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themiddle

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  • Exactly. While they are undoubtedly extremely talented musicians, their presence here kinda made me feel like I was looking at my Dad’s Jewish Blog. Don’t get me wrong, even that can be cool too, but i struggle with it. Nina Simone, i don’t have to struggle with.

  • That’s funny because 1. Heifetz and Rubinstein were actually Jewish while Simone wasn’t, and 2. both were considered – and to some degree still are – among the finest musicians to have ever have played their respective instruments, while Simone, certainly very talented, was never in the league of master musician or even singer, although she was known as a great and intelligent performer. 3. Simone probably recorded this footage before the footage of Heifetz was recorded, so this is probably closer in age to your Dad’s Jewish blog.

    You shouldn’t struggle so much with classical music. Really. It’s just another form of music, you know, kinda like jazz.

  • Love Nina and Rubinstein since I learned here that he also swiveled his hips.

    Please check out the extremely Jewlicious Felix Riebl of Cat Empire. That Jewish nose, those Orthodontically perfect teeth and that cute faux-Elvis thing he does with his leg – he can do the Genie in front of me anytime! One incredible creature!

    • Felix rieble also has jewlicious ears, head shape and under eye bump. However his eyebrows, lips and eyes themselves are absolutely something else. Probably he is amazing mix

  • As I wrote the other day on allaboutjazz.com (mistakenly, I was told, attributing the quote to Charlie Parker): there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music. (Ellington’s quote, supposedly.)

    Glad ck can relate to Nina Simone, but I’ll wager she’s as popular with, say, the college set as Heifetz. There may be some artists whom one can only appreciate after logging some life mileage. She may be one. The classic example in my own little music world: Bill Evans. Not only will no one under 30 get him, they shouldn’t even bother to listen.

  • Anyways, it’s a beautiful rendition of a beautiful song we sang in my youth that I haven’t heard for years. She and the band interpreted it like they got it.

    As far what’s cooler, jazz or classical, maybe someone who gets both, like…

    Tom.

    …may recommend, as proof it’s a moot argument, jazz pianist Keith Jarrett’s “Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Buch I” a portion of a Bach concerto that I was privileged to see part of live.

    Huh? Music snobbery? I got music snobbery!!

    On the other hand I’ve seen Pat Metheny, Return To Forever twice, and managed to stay away through an entire Shakti concert. No one’s perfect.

    TM, you made a good point but then tried to defend it by bringing in Nina’s gentileness. If Jewishness matters that much, don’t we have to take the good w/the bad? Bring it up with Shaister, if you can find him:

    http://www.shaister.com/archives/000580.html

  • Ramon, I was responding to the absurdity of claiming that this clip is Jewlicious while the clips by two Jewish classical musicians are not. I happen to love Nina Simone and don’t assess my favorite musicians on the basis of their faith.

    Pat Metheny, by the way, is also a favorite of mine although I admit to preferring his earlier work – some time around the late ’90s, I didn’t find his work as appealing. Under The Missouri Sky is the last album of his that I truly enjoyed.

  • Thanks for fixing my YouTube link.

    I just bought this great software for $15.00 called tubesock that allows you to rip, mix & copy YouTube videos to your iPod. So fun!
    http://stinkbot.com/Tubesock/index.html.

    I wanted to do this last year, but I was quite desperate enough. This year, I’m desperate.
    I am offering a chance to stay in my room with me at Atlantic City, March 23-25 to anyone who submits the best essay on why Tom Jones is the Ultimate Voice and the Sexiest man God ever put on this planet. This offer is applies to both male and females. Jobbers need not apply.

  • TM – I’m with you. You brought up her religion. But hey, I’m with you.

    The first Metheny group record was magic. Great live quartet. Lotsa Jews up there. The first solo record was pretty cool too. By “Wichita Falls…” it started going to pot… or should I say chamomile.

    After I discovered Tom Verlaine I said bye to that pretty fusion. Nevertheless, nothing against the pretty fusion.

  • Agree with Middle about early Metheny– I think it was all downhill after he partnered with Lyle Mays. (Though Metheny’s disc with Ornette makes a nice racket.)

