A short film was made about the making of that record.

This is from the Search & Restore NOLA Round Robin Duos concert. I like the fact that once Helen comes on stage I am heard more than seen.

Horn section (l to r): Brian Graber, Khris Royal, Tracy Griffin, Mark Mullins, Jeff Albert. Front row (l to r): Art Neville, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, David Berard, Stanton Moore, Papa Mali, & Brint Anderson (out of picture to the right).

I should have info about the release of the music some time soon(-ish).

Like much of the day, I was talking, and Kidd was practicing. Or maybe he was just trying to drown out my talking.

When he wasn’t practicing, he was laughing, or making us laugh.

Here we are with Wesley Fontenot, our fabulous recording engineer, checking out some playback.

Co-producer Benjamin Lyons and Hamid in (I’m sure rather deep) discussion.

We did actually record some music too. There are more action photos here.

Enrico Sartori (alto clarinet), Domenico Caliri (guitar), Silvia Bolognesi (bass), Simone Padovani (percussion), Marcello Benetti (drums) & Jeff Albert (trombone)

This was recorded at UDIN&JAZZ 2011 XXI EDIZIONE on
Monday, June 20, 2011 in Cervignano del Friuli, Italy

Read the whole article here: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/Music-from-things–you-touch-every-day.html

It’s funny, I have played trombone in venues all over North America and Europe with some of the world’s greatest musicians, but it is the gig on which I play glowing orbs and wiimotes that gets these two pictures on the front page of the paper.

Photos by Adam Lau/The Advocate

Nick wrote the piece that produced that wiimote pic. I blame him.

Dig the lederhosen wearing, serpent playing horn section. Spencer’s favorite part was the record scratching parrot voice. It’s like a modern day Officer Krupke…sort of.

Anyway, last Tuesday the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (LOLs) played a concert in Free Speech Alley at LSU. It was fun. There was sunburn. Someone shot video.

We did a number of pieces that day. The piece in this footage is something we called “own instrument improv.” It is an improvisation, in which we each play an instrument of our own design. I was playing a joystick instrument that I designed for a piece called Forbidden Butch and another instrument that I call R2D2 because it sounds a little bit like the droid. They were both made in Max/MSP. The forbidden butch instrument uses a Logitech Joystick, and the R2D2 instrument uses an AKAI LPD8 as a controller, although it can be played without the LPD8. If you want to check out the patches, send me an email, and I’ll send them to you.

http://www.inbflat.net/

As described on the site:

In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, and developed with contributions from users.

The videos can be played simultaneously — the soundtracks will work together, and the mix can be adjusted with the individual volume sliders.

(h/t @tedgioia)

(via Greenleaf)

Thanks to George Porter Jr for sending this along.

(Via Lament for a Straight Line – Jim Macnie.)

Props to Alex for turning me on to this video.

For more info (airtimes, etc) go to http://www.iconsamongus.com.

If you are offended by the language sometimes used by musicians (and sailors, and soldiers, and salesman, and bankers, and golfers, and…) don’t watch the following clip. It is not real bad in terms of foul language, but it is honest. BTW Russell Gunn and I were roommates on a cruise ship in 1993, and he was just as outspoken and strong in his ideas then, before anyone knew who he was.

Hamid Drake’s Bindu project, photographed during a break from the May 7 recording session at SOMA.

Seated (L to R): Jeb Bishop, Hamid Drake.

Standing (L to R): Jeff Parker, Napoleon Maddox, Jeff Albert, Josh Abrams.

(Via Jeb Bishop.)

Enjoy the music (and alleged comedy).

Of course, as the YouTube time suck goes, that video led to this one, which is also worth checking out. Interview with Orrin Keepnews…very interesting.

Filmed in mid-2005, this is a glimpse into life on the French Quarter’s lower Decatur Street before Hurricane Katrina.

Originally written by Ray Davies of the Kinks, this track is performed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band featuring Clint Maedgen on vocals with a guest appearance by the New Orleans Bingo! Show in the video.

I knew Terence Blanchard has some stuff going on, but this DVD really opened my eyes and ears to his badness. The movie follows his band through a few tour stops and a soundtrack session. It provides a great look into the vibe of the band, and what it is that makes them a real band instead of a collection of guys hired to play the leader’s music. There is also a great bonus piece that is some footage of Terence teaching at the Thelonious Monk Institute at USC. The way he presents things to the students is very inspiring.

