Magnolia Blossoms_2021

The blooms of the magnolia in my yard started opening up last week. One night it got below freezing, and on two occasions we had strong gusts of wind, 50 mph or higher, throughout the day. Even so, these blossoms have endured. 

I mentioned last year that the magnolia was cut back to allow the tree trimmers access to the yard. They cut down an ash tree that was infested with ash borers. The magnolia is slowly recovering.

Ice on the Missouri River

Two weeks of particularly cold weather created ice on the Missouri River. The current is strong enough to prevent the river from totally freezing over. I am including two shots of the bench, one in the afternoon and one in the morning. Despite the light pole missing its top, I still prefer the afternoon shot to the morning one because of how the sunlight hits the bench and the opposite shore.

Jazz & the 1970s

It has occurred to me that out of the last three decades of the twentieth century, the 1970s contained the greatest number of significant jazz releases.

Some of the albums that stand out from that decade appear below. I am making this list based on those albums that I heard during that time. There are, of course, other albums from that decade that deserve mentioning, some of which I have not yet come to appreciate, such as Kenny Wheeler’s albums—Gnu High and Deer Wan.

It’s apparent from this list that women are under-represented. The past two decades of the twentieth-first century have seen more women in jazz. A disparity, of course, still exists.

There is a decidedly European slant here, with many of these albums having been released on the ECM label.

The music on this list makes up my jazz discoveries from when I was in my twenties. Many of these albums continue to draw my attention. 

 

Gary Burton, The New Quartet, 1973

Gary Burton, Ring, 1974

Jan Garbarek, Witchi-Tai-To, 1974

Miles Davis, Big Fun, 1974

Michal Urbaniak, Fusion, 1974

Miles Davis, Get Up With It, 1974

Michal Urbaniak, Atma, 1975

Keith Jarrett, Kohn Concert, 1975

Eberhard Weber, Yellow Fields, 1975

Arif Mardin, Journey, 1975

Jan Garbarek, Dansere, 1975

John Abercrombie, Timeless, 1975

Gary Burton, Passengers, 1976

Jan Garbarek, Dis, 1976

Keith Jarett, My Song, 1977

Ralph Towner, Solstice, Sound and Shadows, 1977

Eberhard Weber, Silent Feet, 1977

Jan Garbarek, Photo with Blue Sky…, 1978

Pat Metheny Group, Pat Metheny Group, 1978

Old and New Dreams, Old and New Dreams, 1979

Miroslav Vitous, First Meeting, 1979

L. Subramaniam, Fantasy without Limits, 1979

John Surman, Upon Reflection, 1979

Urszula Dudziak, Future Talk, 1979

Jazz & 2020

2020 is the first year in some time that I haven’t listed or described those jazz releases that got my attention. I was mostly looking back during 2020. Those jazz releases that I purchased during 2020 were released in previous years, such as Sonny Clark’s Cool Struttin’ and Shirley Scott’s One for Me. I also discovered some earlier releases by the Icelandic saxophonist Sigurdur Flosason, particularly his albums Nightfall and Daybreak.

Since I need time to absorb new music and to fully appreciate the nuances in any one album, I have been giving attention to music bought during previous years, such as Sunna Gunnlaugs’ Ancestry, Andy Sheppard’s Romaria, and Trygve Seim’s Helsinki Songs. I am still trying to gain an appreciation for Anouar Brahem’s Blue Maquams, which received high praise at AllAboutJazz and AllMusic. Brahem's earlier albums, such as The Astounding Eyes of Rita and Le pas du chat noir, are more to my liking. Within the car, I have been listening to Tomasz Stanko's Dark Eyes. 

I apologize for not being more active during 2020. I have recently replaced my thirty-year-old Pioneer speakers and the Onkyo amplifier that was giving me fits. I probably should have sold my CD player and graphic equalizer and relied solely on my computer speakers, but I fell victim to consumerism and bought a new set of speakers and a new amplifier. My wife says that I am still living in the ‘60s or ‘70s and that I believe that a component stereo system is a necessity. 

Although I bought the new set of speakers online from Crutchfield, I got the Yamaha amplifier from a local merchant in the Kansas City area. Connecting the CD player and equalizer to the new amplifier presented a number of problems, such as one speaker shorting out. I took the amplifier back to the merchant, believing that the amplifier was faulty, and had it examined. At first, when the technician heard what I was connecting to the amplifier, he said, "What's an equalizer? Nobody uses that anymore," he added. Eventually, I learned that my connections were causing the problems, with me, for example, connecting the equalizer to the input for a tuner. I have since managed to hook up the CD player correctly. I have connected the equalizer, too, but haven't been using it as of yet. Trying to link new technology with older technology was difficult for me. Researching the problem online provided solutions. It just took time.

Because I don't subscribe to such things as Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited, or YouTube Music, I am not always acquainted with new music. As a wannabe minimalist, and as someone already burdened with more than six hundred CDs, I also don't buy music as often as I used to. Nonetheless, I will try to be aware of new music during the current year.