Bonding over Brahms

A few years ago, while driving home, I was pleased to hear the Radio Arts Foundation's station, K297BI 107.3 FM, play one of my favorite Brahms pieces, Serenade No. 1 in D.  When I got home, I turned on K297BI as I told my cat, Sylvia, that one of my favorite pieces was playing.  She came over and listened to the remaining movements with me, including my favorite, the fifth, Scherzo.

I like to think that Sylvia understood me and that she heard what I heard in it.  (A common trait among pet owners, I'm sure...)  Even if she didn't, I'm still glad that we got to hear one of my favorite pieces together.

Music for pouncing?

Shortly before Christmas one year, I filmed video footage of my cat, Sylvia, stalking and pouncing on a toy mouse.  She gave it her all--as Freddy Cole's version of "A Cradle In Bethlehem" played.

It's an incongruous pairing of a song and activity, but it's no less heartwarming to me.  It's a pleasure to see my cat doing something she loves while a song that I love plays.  When I've watched the video in past years, I've sometimes imagined the melody of "A Cradle..." with the revised lyrics, "A tabby tonight is stalking a toy mouse in Kirkwood, MO..."

Music for a subdued Thanksgiving

May 2013: Sylvia at her listening post on top of a speaker.

Given my recent loss, Fred Holstein's "The Thanksgiving Song" hits especially hard today.   Loving each moment of life with Sylvia "'til (I'd) loved it away" has made me extremely sad about her departure--but extremely thankful to have had so many wonderful moments with her.

Life's progression is sometimes sorrowful, but it would be unfair of me not to acknowledge all of the happiness that preceded the sorrow...

...And that happiness was considerable.

A sure sign of a keeper

A postscript to Sunday's memories: One morning in May 2010, my cat, Sylvia, and I listened to the former Classical station, KFUO, for an extended time.  The station was about two months away from changing formats, and I wanted to savor the time it had left.  I sat by the stereo through two symphonies by Brahms and Schubert.  Sylvia jumped onto my lap and stayed there for the duration.  As she purred contentedly, I thought, "A cat who's happy to listen to two symphonies with me and purr blissfully...Sylvia's the perfect cat for me."

If you have a comparable opportunity with your pet, take it.  It will only strengthen an already strong bond.

Musical comfort

"The Gift (Simple Gifts)," performed by The King's Singers, was the last piece of music my cat, Sylvia, and I heard together on the night before her passing.  Thinking about it now, I think that's as good a choice as any for a final selection to enjoy.  It pairs the melody of the Shaker composition, "Simple Gifts," with lyrics that herald the birth of Christ.  In a larger sense, to me, it's a beautifully sung reassurance that all things remain in God.

That's comforting at a time when I can use all the comfort I can get.

Appropriately sung grief

As I continue to grapple with yesterday's awful turn of events, one song keeps hitting me in the heart.  Although "Darkness" by The Police has come to mind, the chorus of Colin Hay's "Send Somebody" has dominated my thoughts most often.

Although there's no one right way to grieve, I think it starts with acknowledging how upset you are.  "Send Somebody" is painfully effective that way.

In memory of Sylvia the cat

Spring 2013: Sylvia does her RCA record label cat pose on top of a stereo speaker.

How do you grapple with losing the best music listening companion you've ever had?  My cat, Sylvia, lost her battle against kidney and liver diseases this morning.  I've felt overwhelming grief and sadness over losing the sweetest cat I could ever have adopted.

I've written before about the songs that I think fit Sylvia's personality best.  During our 11 years and change together, I found that Sylvia was easy to please when it came to music.  Not once did she twitch her ears, look at me oddly, or meow angrily at the stereo.  She would purr happily whether I was playing Joni Mitchell's "Free Man In Paris," Stevie Wonder's "Es Una Historia (I Am Singing)," or Beethoven's seventh symphony.

We both loved it when I'd sit on the floor by the record player.  Regardless of what music I was playing, Sylvia would run over, jump in my lap, and purr.  The Boorays, The Drifters, Basia...It didn't matter what I chose.  As long as she could sit with me and listen to it, she was happy.  We should all be so eager to please.

I like that iTunes categorizes the recordings I've made of Sylvia and my family's other cats meowing and purring as songs.  To me, they are songs; they're more personal, heartfelt, and musical than any mass-produced flavor of the week hit.  Hearing Sylvia emit a three-toned request for food or an elaborate circular scale of notes when she wants water from the kitchen sink is as musical to me as any birdcall...

...and I look forward to savoring Sylvia's recorded warbling for the rest of my life. 

