Ed--March 11

My weekly trip to the library turned up east/west by Bill Frisell. There's a guy that lives on his own patch of land. Probably not going to be competing with John Pizarelli for dates at the Carlyle. This is a live double album, one disc recorded at a club in Oakland, the other at the Vanguard in NY, both with the same drummer, but with different bass players. I think each concert is supposed to reflect its regional identity, but the nuances are pretty subtle once you get up there where the air thins out.

This week I've also been paying a lot of attention to an instructional DVD by guitarist Corey Christiansen on quartal harmony: chord structure based on fourth intervals, rather than thirds. It's pretty fascinating stuff for a dilettante like me. Now that it's been pointed out to me, I can hear it used a lot in straight-ahead jazz, but also quite a bit by Donald Fagen; even Tony Rice. I went to a concert and clinic Corey did here in Fayetteville last year. Frank's bud, Ted thinks he's somewhat of a poseur, but I really enjoyed it, especially the clinic.

In the car (when you have two teenagers and two TVs going in the house, the aural enviornment is mostly saturated), it's been primarily XM jazz, NPR drive time and Razorback basketball.

This week's standard is Joy Spring by Clifford Brown.