Arnett Cobb was from Texas, born in Houston. He died in the same city in 1989.
You may expect to hear more about both Texan musicians and the saxophone on this blog.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Arnett Cobb
I played alto sax in school band beginning in 6th grade. Later in high school I also played bari sax. In college, I played bari in the #1 jazz band and alto in the #2 band. I haven't played sax in years, however, and I'm sure all the necessary muscles are completely out of shape. It's still my favorite wind instrument.
Arnett Cobb was from Texas, born in Houston. He died in the same city in 1989.
You may expect to hear more about both Texan musicians and the saxophone on this blog.
Arnett Cobb was from Texas, born in Houston. He died in the same city in 1989.
You may expect to hear more about both Texan musicians and the saxophone on this blog.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Ukulele Podcasts
I listen to a lot of podcasts. My job is such that I can often listen to podcasts for 6-7 hours every day, or every weekday anyway, and it greatly helps me from dying of boredom. So I thought I would list the ukulele-related podcasts that I listen to. These are in no particular order. Click on the podcast name to go to their website.
Ooktown - Primarily hosted by Stuart Yoshida, who is also the founder of the Colorado School of Ukulele, with a varying number of different co-hosts, each episode featuring a guest who is a prominent name in the ukulele world. Each episode discusses a variety of topics that should be important for ukulele players as well as musicians in general. This podcast began in 2011 and all past episodes are archived and available for download at the website.
Ukulele Underground - Unfortunately, this one seems to have gone on an indefinite hiatus, but the archived episodes are very well worth listening to. The previous link will take you to the first version of their podcast, called The Adventures of the K-Town Heroes, in which you will be taken on a long, very entertaining and informative journey about how Aldrine, Ryan, and Aaron grew up, met each other, and eventually founded Ukulele Underground. I binge-listened to all of these in a just a couple of days, and listening to them all was so much fun, I might do it again sometime. Their feed is http://ukuleleunderground.com/feed/. Put that in your RSS reader and you should be able to access all of their shows, including the more recent ones that were put out last year.
Unplug the Wood - This is not specifically a ukulele podcast, but is instead a podcast dedicated to acoustic performances. However, the host, Krabbers, is a ukulele player and he frequently does include ukulele music in the podcast. There have been only 10 episodes so far and they are all available for download at the website.
UkeCast - This show is no longer being produced. It ran for 4 seasons from (I think) 2006-2009. It may have been the first ever ukulele-focused podcast, and it's great! Each episode is almost all music and little commentary, running about 20-25 minutes each, with an occasional special episode going up to about an hour. Almost all original ukulele music, and I highly recommend it! It is also interesting to me as a part of history. This podcast was before Jake swept the world with his incredible playing, before Aldrine made a name for himself, and for that matter before many of the big names in ukulele had become famous. One of the co-hosts, who goes by the name of Nipper, was interviewed in one of the recent Ukulele Underground podcasts. All of the episodes are still available to download in one big zip file at the website. Lots and lots of great original ukulele music here, and every episode stands up to repeated listening.
That's it. Happy listening!
Ooktown - Primarily hosted by Stuart Yoshida, who is also the founder of the Colorado School of Ukulele, with a varying number of different co-hosts, each episode featuring a guest who is a prominent name in the ukulele world. Each episode discusses a variety of topics that should be important for ukulele players as well as musicians in general. This podcast began in 2011 and all past episodes are archived and available for download at the website.
Ukulele Underground - Unfortunately, this one seems to have gone on an indefinite hiatus, but the archived episodes are very well worth listening to. The previous link will take you to the first version of their podcast, called The Adventures of the K-Town Heroes, in which you will be taken on a long, very entertaining and informative journey about how Aldrine, Ryan, and Aaron grew up, met each other, and eventually founded Ukulele Underground. I binge-listened to all of these in a just a couple of days, and listening to them all was so much fun, I might do it again sometime. Their feed is http://ukuleleunderground.com/feed/. Put that in your RSS reader and you should be able to access all of their shows, including the more recent ones that were put out last year.
Unplug the Wood - This is not specifically a ukulele podcast, but is instead a podcast dedicated to acoustic performances. However, the host, Krabbers, is a ukulele player and he frequently does include ukulele music in the podcast. There have been only 10 episodes so far and they are all available for download at the website.
UkeCast - This show is no longer being produced. It ran for 4 seasons from (I think) 2006-2009. It may have been the first ever ukulele-focused podcast, and it's great! Each episode is almost all music and little commentary, running about 20-25 minutes each, with an occasional special episode going up to about an hour. Almost all original ukulele music, and I highly recommend it! It is also interesting to me as a part of history. This podcast was before Jake swept the world with his incredible playing, before Aldrine made a name for himself, and for that matter before many of the big names in ukulele had become famous. One of the co-hosts, who goes by the name of Nipper, was interviewed in one of the recent Ukulele Underground podcasts. All of the episodes are still available to download in one big zip file at the website. Lots and lots of great original ukulele music here, and every episode stands up to repeated listening.
That's it. Happy listening!
Saturday, February 4, 2017
New uke: the Duke banjo ukulele
A video about my newest acquisition: the Duke tenor scale banjo ukulele.
The "happiest instrument in the world"
Does anyone else get somewhat annoyed by chirpy people who are always proclaiming that the ukulele is "the happiest instrument in the world"? Or how about "you can't be sad and play the ukulele"? Or even the extreme "you can't play a sad song on a ukulele"?
I have news for people who say those things. It is not news that they will ever believe, because they have already decided to live by their established prejudices, but here it is:
THE UKULELE IS JUST ANOTHER INSTRUMENT.
That's right. It doesn't have any special happy magical powers or anything like that. It's an instrument, just like a guitar or a saxophone or a bagpipe. Well, maybe not a bagpipe.
I once very pointedly told someone that if I couldn't play sad songs on a ukulele, I would never have wasted my time on it.
Okay, I love this instrument. It's something that I can get my head around and my fingers to more or less work with. I can strum chords as I sing. That's all I ever wanted. But no sad songs?
Do you have a favorite sad song that you like to play on your ukulele? Leave a comment and tell me about it!
I have news for people who say those things. It is not news that they will ever believe, because they have already decided to live by their established prejudices, but here it is:
THE UKULELE IS JUST ANOTHER INSTRUMENT.
That's right. It doesn't have any special happy magical powers or anything like that. It's an instrument, just like a guitar or a saxophone or a bagpipe. Well, maybe not a bagpipe.
I once very pointedly told someone that if I couldn't play sad songs on a ukulele, I would never have wasted my time on it.
Okay, I love this instrument. It's something that I can get my head around and my fingers to more or less work with. I can strum chords as I sing. That's all I ever wanted. But no sad songs?
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