Album Review: "Stages" by Josh Groban

My review of Josh Groban's seventh album Stages, devoted exclusively to musical theatre music, is up on CastAlbums.org. Spoiler alert: I wasn't a fan of the album, mostly because each song blurred into the next. The album needs more variety in its arrangements.

Also, this was my first review to garner a comment! Someone disagreed with my take on the album, but glancing through other reviews on the Internet, I'm not too surprised: I seem to have written one of the few less-than-positive reviews out there.

“I wish Groban would have been a little more adventurous in his programming and arrangements. He has proven his artistry and developed a fan base; now would be the perfect time for him to vary his routine. Anyone who follows Groban on Twitter or has seen his talk show appearances knows that he has a sense of humor and lively personality. I miss that on this album. A little humor or wit could have made the entire project stronger.”

Anyway - head over to CastAlbums.org to read the entire review.

Cast Album Review: "Tamar of the River"

I've started writing album reviews for CastAlbums.org. My first piece was on Tamar of the River, an off-Broadway show written by Marisa Michelson & Joshua H. Cohen and featuring Margo Seibert. It's a beautiful postmodern score, unlike most other cast albums you'll hear. As I wrote, its clear the composer owes a debt to Meredith Monk, and this work would find a comfortable home in a Roomful of Teeth program, but it's also quite original in its writing.

Side note: About a week after this was published, I got a Facebook notification from a friend. I was mentioned in a comment after Maria Michelson found this review and posted it. Her reaction was positive, as were the comments of her friends (some of whom had worked on the show in some capacity or another). It's weird to know that the creators read my review (not that I expected them to ignore it if they came upon it); it's difficult to write if you think that the composer is looking over your shoulder, reading what you write. But it made me feel good to know that my review was read, respected, appreciated, and shared.

Stay tuned for more reviews - I have a few albums coming down the line, and I'll share them here when they're published.

Red Garland's solo on "Bye, Bye Blackbird"

Red Garland was one of my first jazz influences. Early high school was spent listening almost nonstop to the albums he recorded with Miles Davis. I’m not sure why I was so drawn to him. I remember that my teacher was the first to introduce me to him, and that my friends and I wore out those albums. I was so enamored with Garland that my AOL username was partly a “tribute” to him. As is the case with much of what I listened to in high school, over time I listened to him less and less - but whenever the mood struck me and I turned on some of those early Miles albums, I couldn’t help but smile and sing along to Garland’s solos.

A previously unreleased set of Garland’s was released a few months ago. I purchased it without pause, excited to hear him play in a live trio setting, towards the end of his career (and his life). It reminded me that I’ve been wanting to formally transcribe and upload his classic solo from “Bye Bye Blackbird,” off of Miles’s ‘Round About Midnight album. I transcribed it a long time ago, but over the years, as my jazz practice fell off and transformed into jazz appreciation, I forgot it - about the solo, and how to play it. Of course, whatever notes I made years ago were lost to the ages.

So I started from scratch. I hadn’t transcribed a jazz solo for a long time and this experience made me realize how much I missed this simple act. It’s an act of creativity, in a way, even if it’s not creative in the sense of making something anew. There’s something special about spending time with a piano, a pencil, some staff paper, and a recording, and blocking out the rest of the world as you listen to a masterful recording, taking what you already know inside and out and putting it on paper.

This solo is such straightforward Garland that it should be in every textbook. The melodic contour is pure medium tempo bebop: we see tritone substitutions, chordal outlines, passing tones and entrapment, ghost notes. The comping left hand plays on the and of beats 2 and 4, a rhythm that can be heard in many Garland solos and when he’s comping behind other players; the anticipation of the beats helps propel the solo forward.

We wouldn’t have a Garland solo if there weren’t a block chord section. Garland’s block chord style is unique but relatively simple. The left hand usually plays rootless voicing of the chord, oftentimes with alterations. The right hand outlines an octave with the middle voice sounding a fifth up from the bottom. This interval often creates tension, because it falls outside of the chordal harmony. As was typical of Miles recordings from this era, Garland only plays half of this chorus before Miles enters in with the out head.

