ClimbingSky

Why Baseball, Books, and the Grateful Dead matter

Jazz

  • THROWBACK THURSDAY: BooK Review

    Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on October 26, 2013. … there is no more consistently perfect body of recorded work in jazz than that produced by Lester Young between 1936 and 1941 – with Count Basie’s orchestra, with Billie Holiday and with… Read more

  • FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Ahmad Jamal on Being a Scholar

    “I would like to be a scholar in whatever I do, a scholar is never finished, he is always seeking and I am always seeking.” ~ Ahmad Jamal Read more

  • Rhythm & Time

    Last week I wrote about how three of my favorite things (Baseball, Fly Fishing, and Jazz) are Arts of Failure. This week now I have been thinking about other ways they are connected. The most obvious connection is that all three have a peculiar relationship with Rhythm and Time. Baseball Ultimately, baseball has no time… Read more

  • FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Miles Davis on “Mistakes”

    “When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that makes it good or bad..” ~ Miles Davis Read more

  • Three Arts of Failure

    Summer has come to the North Country with a vengeance. Increasing humid days in the 80s with humid nights in the 60s. Growing up as I did the semi-arid West, humidity is something I have never really been able to make peace with. In my mind, you should always be able to step into a… Read more

  • Jack Teagarden: “A Hundred Years From Today”

    Jack Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was born in Vernon, Texas. An American jazz trombonist and singer. He led two different bands of his own and then from 1946 to 1951, he played in Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars. I heard this recording last week on my local jazz station, KBEM JAZZ 88.FM. It has… Read more

  • Jazz

    “Jazz is not just, you know, it’s existence music, it doesn’t take you out of the world, it puts you in the world, it makes you deal with it…..and that’s it!”  ~Wynton Marsalis “Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life”. ~Art Blakey “Jazz music is the power of our Freedom Movement… It has strengthened… Read more

  • MUSIC Monday: “In the Slow Lane”- Kenny Barron Trio

    There is something irreplaceable about the experience getting to listen to truly curated radio stations. Knowledgeable DJs are something that no algorithm is ever going to be able to replace. My local Jazz station, KBEM, has a number of very knowledgeable DJs that regularly introduce me to new tunes that broaden my musical horizons. He… Read more

  • MUSIC MONDAY: “They Say I look Like God” by The Real Ambassadors

    In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I want to share a song featuring Louis Armstrong today I just recently discovered when it was played on my local Jazz station, KBEM Jazz88. Here is some information I found researching The Real Ambassadors and this song in particular. The Real Ambassadors is a jazz musical developed… Read more

  • FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY: Lester Young on Being Original

    “You gotta be original, man!” ~Lester Young Read more