Music Diary

End of an Era – The Final Jazz Session Episode Airs Today

As Judie has always said when recruiting for new writers at Gear Diary – blogging is not something you do for the money; it is all about the love – love of product, technology, sharing and interacting. All you hope for is to cover costs. Now imagine that instead of blogging you ran a jazz interview podcast that required frequent trips to New York City and other locations, attendance at clubs, festivals and concerts, and so on. Suddenly the costs start to spiral out of control. That is what Jason Crane discovered as he launched ‘The Jazz Session’, the jazz…

Music Diary, Reviews

Asgeir and Mo – ‘Danza de Andalucia’ CD Review

Asgeir & Mo – Danza de Andalucia I have been fortunate to see many great artists perform live, several of whom have sadly left us since that time. Thirty years ago I attended a concert of the trio John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola and Paco de Lucia performing ‘flamenco fusion’ on acoustic guitars from their ‘Passion, Grace and Fire’ recording. A few years later I was lucky to see a performance featuring jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli, who was part of the legendary ‘Hot Club of France’ recordings with Django Reinhardt. Their music was a sort of ‘gypsy swing fusion’ blending jazz…

Music Diary, News

iRig Keys Now Shipping, Review Coming Soon!

Today IK Multimedia announced that they were shipping the iRig Keys, their first entry into the hardware controller world. Building on their growing base of experience with iOS-based music accessories, IK is positioning as a mobile controller for your tablet or laptop that provides a solid range of functionality while also easily fitting in your backpack – and with the durability to stand up to life in a backpack! Even better, today my iRig Keys arrived for review, and will be working to get my review of the new hardware and iGrand Piano for iPad out as soon as possible. Because…

Gear Bits, Music Diary, News

FL Studio for Android Coming in 2013 (Maybe), Developer Posts Update Video

I have been very vocal about what I see as the shortcomings of Android tablets, with one in particular getting my ire: audio latency issues and the lack of a ‘core audio’ solution that makes the entire Android platform totally useless for people trying to make music of any reasonable quality. Sure there are a few apps out there – but they are all base-level crap. Sorry, but at best they are work-arounds that are inelegant, or perhaps work on one or two hardware platforms, but in general I don’t report on specific Android music apps for a very simple…

Music Diary

Watch Ellie Goulding ‘Live’ Streaming Concert on a 24-Hour Loop!

In an interesting change from normal livestreams or recorded video, Ellie Goulding is streaming her concert from The Troubadour in Los Angeles, recorded on October 16th. It is being made available to view on YouTube via LoveLiveTV, starting at 8PM EST and repeating for the next 24 hours. If you are a fan of her music, definitely check this out! Check it out here starting at 8PM EST!

Music Diary

Cool Video Shows 40+ Minutes of Seldom-Recorded Jazz Legend Lennie Tristano

There is an old truth and a new truth that struck me as I watched and listened to this amazing clip of pianist Lennie Tristano: the old truth is that reality is not described solely by what is best known or most popular … and the new truth is that there are many hidden gems to be uncovered on YouTube. Lennie Tristano is one of those artists that too few folks know about, and he even gets left out in mentions of ‘deep cuts’ innovators. Everyone knows Miles and Bird and Satchmo and Trane and Duke … some know Mingus…

Music Diary, News

IK Multimedia Puts the ‘Grand’ in Mobile Piano with new iGrand Piano for iPad!

Back in the early 1990s I remember checking out one of the incredible new sampled piano instruments at E.U. Wurlitzer in Boston. It was also really expensive, but as the salesperson noted – if you need the incredible sound quality and attention to detail, it is well worth it … but if you are OK with piano sounds on your other sample playback synths, there is no price that will make sense. That was something I loved about the Kurzweil K2000 – it had an incredible (to me) sampled piano but didn’t break the bank. Fast forward twenty years and…

Music Diary, News

Check Out the New Apple iPod Commercial ‘Bounce’

Apple’s latest ad is for their now-shipping updated iPod line, which has the simple description: Every iPod now in color. The commercial is about the cool and colorful iPod new line-up and offers seamless transitions between the Touch, Nano and Shuffle accompanied by a funky song. It is a positive, good-feeling commercial. Some things (good and bad) not mentioned in the video: + The 5th gen iPod Touch is the most ‘iPhone-like’ version yet. – The iPod Touch STILL doesn’t contain a GPS + The Nano is incredibly small and has a 2.5″ screen – But you have to load the Nano…

Music Diary

Wolfgang’s Vault As Membership-Only Site; Have You Joined? Will You?

I have always loved Wolfgang’s Vault – great classic music, and more recently loads of video content as well. We have written about the site several times here before, including 2011’s introduction of video content. But as more and more content – requiring more and more bandwidth – came online, I had wondered how the largely ad and merchandise supported site would survive. The answer: it couldn’t. Ads, merchandise and downloads alone were not enough. Back in early August I got an email from Wolfgang’s Vault that said: Hey Music Fans, we are thrilled to announce that we’ll be launching…

Game Diary, Gear Bits, Music Diary

Random Cool Video of Ohio State Marching Band Video Game Themed Halftime Show

Now that my son is in the high school marching band and each weekend involves a trip to watch a dozen different great school bands put on shows, I appreciate marching bands more than ever. So seeing this video from Ohio State University from this past weekend was just awesome. Check it out! Source: Reddit

Music Diary

Celebrating 50 Years Since the First Beatles Single!