Garland plays a block chord introduction, also included here. It’s a classic intro in the jazz world, and a great starting point for inexperienced musicians to begin creating head arrangements in a combo setting.

The complete transcription can be found on my transcriptions page. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with this transcription, but I'm glad I worked on it. I hope that people can find a good use for it!

Please do send feedback or corrections!

March 2015 in review

Books read (2):

• Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch
• Lowboy by John Wray

Live performances (15):

• Disgraced final performance at the Lyceum Theatre (3/1/15)
• Keith Jarrett (solo) at Carnegie Hall (3/3/15)
• The Light In the Piazza at Manhattan Marymount College (3/6/15)
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Belasco Theatre (3/10/15)
• In Need of Music: The Songs of Ben Toth - Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series at the Kaplan Penthouse (3/11/15)
• The Heidi Chronicles at the Music Box Theatre (3/12/15)
• Molly Pope Likes Your Status cabaret at the Duplex (3/13/15)
• Into the Woods at the Laura Pels Theatre (3/14/15)
• Lea Salonga in Concert at Town Hall (3/14/15)
• Emerson Sings cabaret at the Laurie Beechman Theatre (3/23/15)
• On the Twentieth Century at the American Airlines Theatre (3/24/15)
• The Visit first preview at the Lyceum Theatre (3/26/15)
• Hand to God at the Booth Theatre (3/28/15)
• Hunchback of Notre-Dame at the Paper Mill Playhouse (3/28/15)
• The Lion final performance at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre (3/29/15)

Other miscellany:

• Music directed Sondheimas at 54 Below on March 21, 2015
• Reviewed Tamar of the River for CastAlbums.org

February 2015 in review

Books read (9):

• Here by Richard McGuire (Read the original comic here) (Post forthcoming)
• Best American Comics 2014 ed. Scott McCloud (Post forthcoming)
• RL Book 1 by Tom Hart (Post forthcoming)
• RL Book 2 by Tom Hart (Post forthcoming)
• Drama by Raina Telgemeier (Post forthcoming)
• The Sculptor by Scott McCloud (Post forthcoming)
• Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan (Post forthcoming)
• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The First Bad Man by Miranda July (Post forthcoming)

Live performances (14):

• Ryan Scott Oliver at 54 Below (2/2/15)
• Lady, Be Good! at City Center Encores (2/7/15)
• "So This Is Love," Broadway Barkada's annual Valentine's Day concert, at The Cutting Room, at which I also arranged and performed on one song (2/8/15)
• I Am, I Will, I Do, three readings of a new musical at Shetler Studios, for which I did music prep & copy/engraving work (2/9-10/15)
• Taping of The Late Show with David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theatre (2/11/15)
• San Fermin with the Metropolis Ensemble, at the Appel Room (Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series) (2/12/15)
• John & Jen at the Clurman Theatre (2/13/15)
• Big Love at the Signature Theatre (2/14/15)
• Horseplay: or, The Fickle Mistress, A Protean Picaresque at La Mama (2/14/15)
• Parade in Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center (2/16/15)
• The Iceman Cometh at BAM's Harvey Theatre (2/17/15)
• Novus NY, et al, at Carnegie Hall: Ives's Symphony No. 4,  & Ginastera's Turbae ad Passionem Gregorianam, Op. 43, at Carnegie Hall (2/21/15)
• Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (2/24/15)
• Constellations at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (2/27/15)

Movies (1):

• The Last Five Years

Other miscellany:

• Transcribed Red Garland's solo on the famous "Bye, Bye Blackbird" recording from 'Round About Midnight
• Arranged and performed, with Steven, Bacharach & David's "A House Is Not A Home"
• Watched season 5 of Downton Abbey
• Celebrated Steven's birthday!
• Ate at some great new (to me!) restaurants in Manhattan & Brooklyn
• Started my long-term sub gig with a NAAP outreach choir in Chinatown

The dress is white and gold.