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Tientos, a slow cante jondo music and dance in a four-count rhythm, was first developed by the singer Enrique el Mellizo (1848 -1906) as an expressive variation of the Tangos. Poet Federico García Lorca considered the Tientos to be almost liturgical in its solemnity. Traditional Tientos lyrics – letras – set a dark mood, and have to do with loss, unrequited love, imprisionment, longing for freedom and other serious messages. Dancers strive to capture this mood in their solos. The most notable aspect of the slow Tientos tempo is the beat structure. Where the first beat in Tangos is subdued, it is strongly emphasized in the Tientos, as is the “and” of the second beat.
Although many variations are possible, the most basic form of the Tientos is as follows :
Guitar introduction – The guitarist sets the basic tempo and key
Temple – The singer sings fragments – estribillos – (le le, la, etc.) to establish thekey, pulse and mood of the piece.
The dancer’s llamada – call/cue the guitarist performs double time here. The dancer generally performs footwork.
First Letra – The singer sings the first verse, and the dancer interprets thisimpressionistically and rhythmically.
After the 1st line of the song, the singer may take a 1 or 2 compás break – the respira – and the dancer usually inserts footwork here.
Guitar falseta – a short melodic phrase that the dancer interprets lyrically.
First Escobilla – The dancer’s 1st prolonged footwork section. This ends with a llamada call in the 2nd verse.
Second Letra – Similar or identical to the 1st verse.
Second Escobilla = The dancer’s final long footwork section.
Macho – It is common for a flamenco song to end in a faster song/rhythm, and it is usually the Tangos for Tientos. The most traditional Tangos lyrics performed here are the song, “Triana.”
more...This ESO Picture of the Week features a galaxy named both NGC 4254 and Messier 99, a beautiful cosmic spectacle located in the constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair). Messier 99 is special, owing to its classification as a grand design spiral galaxy: a kind of galactic architecture featuring strong, prominent, well-defined arms that wrap clearly around the galaxy’s centre. Only around 10 percent of all spirals are of the grand design variety, making objects like Messier 99 somewhat uncommon. The justification behind Messier 99’s categorisation is clear in this image; bright, swirling arms carve through the dark surrounding space, and are easily identifiable as a number of different, coherent structures. This image was created as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems programme, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The programme makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.
more...Charnett Moffett (born June 10, 1967) is an American jazz bassist.
Moffett started playing bass in the family band, touring the Far East in 1975 at the age of eight. In the mid-1980s he played with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis. In 1987 he recorded his debut album Netman for Blue Note Records. He has worked with Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Dizzy Gillespie, Ellis Marsalis, Sonny Sharrock, Stanley Jordan, Wallace Roney. Arturo Sandoval, Courtney Pine, David Sanborn, David Sánchez, Dianne Reeves, Frank Lowe, Harry Connick, Jr., Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Kenny Garrett, Kenny Kirkland, Kevin Eubanks, Lew Soloff, Manhattan Jazz Quintet, Melody Gardot, Mulgrew Miller and Tony Williams.
Charnett Moffett attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City and later studied at Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School of Music. In 1983, he played on saxophonist Branford Marsalis‘ debut as a leader, Scenes in the City, and the following year he joined trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ quintet, appearing on 1985’s Grammy-winning Black Codes (From the Underground). During the 1980s, Moffett also worked with Stanley Jordan, appearing on the innovative guitarist’s best-selling 1985 Blue Note debut, Magic Touch, as well as two Blue Note albums with drummer Tony Williams’ quintet: 1987’s Civilization and 1988’s Angel Street. In 1987, Moffett signed with Blue Note Recordsand debuted as a leader that year with his first of three albums for Blue Note, NetMan (1987) which featured Michael Brecker, Kenny Kirkland and Al Foster. His second Blue Note release, Beauty Within (1989) was a family affair featuring his father Charles Moffett on drums, older brothers Mondre Moffett on trumpet, Charles Moffett, Jr on tenor sax, Codaryl Moffett on drums, and his sister Charisse on vocals. Also featured were Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone, and Stanley Jordan on guitar. HIs third Blue Note release, Netman (1991), produced by Kenny Kirkland, especially focused on Moffett’s piccolo bass and electric bass work.
more...Max Alfred “Maxi” Elliott (born 10 June 1961), known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. He was one of the first international artists to have success in this genre, and one of the most successful reggae fusion acts of all time.
Maxi Priest was born in Lewisham, London, the second youngest of nine brothers and sisters. His parents had moved to England from Jamaica to provide more opportunity for their family and he grew up listening to gospel, reggae, R&B, and pop music. He first learned to sing in church, encouraged by his mother, who was a Pentecostal missionary. Maxi grew up listening to Jamaican greats such as Dennis Brown, John Holt, Ken Boothe and Gregory Isaacs as well as singers like Marvin Gaye, Al Green, the Beatles, Phil Collins and Frank Sinatra.
As a teenager, he lifted speaker boxes for the Jah Shaka and Negus Negast sound-systems. He was a founder member of Saxon Studio International, and it was with Saxon that Maxi began performing at neighbourhood youth clubs and house parties.
