Two wonderful online interviews were floating around this week:

1) Sonny Rollins - interviewed in the Wall Street Journal:

I used to be a ferocious practicer, but I can't physically do that anymore. These days, if I can practice two to three hours a day, that's great. I'll usually practice in the afternoon, starting at noon, or in the evening from 8 p.m. on.

Rooms have sound -- a note, if you will. My living room is an E, and to a lesser degree an A-flat. When I play an E in there, it resonates more than any other note -- filling the space and lingering in the air. E is a good note, but I'm an ecumenical guy. I have nothing against any of the notes. Sometimes they have stuff against us players.

Just perfect. The world is a better place with Sonny Rollins in it -- still practicing; still a beautiful soul. Thank you, Sonny!

2) Paul Bley blindfold test by Ted Panken in 2002:

Brad Mehldau, "Quit" (from TRIO PROGRESSION, Warner Brothers, 2001) (Mehldau, p; Larry Grenadier, b; Jorge Rossy, d) -- (5 stars)

Are you going to continue to play Keith Jarrett for me all day today? It's no small accomplishment to play Keith Jarrett. The problem is, he was there first. It's who you avoid that's more important than who you support. It's not hard to draw up a roadmap of who to avoid. Just check the "Downbeat" Readers' Poll. If it's already been recorded, it's not a good idea to try to improve on it.

Ted plays him over 10 selections and Paul's comments are just priceless. You gotta check it out...

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Tags: Brad Mehldau, jazz, Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, Ted Panken

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This is such a sweet story:

Even the Beatles would have had trouble recognizing their peppy song in the lullaby that Andrea Zalkin sang to the tiny, fragile baby clutched to her chest in the neonatal unit. But there was something unintentionally poignant in the title she chose for her son: "Eight Days a Week" is more time than can fit on the calendar. Ms. Zalkin's baby, Hudson, born 13 weeks early, has had too little time.

As she sang, monitors showed Hudson's heartbeat slowing and his oxygen saturation increasing. Effects like that were among the findings of a new study on the use of music as medicine.

The accompanying video is poignant, too.

And here's the study from the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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Tags: music therapy, pediatrics

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My band played a fun gig at The 55 Bar last month and ended with this 22 minute opus which begins with the Billy Strayhorn standard, "Day Dream", and ends with the Chris Bacas standard, "Talk Time":

Day Dream into Talk Time.

The band features Chris Bacas on tenor sax, Matthew Fries on piano, Gary Wang on bass, and yours truly - Vinson Valega - on drums.

Enjoy!

postscript: I'll be bringing another quartet into the same club this Tuesday, April 16th, and will post an update in a few days!

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Tags: 55 Bar, Billy Strayhorn, free MP3, mp3 download

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