Wouldn't do that now

When I was in high school, an orchestra in which I played had a particularly good first half of its concert.  Pleased with this momentum, I didn't just walk back on stage near the end of the intermission.  I hopped over my double bass.  As a teenager, I didn't think twice about whether this was appropriate.  I can't imagine doing that at age 49, though.  Somehow, I doubt that the St. Louis Symphony bassists hop over their basses when returning to the stage.

"OK, Gen X-er?"

Admittedly, it's more convenient for today's college radio DJs to sequence the songs they want to play in advance through software.  For me, however, that doesn't match the satisfaction of programming music in real time, especially when you segue from one turntable to another.  There's something gratifying about finding the start of a song, moving the record back in a counterclockwise quarter-turn, and starting it at just the right moment.  Yes, it's more labor-intensive.  Yes, if you forget the quarter-turn step, the song will sound warped until the turntable gets up to speed.  When it works, though, you have the satisfaction of knowing that your judgment was on the mark.

Ideal gardening and cat-feeding music

In recent days, I've been feeding my cat, Sylvia, from my hand or sometimes using a plastic knife or spoon to put food in her mouth.  While doing that this morning, I sang a folk song that I first heard at sixth grade camp--the David Mallett-penned "Garden Song (Inch By Inch.)"  There are many versions of it, but Pete Seeger sang the one most familiar to me. 

I'm not surprised that my brain drew a parallel between "Garden Song"'s lyrics and my new feeding routine with Sylvia.  In both cases, there are no shortcuts; when you plant a garden or feed an ailing cat, you need patience and perseverance to achieve the best results.

Feeding my cat two or three pieces of food at a time?  That's not a burden to me.  That's prolonging the life of the best pet I could ever have chosen.

I'm about to try feeding her again.  One, two, three, four..."Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow..."

Only so much space

One area radio station's playlist only allows so many characters in each one-line song title.  Thus, Bing Crosby's "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" is listed on the station's website as "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christ."

If any voice could convey the gravity needed for a song with that title, Crosby's would have.

When was the last straw?

I don't know what triggered this realization.  I can't remember the last time I heard someone slurping a beverage through a straw in a radio commercial, though.  Decades ago, that was a go-to sound effect in fast food and convenience store commercials.  Now that more people see straws as environmentally unfriendly, it's an anomaly when commercials call attention to them.

A flexible Christmas purist

Generally, I frown on Christmas music that's not specifically about Christmas.  I don't seek out any version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "A Marshmallow World," or "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"

I'm impressed, however, that the coordinator of the "Warner Bros. Jazz Christmas Party" compilation included Mark Turner's version of "Pure Imagination."  If the title doesn't ring a bell, Gene Wilder sings it in the movie, "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory."  Turner's tenor sax captures the warmth and wonder of Wilder's original vocals.  Warmth and wonder are key ingredients of a wonderful Christmas, so I wouldn't fault any radio station for including "Pure Imagination" in its Christmas rotation.

"Welcome to Obvious Communication Theory 101..."

After graduating from college, I went to broadcasting school.  The school's president told prospective students, "I'm not anti-college.  I'm anti-college broadcasting school."  In his view, college broadcasting programs had too many communication theory classes and not enough opportunities for students to be on the air.

After remembering college broadcasting classes in which instructors would impart such wisdom as, "In this model of communication, the sender sends a message to the receiver," I saw his point.

An overlooked cover tune LV

Looking for a brassy arrangement of "Frosty The Snowman" that takes listeners back to the days of Glenn Miller?  If its sporadic, surprising vocals don't bother you, you might like how Jim Self & Hollywood Tuba 12 perform it.

Can't listen to the album cover, but...

I've never planted squash.  I've seldom eaten or craved squash.  Furthermore, it's much too late to grow squash this year.  And yet...

...when I see the pastoral cover of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's "Harvest Home" CD, I feel the need to plant squash...

...and harvest wheat...

...and say Hello to the cows grazing behind the barn...

...and thank the owners of the farm on the cover, even though it's not real, for indulging my wishes to plant squash, harvest wheat, and say Hello to the cows on their land.

An elementary school art teacher once told our class that sometimes, the cover of a report you submit for a class might make a difference in the grade you receive.  Similarly, I think beguiling album cover art occasionally nudges listeners to purchase an album.  I knew I liked Ungar & Mason's moving "Thanksgiving Waltz" instrumental, but the album's cover illustration of trees in Autumn finery, a bridge over a river, a stately house, and said barn cinched my decision to buy "Harvest Home."

Sometimes, it isn't just the music that draws you in.

Context? LXVI

Heard on an NPR station this morning: "And, yes, I said, 'It.'  I refuse to refer to Alexa as a she."

Considering how virtual digital assistants and smart speakers have become disturbingly ubiquitous, I agree that it's best not to personify them.