    Jarrett, eh, Ramon? Now I got serious music envy (one of the seven deadly sins!). Are you an ECM head?

  • I thought Metheny was always with Lyle Mays in the Pat Metheny Group albums. I enjoyed his playing on them but when he brought out his first solo album, I admit to losing all interest in Mays’ work.

  • All of the foregoing Middle recommendations are good ones. Metheny seemed to get sidetracked into some sort of faux-Brazilian vibe with Mays. I remember seeing them perform together in Providence; they were very loud, all flash and no substance.

    A non-M recommendation right back at you: Tomasz Stanko, ‘Lontano’ (ECM, 2006).

  • You get closer to 43 and you can’t even give it away!

    Hope to see ya’ll at the Cape May Jazz Festival April 20 -22!

  • Yeah 37 rules! that how old my GF is, Long legs and all.

  • So yeah, like I don’t need that. I doubt anyone is going to take you up on that, but you never know. Report back on your fun trip. Actually a better group, Steel Pulse is there this weekend, tickets only 28 bucks. Anyone wanting to meet up let me know.

  • I’m joking asshole…hope you enjoy your girlfriend…I’m sure your wife and kids are glad you are out of the house.

  • kids, play nice. you’ve been well behaved for so long, why start this shit up again now?

  • If one is joking in a post they need to say lol of LOL or something like that other wise how is a reader to discern? 6 ft blonde, couldn’t say no.

  • SR: Always assume the best andd try to take the high road. derech Eretz Kadmah Leh Torah dude. I know you can do it!

  • The first “Group” records and first solo records are pretty interchangable. Dude put out too much product. Lyle was always in and out of the projects. The show I saw was ’79 or ’80 touring the first “Group” record with Mays, Dan Gottlieb and Mark Egan. The best combo of the bunch…

    Right then I got turned onto the record TM linked to and my days of looking for new modern jazz/jazz fusion artists were over. That record, Patti Smith, PIL…

    We go through phases, get influenced by friends and cohorts, and then move on to other things… and at some point we look back and can appreciate all of it for what it was when it was. Still, it took me awhile to fathom what Miles was doing with that heavy metal guitar guy.

    Tom – I’m familiar with ECM but not even remotely as versed in jazz (all eras) as you. Good to know there’s a good source here. TM – you should get “Adventure” – not as brilliant as “Marquee” but a few real great songs.

    And now we shall stop our Hornsby’ing and tune into the next episode of the “Steves and Chutzpah” show… in which Chutzpah goes out and buys a Steel Pulse record and smokes a bunch of weed… and ponders what group Steves was saying Steele Pulse was “a better group” than.

  • OK – from now on I am going to assume that anyone who reads my comments who is not a meanie has some slight sense of humor.

    And in our next episode, Chutzpah tells Jewish Mother…

  • oh comon’ we can’t use words like “asshole” and “ass” around here anymore!?! Too many Rabbis creeping around? Me and my sewer mouth are going to find another blog and I better not get trolled there…

  • I’m not a rabbi and I made the, uh, subtle, changes because it was an attack on another regular and I don’t think it’s where we want to go. I’m careful to remove Jobber’s attacks on you because it just leaves a bad taste in everybody’s mouth. This would start a similar cycle with somebody else.

  • yes but I never attack her ad hominem only on content,

    For example, to be at a Tom Jones show, is only for chicks to get into, what w. them throwing panties on stage and all.

    Whereas the Steel Pulse is a fee-good Reggae vibe that will promote empathy, love, and pleasure amongst all who attend.

    This is just by way of example. Never ever did I instigate an attack on her as she has to me more times than I can count.

    Why she maintained and maintains this hatred of me, I cannot fathom and it remains an unsolved mystery,

  • It’s really not that hard to figure out, Jobber. Can we get back to talking about Nina Simone and music now?

  • I can relate. Why people hate me is an unfathomable mystery.

  • I’m like Rod Smart, former Carolina Panther (NFL) and star in the short-lived XFL. He was famous for replacing his name on the back of his jersey with, ‘He Hate Me.’

  • I think Middle led us down the path of acrimony by posting about an edgy artist like Nina Simone.