DO THE MATH: WikiTube Volume Four: Cassius Clay and Liberace

This is a great exhibit that is currently installed at The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. It consists of pieces that were in storm or flood damaged studios along the Gulf Coast. Many of the paintings have been cleaned up to near pre-strom condition, but you can see the subtle effects.

I couldn’t help but draw the parallel to our city and culture. Even though it can get cleaned up and fixed, and pretty much look like it did before, it’s still not really the same.

My favotire piece in the exhibit was a small statue that had been broken into a dozen or so pieces. There was a picture of it, intact before the storm, next to the pieces laid in a pile. It was striking. The same molecules of plaster now held a different shape and a different emotional impact…yet it was the same plaster.

I know the feeling.

Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | View from the street

Pubs, parks, factories and front rooms… do photographs and films chronicling ‘ordinary life’ belong in a gallery?

Yes. Part of one of the definitions of art includes “appreciated for emotional power.”

Mark Harden’s Artchive: Favorites Tour

It is an interesting little intro to art. Something of a Greatest Hits collection.

“if admiring art was enough to change the world, Africa would have got justice long ago”

Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | Raiders of the lost art

How much great, or good, or even bad but interesting art/music/literature is out there, nearly completely undiscovered or at least forgotten?

The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: Joey deVilla’s Weblog :: The Cthulhu Circus

via Boing Boing.

I caught this on Boing Boing, and from my buddy and instigator John Worthington.

The world needs more creativity like this. As the article says, “there’s magic in new art.”

An interesting review of a “public aesthetic ritual.”

The recent attention to my physical nourishment has me thinking of my artistic nourishment as well. A healthy diet of food contains all types of food. Proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables are all present in healthy proportions when we feed our bodies properly. What do we need to feed our artistic selves a balanced diet?

Balanced artistic intake is important both as a creator and a patron of art. The Oxford American Dictionaries define art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.” To appreciate art and receive nourishment from it, one must actively participate in the experience. You can’t just see the painting or sculpture; you must look at it. It is not enough to hear the music; you must listen. Simply reading the words does not reveal the poetry; you must be open to the message. These are not skills that come naturally to many modern Americans, nor people of other cultures I would imagine. We must practice these skills and develop them. It is not enough to eat right; we must exercise as well.

My primary artistic outlet is music, but I have found that involvement in other art forms only enhances my musical expression. To that end, and in the general interest of my artistic health, I have come up with this art diet to help me balance my artistic consumption.

-Read literature every day. Most of us read quite a bit daily. (You are reading this now.) While I find Boing Boing, DownBeat, and my local newspaper interesting and informative, they aren’t necessarily artistically nourishing. Read a poem. Read a novel. Re-read that classic piece of literature that you were forced to read in school. They are classics for a reason. Try something new. Buy a book by a living author you have never read.

-Listen to music everyday. We all hear music everyday, in our cars, or at the grocery store, or on the kitchen radio while we cook dinner. How much time do we spend with music as the sole focus of our attention? Sit down and listen to an entire symphony. Don’t read the liner notes, don’t look at the cover, don’t just put it on while you clean the house. Really listen. Let the music be the active focus of your attention. When was the last time you really listened to Kind of Blue? It’s a classic for a reason.

-Hear live music as often as possible. Nothing feels like the vibrations created by a 70-piece orchestra in a great hall. Seeing the musical communication of great improvisers casts the music in a new light. Seeing, feeling and smelling the performance only enhances the hearing of it.

-Go to museums. Looking at art online and in books is cool, but standing in front of the 14 foot tall Dali painting “The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus” at the Dali Museum (in St. Petersburg, FL.) is a totally different experience. Take the time to check out every museum in your town, and look for museums when you travel.

-Make your own art. Write a poem, draw a picture, sing a song. Express and apply your creative skill and imagination.

Having a balanced art diet, coupled with healthy artistic exercise will make us better musicians, artists, writers, scientists, engineers, teachers, bus drivers, accountants, or whatever else we might be. And it will make us better people.