A linguistic irritant XVI

It irks me whenever I hear any announcer refer to the oeuvre of a composer.  I always think, "Just tell me you're referring to the works of the composer or that composer's catalog."  Although it's perfectly valid to refer to a composer's oeuvre, it sounds slightly pretentious.

Context? LXV

I heard a radio talk show host say yesterday that he's now an age "that's evenly divisible by 60."

That's a healthy perspective to have on one's birthday.  Take it from someone whose age is evenly divisible by 49.

SiriusXM highlights CXIV

Standout tracks heard yesterday:

1st Wave

• The Ghost In You-The Psychedelic Furs (It's an odd trick that memories sometimes play--comforting and torturing you all at once.  I'm sure this is the essence of how a lot of college radio stations sounded in 1984.)
• I Confess-The English Beat ("Save It For Later" is still my favorite track by this band, but the intermingling of vocals, keyboard, and trumpet, seemingly inspired by David Byrne, secures a close second place for me.  Lyrically, I admire how the antagonist realizes he's no saint.)

The Groove

• Summer Madness-Kool & The Gang (A laid-back, trance-inducing instrumental from 1974; chill guitar and keyboards sustain the mood for nearly 10 minutes.) 

Heart & Soul

• Unapologetic-Katherine Penfold (Penfold's strong vocals shine in conjunction with a laid-back organ accompaniment that mimics falling rain.  This throwback-sounding tune, released last month, would be equally at home on a smooth jazz or R&B playlist.)

Outlaw Country

• Diamond In The Rough (Acoustic Edition)-Shawn Colvin (Colvin's vocals and guitar shine in this new version.  Colvin's "Steady On" has always been a first-rate example of singer-songwriter musicianship, so it's a treat to hear her rework the album 30 years after its original release.  I also recommend the new and old versions of "Shotgun Down The Avalanche," "Ricochet In Time," and "Steady On.")

Real Jazz

• El Hombre (Live)-Pat Martino (Cool, slinky guitar and organ.)
• Stella By Starlight-Erroll Garner (So many people have covered this standard, but Garner's interpretation is not only an inviting piano rendition but possible accompaniment for learning the cha-cha.  Disagree?  Then, you might like Tommy Dorsey's cha-cha rendition of "Tea For Two.")

Watercolors

• Long Weekend (See You On Tuesday!)-Bob Baldwin featuring Ragan Whiteside (A familiar yet fresh-sounding new uptempo groove for piano and flute.)

Willie's Roadhouse

• City Of New Orleans-Willie Nelson (Upon hearing the title of this Steve Goodman song, most listeners probably think of Arlo Guthrie's rendition.  I haven't heard Nelson's version nearly as often, but it deserves its due; Nelson's voice is a natural fit for this tale of a train ride.)

Stingray Music highlights LXXXI

Highlights from yesterday:

The Chill Lounge

• Elevator-Jaffa (This throbbing, organ-anchored groove wouldn't be out of place in a smooth jazz station's playlist.)

Flashback '70s

• Follow You Follow Me-Genesis (The band's first American hit, and still one of its most endearing ones; you'd have to be awfully cold-hearted not to be moved by these lyrics, which Phil Collins sings against one of Tony Banks's most accessible, memorable keyboard accompaniments.) 

Folk Roots

• Dear Mary-Linda Thompson (Beautifully sung lyrics about not burning bridges.) 

Holiday Hits

• Silent Night-Percy Faith and his orchestra (One of the most tasteful easy listening renditions of this carol, with its strings, chimes, and just the right amount of background vocals.)

Jazz Now

• Seventy-Six-Kenny Wheeler Quintet (A contemplative midtempo piece for flugelhorn.)

World Carnival

• Sowa-Fatoumata Diawara (A voice and guitar are all that's needed to convey the heart-wrenching reality of giving up children for adoption.)

Persistent earworm alert CLXII

So, what's it like when you only have so much time to write a blog post and are stuck for inspiration?  I've found that the chorus of "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet" by Blues Magoos runs through my mind--purely coincidentally, of course.

Casting for age authenticity

When casting the voice of a child in any radio commercial or production, it's usually best to cast an actual kid.  While listening to some old radio dramas recently, I was dismayed by adults' attempts at pretending to be kids.  Their unconvincing efforts took me right out of the story each time.  An accomplished voice actor might be able to pull off a child's voice convincingly, but those instances are exceptions.  When a commercial or production is well-cast, the audience shouldn't think, "That's a 50-year-old attempting to speak the way (s)he thinks eight-year-olds speak."

An overlooked cover tune LIV

"Country Road" is one of my favorite James Taylor songs.  It should have been a bigger hit, but "Fire And Rain," with its painfully heartfelt, excellent lyrics, eclipsed it on the charts.  In his low-key follow-up hit, Taylor captures the tranquility of walking down a country road compellingly via his vocals and guitar. 

