Dr. Bob Prescribes the Bill Evans Trio
March
2nd,
2021
The Job of a Record Producer Here’s how The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, or NARAS) defines a record producer: “The person who has overall creative and technical control of the entire recording project, and the individual recording sessions that are part of that project. He or she is present in the…
Music History Monday: Orrin Keepnews: With Great Respect and Appreciation
March
1st,
2021
Orrin Keepnews (1923-2015) circa 1995 We mark the death on March 1, 2015 – six years ago today – of the American jazz producer and founder of Riverside Records and Milestone Records Orrin Keepnews, in El Cerrito California, but a couple of stones’ throws from where I’m writing this blog. Born in da Bronx on…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
February
23rd,
2021
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) in 1874 By way of review: Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a homosexual with a predilection for cross-dressing and teenaged boys. In May of 1877, around the time of his 37th birthday on May 7, he received a letter from one Antonina Milyukova – a former student at the Moscow…
Music History Monday: Tchaikovsky: Two Women and a Symphony
February
22nd,
2021
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) in 1874, age 34 We mark the premiere on February 22, 1878 – 143 years ago today – of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor in a concert of the Russian Musical Society in Moscow, under the baton of Nicolai Rubinstein. The story of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Christopher Rouse: Trombone Concerto
February
16th,
2021
Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) The great and eminently quotable English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham famously said: “I never look at the brass. It only encourages them.” Jeepers! Whatever would have prompted Sir Thomas to say such a thing? We consider the brass instruments, the most common of which are trumpets, French horns (as they are…
Music History Monday: What a Day!
February
15th,
2021
February 15 is one of those crazy days during which so much happened in the world of music that we are de facto forced to wonder if there is some metaphysical explanation for why this date should be a nexus of musical-historical activity! In an attempt to answer that question, I have probed. Ouch. Here…
Dr. Bob Prescribes John Williams
February
9th,
2021
We have some heavy preliminaries to discuss, starting with the differences between European film music and the classic Hollywood symphonic film score (of which Williams is its greatest contemporary exponent); the relationship between Williams’ scores and the music of Richard Wagner (1813-1883); the derivative nature inherent to the vast majority of film music (including Williams’);…
Music History Monday: John Williams
February
8th,
2021
John Towner Williams (born 1932) We celebrate the birth on February 8, 1932 – 89 years ago today – of the American composer, conductor, pianist and trombonist John Towner Williams, in the neighborhood of Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. Williams must be regarded as among the greatest film composers of all…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Music to Calm Hearts and Souls
February
2nd,
2021
In yesterday’s Music History Monday post, we had the opportunity to talk about the questionable but on occasion necessary (if borderline masochistic) pleasures of hot peppers and punk rock. The post went on to mark the short, tragic, and depraved life of one Simon John Richie (best known by his stage name of “Sid Vicious”,…
Music History Monday: Pretty Much the Worst
February
1st,
2021
Carolina Reaper Pepper There are times I crave spicy – I mean really spicy – food. (Speaking of which: I knew a guy at university from San Antonio – we belonged to the same “eating club’ which was our version of fraternities – who put Tabasco Sauce on everything: cereal, peanut butter sandwiches, vanilla ice…