recorded every gig and then the best music was kept for history's sake. It rarely happens, though. All that we have left are comments like I once heard the great tenor saxophonist, Harold Land, say to an audience after playing a duo concert with master drummer, Billy Higgins: "Yes, we've been playing duo now in Los Angeles for over 40 years, and there have been many wonderful 'musical moments.'"

So, without further adieu, I give you a weekly "musical moment" in an MP3 recording...

~~~~~~

"The Trend is Your Friend" [9.8mb]
The Vinson Valega Quartet
(composer: Vinson Valega)

Recorded on 5/10/07 at The 55 Bar in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Personnel:
Anton Denner - alto sax
Dimitri Moderbacher - tenor sax
Josh Ginsberg - bass
Vinson Valega - drums

This is an original of mine that I wrote a few years back and recorded with my sextet on "Awake." Note: the sextet will be giving two CD Release Shows celebrating the release of this CD - on 6/1/07 at Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia and on 6/25/07 here in NYC at The Blue Note. I really love playing in this room, as the acoustics are some of the best in the city. Just remarkable, actually. It's one of the reasons this club is so special and has been home to so many amazing musicians over the years - from Joe Lovano in the early '80's to Wayne Krantz today.

The tempo is slower than the original and Anton really devours this tune with his solo, which he just nails - BANG! - from the get-go.

Check it out and thanks for listening!

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