Years ago, I was surprised to learn that jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson covered "Country Road."  The keyboard sets a tone that's about as pastoral as fusion jazz can be.  Ferguson's trumpet comes wailing--or blaring, depending on your perspective--in.  Taylor coveys the bliss of ambling down a country road in his version, and Ferguson captures the exuberance of such a walk through a loud, uninhibited trumpet line.  On the surface, Ferguson's approach shouldn't work as well as it does.  Somehow, though, it does.

It speaks well of the human race...

...that a beautiful French Christmas melody composed in 1556, Nicolas Martin's "Nouvelles, nouvelles," has survived through the centuries.  I was fortunate to hear The Boston Camerata's performance of it last Christmas on the Radio Arts Foundation's station, K297BI.  Listening to it today, it was heartening to realize that good taste has been handed down for an impressive 463 years.

Persistent earworm alert CLXI

Logically, you'd think that most earworms would be songs you really like or can't stand.  It always puzzles me when a song I haven't heard anywhere lately comes to mind, and it's a song to which I'm completely indifferent.  For some reason, my mind keeps looping through the intro of "Key Largo" by Bertie Higgins today.  Why is it standing out so prominently to me today when I have no strong feelings either way about the song, and I rarely think of it otherwise?

Striving for a good radio aftertaste...

...No, I wasn't eating a radio, but I had the radio on as I got close to home this morning.  The DJ said the next song she was about to play was beautiful.  What I heard of it sounded listenable but more cold and robotic than beautiful.  As I switched stations, I thought, "This doesn't make much sense.  I'll only be in the car for another 15 seconds.  I can tolerate 15 more seconds of a cold, robotic instrumental."

I still changed stations, however, and listened to 15 seconds of jazz instead.  Petty as that might have been, there's something to be said for how you end a situation.  What I heard most recently on the radio often stays with me for a little while, so whenever possible, I want to get out of the car with a positive mindset.

SiriusXM highlights CXIII

Noteworthy selections heard recently:

'80s On 8

• When Smokey Sings-ABC (Sung tributes to other artists don't always work, but this tribute to Smokey Robinson largely does while staying true to the era when it was recorded.)

The Bridge

• Arc Of A Diver-Steve Winwood ("While You See A Chance," one of Winwood's best songs, eclipsed the album title track in airplay and commercial success, but "Arc...," the album's title track, also deserves its due lyrically and musically.)   

Escape

• Patricia-James Last Orchestra (Easy listening strings with a kick.)

Holiday Traditions

• Silent Night-The Mills Brothers (Solemn, reverential vocals.  The group's "Merry Christmas" CD is easy to listen to in its entirety and feels like it's over much too soon.)

Prime Country

• Angel Of The Morning-Juice Newton (A strong cover of the 1968 hit by Merrillee Rush & The Turnabouts.  Both versions deserve more airplay these days.)

Real Jazz

• One By One-Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (An inviting midtempo melody, in which every lead and rhythm instrument is critical.  The audience who got to hear the group play this at Birdland in 1963 was lucky.)

Stingray Music highlights LXXX

Appealing selections heard yesterday:

Baroque

• Joan Ambrosio Dalza: Piva (Shirley Rumsey, lute) (Actually, this is a pre-Baroque piece that would have been suitable for skipping stones across the water in the early 1500s.  This would be a fine interlude between two comparably energetic dances.)

Bluegrass

• Ragtime Annie-Byron Berline (Kudos to Berline for this master class in fiddle-playing dexterity.)

Cocktail Lounge

• Come Rain Or Come Shine-Ray Charles (The strings and backing singers mark a bygone era, augmenting the considerable emotional depth Charles shows in his vocals.)

Folk Roots

• Rise-Carol Crittenden (Inspiring lyrics capture the perseverance needed during uphill battles for equality and respect.)

Holiday Hits

• We Wish You A Merry Christmas-The Glenn Miller Orchestra (This is an effective way to feel transported to a ballroom for a brassy Yuletide performance.)

Jazz Masters

• What'll I Do?-Bob Cooper & Bud Shank (Impressive swingin' dialogue between flute and oboe.)

Jazz Now

• Maybe I Knew-Ellen Doty (Brave confessional lyrics about a match that isn't meant to be.)

South Africa Traditional 

• Loneliness-Vusi Mahlasela & Louis Mhlanga (Honest lyrics about how your scope of loneliness changes once you find the right companion.)

"Hit it!" Well, maybe not...

I'm always curious to hear what music follows a singer yells to his or her band, "Hit it!"  Sometimes, it's an incredibly catchy song that makes you think, "How did no one think of this song earlier?"  Other times, you might think, "The singer's trying to create some excitement and drama here, but this song is derivative and not particularly special."