His music is sometimes closer to R&B and pop than to reggae. His cousin, Jacob Miller, a reggae icon, was the frontman in the popular reggae group Inner Circle.
more...M.S. Gopalakrishnan, a.k.a. MSG, (10 June 1931 – 3 January 2013) was a violinist in the field of Carnatic music. He is commonly grouped with Lalgudi Jayaraman and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic Music. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy‘s Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1997. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Kalaimamani, Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards.
Gopalakrishnan was born in Mylapore, Chennai, India, and was taught violin by his father, Parur Sundaram Iyer, who was well versed in both Carnatic and Hindustani systems of Indian classical music. He learned both systems from his father, with whom he gave his first performance when he was 8 years old. He also drew great inspiration from the legendary violinist Sri Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu.
He has played the violin for over fifty years as a soloist and accompanist, having accompanied Omkarnath Thakur and D. V. Paluskar, and has toured Australia, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, South Africa, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. His daughter, Dr M. Narmadha, is also a violinist.
more...João Gilberto (born João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira – Portuguese: [ʒuˈɐ̃w ʒiwˈbɛʁtu]; 10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019), was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world he was often called “father of bossa nova”; in his native Brazil, he was referred to as “O Mito” (“The Legend”).
João Gilberto was born in Juazeiro, Bahia, the son of Joviniano Domingos de Oliveira, a wealthy merchant, and Martinha do Prado Pereira de Oliveira. He lived in his native city until 1942, when he began to study in Aracaju, Sergipe, returning to Juazeiro in 1946. At the age of 14, Gilberto got his first guitar from his grandfather despite disapproval from Gilberto’s father. Still, in Juazeiro, he formed his first band, called “Enamorados do Ritmo”. Gilberto moved to Salvador, Bahia, in 1947. During his three years in the city, he dropped out of his studies to dedicate himself exclusively to music and at the age of 18 began his artistic career as a crooner at the Rádio Sociedade da Bahia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKy6NJO8GPQ&list=PLBHcUEhUrXk5obQ9CD_1uoG-hvv6UhofE&index=4
more...Howlin’ Wolf (born Chester Arthur Burnett, June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976) was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in adulthood and became successful, forming a rivalry with fellow bluesman Muddy Waters. With a booming voice and imposing physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists.
The musician and critic Cub Koda noted, “no one could match Howlin’ Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.” Producer Sam Phillips recalled, “When I heard Howlin’ Wolf, I said, ‘This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'” Several of his songs, including “Smokestack Lightnin’“, “Killing Floor” and “Spoonful“, have become blues and blues rock standards. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 54 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time“. Chester Arthur Burnett was born on June 10, 1910, in White Station, Mississippi to Gertrude Young and Thomas Burnett. He was named for Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7LElLVani4
more...HI I need prayers and good thoughts for one of my musician colleagues and a wonderful supportive inspiration of my work, David Stenshoel recovering from an intensive surgery last Monday 6-7-21
more...This moon was a full moon, specifically called a Flower Moon at this time of the year. But that didn’t make it strange — full moons occur once a month (moon-th). This moon was a supermoon, meaning that it reached its full phase near its closest approach to the Earth in its slightly elliptical orbit. Somewhat strange, a supermoon appears a bit larger and brighter than the average full moon — and enables it to be called a Super Flower Moon. This moon was undergoing a total lunar eclipse. An eclipsed moon can look quite strange, being dark, unevenly lit, and, frequently, red — sometimes called blood red. Therefore, this moon could be called a Super Flower Blood Moon. This moon was seen through thin clouds. These clouds created a faint corona around the moon, making it look not only strange, but colorful. This moon was imaged so deeply that the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, far in the background, was visible to its lower right. This moon, this shadow, this galaxy and these colors were all captured last month near Cassilis, NSW, Australia — with a single shot. (Merged later with two lower shots that better capture the Milky Way.)
more...Kenny Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist, who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kenny Barron is the younger brother of tenor saxophonist Bill Barron (1927–1989). One of his first gigs was as pianist with the Dizzy Gillespie quartet. Barron was briefly a member of the Jazztet around 1962, but did not record with them.
He graduated in 1978 with a BA in Arts from Empire State College (Metropolitan Center, New York City).
He co-led the groups Sphere and the Classical Jazz Quartet.
Between 1987 and 1991, Barron recorded several albums with Stan Getz, most notably Voyage, Bossas & Ballads – The Lost Sessions, Serenity, Anniversary and People Time, a two-CD set.
He has been nominated nine times for Grammy Awards and for the American Jazz Hall of Fame. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.
In May 2010, Barron was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music along with African-born singer/songwriter Angelique Kidjo, Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia, and songwriting duo Leon Huff and Kenneth Gamble.
For over 25 years, Barron taught piano and keyboard harmony at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He now teaches at the Juilliard School of Music. His piano students have included Earl MacDonald, Harry Pickens, Jon Regen and Aaron Parks.
more...Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American soul singer and performer. A tenor with a four-octave range, Wilson was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Wilson was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in pop, R&B, and rock and roll history, earning the nickname “Mr. Excitement”.
