Well, the English summer is doing its worst outside; lashing, horizontal rain and squally gales are thrashing the trees around in my back garden and performing drum-rolls on the windows so it's a good day to snuggle down on the sofa, wrap myself in a duvet and grab something big and Russian off the bookshelves.
I was over at Katie's blog this morning, basking vicariously in the San Francisco heat and she pointed me at the Oakland Museum's glorious "Birth Of The Cool" exhibition.
That stuff's pure porn to me.
So today - if you're fed up with the heat wherever you are - come join me watching the rain and chill out while I wallow unapologetically in the glory of the man who gave us "The Birth Of The Cool".
Three tracks to choose from (though if you have a soul you'll settle in with a coffee and listen to all of them).
All are from the greatest album ever made by anyone, anywhere; Miles' "Kind Of Blue" and they match my mood perfectly today.
Track one is a live version of "So What", probably the coolest of cool tracks.
Track two (no video) is the first take of "Flamenco Sketches" which features my favourite piano solo of all time; master of sensitivity Bill Evans breaks my heart all over again every time I hear it.
Track three (also no video) is Blue In Green. Miles' first note tears me apart.
Perfection.
Enjoy your Sunday.
11 comments:
you perfect, perfect man! xoxoxox
(think i'll have a kind of blue day here, too...just load the cd player with miles)
It works for me, Savannah.
xoxox
So glad I could provide a little something to help make the "lashing horizontal rain" a little more bearable today! You really would love seeing that exhibit -- too bad it's a bit far for you to just pop over. Remember thought that the U.S. has everything at bargain basement prices right now thanks to the sucky dollar, so maybe you should consider a little trip to the sunny part of the world.
After I come back from getting coffee and reading the Sunday paper I know I'll be depressed enough to wallow in the Miles Davis videos and music for the rest of the morning. Or maybe not; I'm a Californian after all so maybe I'll just go play volleyball on the beach.
Beach volleyball?
Yikes! You sure know how to make a guy feel even worse about the rain, Katie. Hee hee hee.
I must confess I could do with a holiday; I've not had one since the early nineties. Summer is the busy season at the office though, so no days off until October.
Hey ho.
Music speaks louder than words, old son.
That's perfection.
It's a close as any human will ever get, Monsieur.
When I first heard Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, I thought I was listening to a slice of heaven. I am not a musical person, but even I recognized perfection.
And then this woman who I cannot stand, who has a thing for Bing, sent it to her on her birthday with the words, "Every time I hear this, I close my eyes and think of you..."
It made me so damn mad that this creepy little person took a cd that I absolutely LOVED and sullied it up for me....
But, actually...even SHE couldn't ruin it.
It truly is a slice of Heaven, Maria.
And take comfort from the fact that every time that creepy woman closes her eyes and thinks of Bing, Bing is yours and yours alone.
The Complete Birth of the Cool is some of my favorite study music. Kids my age don't really appreciate Miles like they should.
Fantastic but I still prefer guitar and piano. Happy Monday Dive.
T: Kids of all ages should love this music.
Mme: We shall have to agree to disagree.
Together with Murray Perahia's version (not the overblown Glen Gould one) of Bach's Goldberg Variations, this is the closest thing to musical perfection any human being has ever achieved.
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