Growing up and buying our first music in the wake of the Beatles break-up and with my brother a huge fan, I developed quite an in-depth knowledge of their music and history and enjoy their stuff to this day. My preference has always been their ‘middle years’ of Revolver and Rubber Soul, but over time I have appreciated everything they did. It is hard to think that they started 50 years ago. As noted at the Guardian UK, today marks the 50th anniversary of that release. Here is a bit of what they said: Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ newly appointed…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Check Out This Cool Video of Roy Clark and Joe Pass Playing the Music of Hank Williams!

When I think of Roy Clark, I think first of Hee Haw, but also know that he is an amazing guitarist. Joe Pass is recognized as one of the all time greatest guitarists. In 1994, just before Pass died, the two teamed up to record a selection of music by Country legend Hank Williams. The results were a jazzy-country mix that showed off the great songs, and highlighted two excellent guitarists who played very well together and a rhythm section who could handle the cool stylistic mix. Check out the video! And if you let it play to the end…

Music Diary, Reviews

Vinyl Re-Visions Looks at Steve Reich’s Different Trains (Classical, 1988)

Steve Reich – Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint There are a few pieces of music that absolutely stop me in my tracks; that no matter my mood or intent, if these come on I will listen without fail or interruption. One is Miles Davis’ song Bitches Brew from the album of the same name … another is Steve Reich’s composition Different Trains. This music is amazing on a number of levels that I will describe later, but it also has an emotional pull, as it integrates Reich’s experience as a Jew in America with family in Europe and his thoughts…

Music Diary, News

FL Studio Mobile 2 Video Preview

If you are looking for the best and most robust music studio app for the iPad, you have likely considered GarageBand, NanoStudio, and FL Studio. FL Studio Mobile offers a downscaled version of the popular PC electronic music-focused package – and while almost everyone loved the original, the lack of integrated sampling and limited editing and complete absence of a quality synthesizer were glaring omissions. With the upcoming 2.0 release (free for existing owners) Image Line looks to address these issues and more! As part of this they have released a couple of preview videos to show off new functionality….

Music Diary, News

IK Multimedia Introduces DJ Rig for iPad!

When DJ Rig released back in March, aside from some early bugs that were quickly squashed, my biggest wish was for an iPad version. It was one of those things that was immediately obvious once you touched the software. IK Multimedia agreed and stated they were working on it – but like the rest of their stuff they wanted to get it right and not just ‘upsize’. Well, now DJ Rig for iPad is ready and available! Here is some of the press release highlighting features: Professional DJing for the first time on iPad • Familiar double Deck configuration with…

Music Diary, News

MOTU Releases Digital Performer 8 For Mac & Windows!

Back at NAMM in January MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) announced plans for their flagship DAW (digital audio workstation) Digital Performer to jump to both Mac AND Windows with the release of version 8. Original release was planned for the spring, but today MOTU announced that both Mac and Windows versions are now available – and we also get pricing on the software and myriad upgrade deals! Here are some key new features: ?64-bit support – Digital Performer’s 64-bit support ensures that you can take full advantage of all the memory space in your computer for optimum performance from your…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Stream Diana Krall’s Upcoming ‘Glad Rag Doll’ for FREE on USAToday This Week!

Diana Krall is a Grammy winning, million selling jazz vocalist and pianist, whose singing and playing have earned her accolades and made her one of the top-selling artists in all of jazz and pop music. We recently saw her live with Paul McCartney, and she had a major role in his latest album, arranging, playing, and directing the band made up of musicians she has worked with for years. There is no denying her talent or her impact on pop and jazz over the last two decades. She is also a beautiful woman married to Elvis Costello and who has…

Music Diary, Reviews

Emily Remler a Retrospective Look at Her Music

Last week would have been the 55th birthday of jazz guitarist Emily Remler … had she not died in 1990. To commemorate this great jazz guitarist and one of the pioneering female instrumentalists, I wanted to do a retrospective of her musical legacy. There are way too many tales of artists who have died too young … it is just sad how many times we see examples of talented people whose careers were cut short because of their own self-destructive choices. In the case of Emily Remler, she died of a heart attack … no doubt exacerbated by some substance…

Music Diary, News

Stream Muse New Album ‘The 2nd Law’ for FREE on iTunes This Week!

While most of us were not particularly enamored of the Muse Olympic theme or sure about the dubstep-y sounds previewed from their new album, there are millions of Muse fans waiting to check out the final product and hoping for the best. Well, before dropping $13.99 on iTunes to find out … you can stream the entire album for FREE this week on iTunes! As usual it is a single stream for the whole album rather than per-song, but it is a great opportunity to see what Muse has come up with for their latest release! Head to iTunes and…

Music Diary, Reviews

Griffin StudioConnect MIDI-Audio Interface System for iPad Review

If you plan to use your iPad as a recording studio, you need to figure out a way of getting signals in and out … Oh, and a way of holding your iPad steady while working. Or, you can just get the Griffin StudioConnect and take care of it all at once! Let’s take a look! The Hype: Digital music-making has never been easier. Owning an iPad makes it easier still, taking it to a whole new level of versatility and portability. StudioConnect gives your iPad: audio in/out, MIDI in/out, and a stereo headphone jack with its own volume control…

Gear Bits, Music Diary, News

iOS 6 Brings Loads of SIGNIFICANT App Updates

By now we all know the mantra – when there is a new iOS update, prepare for the onslaught of app updates. It used to be surprising … now it is expected. I have probably updated 100 apps on my iPad since last week. [Oh, and I should mention that I LOVE the in-place updating!] But while some updates are just bug fixes and iOS 6 compatibility, others bring entirely new functionality. Significant functionality. And the funny thing is that it is hard to know what changes are major or minor when you see a list of a dozen or…

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