    So, avoid her and controversial artists like Steel Pulse (who endorse ganja) and Tom Jones (who promotes hair pieces). Stick with wholesome acts like Celtic Woman and Andre Rieu.

  • Oh, jumpin’ Christ on a pogo stick, now I have to get rid of all my Steel Pulse albums. Goodbye, Handsworth Revolution, farewell, Tribute to the Martyrs, catch you later, the somewhat-underrated Caught You, lehitra’ot, the slightly-overrated True Democracy…you’ve spent many an evening filling me with righteous indignation over the historical plight of the African people, but I’m afraid I must bid you adieu – even if your passing will leave a gaping hole on the shelf between Stan Getz and Steely Dan.

    Is there anything more awful than discovering you share musical tastes with someone for whom you have no respect? Just so everyone knows: if you find me slumped in the bathtub a few inches deep in my own blood, and I haven’t left a note indicating otherwise, it’s because the AE Phi I’ve been slumming with made me a mixtape featuring the Congos, Willi Williams and Jacob Miller.

  • Michael, there’s even worse news. Middle loves Perry Como and The Carpenters, too.

  • Don’t think I don’t know about you and the M-man’s googly-eyed video chat duets of “I’ve Never Been to Me,” Morrissey.

  • Middle’s put out a great album of covers of my stuff, including ‘How Soon Is Now’ and ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore.’

    Wasn’t Perry Como Jewish? (He sort of balances out Einstein.)

  • Middle also wants me to join him as a duo– Peaches and Bitter Herb. (Not sure I wanna go there.)

  • I’m feeling charitable tonight, probably because I’m kind of drunk, so I’ll let you two lovebirds decide amongst yourselves who’s going to be the Captain and who’s going to be Tenille.

  • Yech, I’m gonna go and cleanse myself with some Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Beit Habubot and The Stranglers on rotation.

  • Hey Michael – you gonna put those Steel Pulse records on Ebay? Or bring ’em down to the flea market?

    Peaches and Herb are people? All this time I’ve been pronouncing Herb… darn, now I gotta take ’em out of my 25 foot section titled “Reggae, Ska, Rocksteady”.

    By the way, there isn’t an artist mentioned here that I can’t or couldn’t appreciate at one time or another. Depending on the mood of course. With the exception of Rod Smart.

  • Now I hate you Tom Morrissey. Tom Jones does not wear hair pieces. For your information, I’m sure the hair on his head was surgically grafted to his scalp from his back by Beverly Hill’s finest plastic surgeons.

    If you look like that at 67, I promise to do all the unspeakable things to you that I’d like to do to him.

    Further, he hasn’t been about panties in a very long time (although if a guy can’t get laid after a TJ concert, he can’t get laid in a brothel). He has produced with Wyclef Jean and Jools Holland ( keyboardist from Squeeze). He can do any kind of music from hip/hop to blues/jazz/swing to ballads to R&B and never be off pitch or hit a wrong note, and he’s always working with younger artists to stay current.

    He did the most Jewlicious version of “My Yiddishe Momma” that anyone’s ever sung. He is the love of my life, and until Ricky Martin decides to be straight or Elvis rises from the dead, he will remain so.

    Can any of you gentleman name one other living musical artist who looks amazing, can move like a lover should and sounds great ? I think not. Not only can’t a woman find a match these days, she can’t even find someone to fantasize about. Very Jewlicious Harry Connick Jr. is getting there, but he still needs some seasoning in the hip swiveling dept.

    Oooh Child, things are gonna get easier, oooh child, things are gonna be brighter…

  • I once saw Dizzy Gillespie do a far superior version of this Israeli folk song. And Pat Metheny’s first album, “Bright Size Life,” was his best …

  • Jewish Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), ranked 27 th best guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine… Dedicated to our Troops on the 5th Anniversary…may you come home safely with Godspeed!

  • is it 5th or 4rth? This will indeed most likely be the last year over there for the majority of US soldiers.

  • “Bright Size Life’ indeed very good– still like Metheny’s cacophanous date with Ornette….

  • Bummer. I really wanted to see that, but now I’m getting a “This video has been removed due to a terms of use violation” message. I had no idea she ever recorded anything with any Jewish content!