Wilson gained initial fame as a member of the R&B vocal group Billy Ward and His Dominoes. He went solo in 1957 and scored over 50 chart singles spanning the genres of R&B, pop, soul, doo-wop and easy listening, including 16 R&B Top 10 hits, in which six R&B of the repertoire ranked as number ones. On the Billboard Hot 100, Wilson scored 14 top 20 pop hits, six of which reached the top 10.
Wilson was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He is also inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. Two of Wilson’s recordings were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. He was honored with the Rhythm and Blues Foundation‘s Legacy Tribute Award in 2003. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jackie Wilson No. 69 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and number 26 as one of the greatest singers of all time.
Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. was born on June 9, 1934, in Highland Park, Michigan, as the third and only surviving child of singer-songwriter Jack Leroy Wilson, Sr. (1903–1983) and Eliza Mae Wilson (1900–1975). Eliza Mae was born on the Billups-Whitfield Place in Lowndes County, Mississippi. Eliza Mae’s parents were Tom and Virginia Ransom. Wilson often visited his family in Columbusand was greatly influenced by the choir at Billups Chapel. Growing up in the suburban Detroit enclave of Highland Park, Wilson joined a gang called the Shakers and often got himself in trouble. Wilson’s alcoholic father was frequently absent and usually unemployed. In 1943, his parents separated shortly after Jackie’s ninth birthday.
more...Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype, called the Log, served as inspiration for the Gibson Les Paul. Paul taught himself how to play guitar, and while he is mainly known for jazz and popular music, he had an early career in country music.In the 1950s, he and his wife, singer and guitarist Mary Ford, recorded numerous records, selling millions of copies.
Paul is credited with many recording innovations. His early experiments with overdubbing (also known as sound on sound), delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention. His licks, trills, chording sequences, frettingtechniques and timing set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day.
Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permanent exhibit in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is prominently named by the music museum on its website as an “architect” and a “key inductee” with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed. Paul is the only person to be included in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to George and Evelyn (Stutz) Polsfuss, both of German ancestry. His only sibling, Ralph, was seven years older. Paul’s mother was related to the founders of Milwaukee’s Valentin Blatz Brewing Company and the makers of the Stutz automobile. His parents divorced when he was a child.[14] His mother simplified their Prussian family name first to Polfuss, then to Polfus, although Les Paul never legally changed his name. Before taking the stage name Les Paul, he performed as Red Hot Red and Rhubarb Red.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–t1xmw02B0
more...Nehemiah Curtis “Skip” James (June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter.
His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor-key sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly, having been released during the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity.
After a long absence from the public eye, James was rediscovered in 1964 by blues enthusiasts including John Fahey, helping further the blues and folk music revival of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, James appeared at folk and blues festivals, gave concerts around the country, and recorded several albums for various record labels. His songs have influenced generations of musicians and have been adapted by numerous artists. He has been hailed as “one of the seminal figures of the blues.”
James was born near Bentonia, Mississippi. His father was a bootlegger who reformed and became a preacher. As a youth, James heard local musicians, such as Henry Stuckey, from whom he learned to play the guitar, and the brothers Charlie and Jesse Sims. James began playing the organ in his teens. He worked on road construction and levee-building crews in Mississippi in the early 1920s and wrote what is perhaps his earliest song, “Illinois Blues”, about his experiences as a laborer. He began playing the guitar in open D-minor tuning.
more...This image, taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), features the spiral galaxy NGC 4680. At 2 o’clock and 7 o’clock two other galaxies can be seen flanking NGC 4680. NGC 4680 enjoyed a wave of attention in 1997, as it played host to a supernova explosion known as SN 1997bp. Amazingly, the supernova was identified by an Australian amateur astronomer named Robert Evans, who has identified an extraordinary 42 supernova explosions. NGC 4680 is actually a rather tricky galaxy to classify. It is sometimes referred to as a spiral galaxy, but it is also sometimes classified as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies fall somewhere in between spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies. Whilst NGC 4680 does have distinguishable spiral arms, they are not clearly defined, and the tip of one arm appears very diffuse. Galaxies are not static, and their morphologies (and therefore their classifications) vary throughout their lifetimes. Spiral galaxies are thought to evolve into elliptical galaxies, most likely by merging with one another, causing them to lose their distinctive spiral structures.
more...Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of the Grammy Award-winning[1] The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. His musical style encompasses several genres and he has twice appeared on Rolling Stone‘s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He is the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers.
Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Trucks, the name of Eric Clapton‘s band, Derek and the Dominos, had “something to do with the name [Derek] if not the spelling”.
Trucks bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine and became a child prodigy, playing his first paid performance at age 11. Trucks began playing the guitar using a slide because it allowed him to play the guitar despite his small hands as a young guitarist. By his 13th birthday, Trucks had played alongside Buddy Guy and toured with Thunderhawk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1n6PgSC6IQ
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