iTunes Music Store here in Canada offers a free song download every week. This week is a song from Theresa Sokyrka, the runner-up on last year's Canadian Idol. It's from her new album.

The song is good. Not surprising, since she was the more talented between her and winner Kaylan Porter.

She'll also be the one whose album I'll buy.

I can't really afford it... but I treated myself to a classic album from the Verve vault on iTunes: Count Bassie with the Mills Brothers.

These classics should never be lost, in my view.

blogcurry

Mike Zellers also likes Jazz, and he's funny to boot.

Farewell to a good friend

I've been quiet on this blog for some time... unfortunately I'm not returning with a heavily positive post:

My good friend Doctor John F. Davis died this past Sunday at the age of 87.

John wasn't the kind of person who would want weeping and moaning about him. I'm trying not to. Mostly, I've been trying to remember how fortunate I was to have known such an incredible man:

Before WW II, John was a PhD in Engineering. He had a great interest in medical technology, so he returned to McGill after the war to get his MD, and a BA in English Literature as well.

McGill awards a scholarship in his name every 2 years.

He was a Nobel laureate, as part of a group of scientists who protested nuclear proliferation. He didn't get the monetary award, but had the award certificate proudly in his office.

He was the spokesman for several medical research companies.

Even up to the end, he was a practicing psychiatrist.

He was also the person who got me into PC computing a decade ago, as a reward for helping him to create his personal Website.

Despite all these credits, he was a humble man. In fact, he willed his body to science, and there will only be a memorial service later this summer.

I'm very sad he's gone... but I thank fate for giving me a chance to know him.

Back from the Luddite Abbys!

My PC needed a corrupted HD replaced. After nearly 3 weeks without a system at home, I'm back again and reinstalling what software I can!

In the interim, I finally gave up on getting Couleur Jazz on my alarm clock radio. After months of barely getting static, I changed to University of McGill's CKUT. They play other genres daily, but they do have Jazz programming as well.

From this week's Friday Fiver:

1. Do you tend to exaggerate or underestimate?
With the way my words are often misinterpreted to their most negative, I'd say that I underestimate people too much.

2. What is the last "white" lie that you told?
I can't think what it was. It's been a long time.

3. Can you forgive a liar?
Eventually. The sole exception has been someone who acted so attrociously to me, to the point of libel; I haven't spoken to them in over a decade.

4. Do you hold a grudge?
This also answers the last question more fully: I've been known to be upset with people for a long time, but I eventually get to talking with them again. Often I make that first step.

5. What's the biggest lie you've ever told?
Like the white lie question I can't answer right now.

So Jamie Foxx won the Best Actor Oscar for Ray... not that it wasn't expected. Still: it was great to have a biography of a jazz legend honored this way.

From the Note of the Day:

Name three (or more!) people and the custom ringtones you’ve either set for them on your phone, or would if you could.

With me it's definitely the latter... here are my choices:

• Queen, Show must go on


• Sonny Rollins, Island Lady


• Herbie Hancock, Rock it

(He has far better jazz, but this is the most memorable tune from him).

• The Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Zoot Suit Riot


• U2, Sunday, Bloody Sunday

In a bittersweet moment, the late Ray Charles won two Grammys for his last album yesterday.

It's a great tribute. Too bad he couldn't be here to get the awards.

Lately I've been finding how small the transmitter for Couleur Jazz really is: my clock radio often loses the signal, and when I try to refine it again, it takes a few days to find the signal again!

I hope Couleur Jazz proves popular enough to warrant a stronger transmitter... I'm losing the signal on it too easily on far too regular a basis.

I'm disappointed at the overal weak reception on my radio, but I've discovered that two artists I've heard for many years now are actually considered Jazz performers: Sade and Frank Sinatra.

Sade I first heard considered a smooth jazz singer on Cool TV in 2004. This makes sense... I could never quite place her musical style.

Frank Sinatra was more of a surprise. I thought he was more of a contemporary crooner. Then I learned he recorded an album with Duke Ellington as well as tunes with other artists. He too gets major airplay on Cool TV, though initially I thought he just fit the 'cool' part of the name.

I haven't done this in awhile... this week's Four for Friday:

Q1: How has the advent of the Internet changed the way you get your daily news?
I never read newspapers fully before, but I hardly even skim them now. I only watch the evening news to see the weather report now. Rarely do they cover anything that I haven't already read online.

Q2: When you were younger, what were some things you dreamed about doing, and that you still think are possible to do today, but that you just haven't gotten around to doing or experiencing yet?
I dreamed about being a writer, and that's what I am today. I also dreamed about seeing more of the world though, and that's something I haven't got to yet.

Q3: If you were forced to live on a deserted island for one year, what five things--aside from specific items of clothing--that you'd choose to bring?
Ah, the old "desert island" thing... let me see. There wouldn't likely be electricity, so albums, films and such are out. I'd bring the real I Robot anthology by Isaac Asimov (it was my first adult book, after all), a photo almum of my family and my cats, a copy of my APA Comicopia, a bag of dice (once a gamer, always a gamer) and the Hero System 5^th Edition so that I could put the dice to use in a game.

Q4: Did any notable or high-profile person's death in 2004 have a dramatic or long-lasting affect on you? (Here's a short list of some of the more notable people who died in 2004: Jack Paar, Marge Schott, Sir Peter Ustinov, Alistair Cooke, Tug McGraw, Pat Tillman, Estee Lauder, Alan King, David Dellinger, Sam Dash, Tony Randall, President Ronald Reagan, Ray Charles, Marlon Brando, Isabel Sanford, Rick James, Fay Wray, Julia Child, Geoffrey Beene, Red Adair, Richard Avedon, Janet Leigh, Rodney Dangerfield, Ken Caminiti, Christopher Reeve, Pierre Salinger, Yasser Arafat, Susan Sontag, Reggie White, Jerry Orbach, Johnny Ramone.)
That may be a short list, but still rather long!

From that list 2 people affected me most for different reasons:

Ray Charles: James Brown may call himself "the godfather of soul" but Ray was the originator. He had an incredible life, brought us some incredible music, and proved you can get past a disability to greatness.

Christopher Reeve: the man my generation will always identify with Superman, one he became paralyzed became a true suoerhero, crusading for others spinally injured.

Like many, I wouldn't have been surprised if he one day got up from his chair. Sadly, he'll never now have the chance.

Today I saw the first advertising billboard for Couleur Jazz. If I see more, I'll really think they're making the effort to promote it!

Madeleine Peyroux - Don't Wait too Long.

I'm listening to SmoothJazz.com on a stream through Winamp as I type. They just played the above-mentioned song by the above-mentioned singer. I heard that song often on Couleur Jazz during their months of tape loops. I kept hearing the song, liked it... but had no idea who it was by. Now, finally, I know!

Even though Couleur Jazz is now live, they still re-use too many songs we've heard for months.

At least Queen Latifah's performance of the song Have Mercy on Me is entertaining. The cover of the old standard Making Whoopie by Tony Bennet and Cindi Lauper (I think) just sounds too drab for my tastes.

Too much of a good thing?

I've been finding that with Couleur Jazz as my radio alarm, I haven't been successful in waking up on time. Maybe they are playing music at that hour not condusive to waking up, just calming stuff?

Right now Bird, Clint Eastwood's film about the life of Charlie Parker is airing on CoolTV.

I never saw the film before, so I hadn't realized what a tortured soul Parker was.

Even though it's now a day late for X-Mas, I want to wish my readers a great New Year's Eve, and a great holiday time before that.

I saw a jazz link in an episode of Degrassi: the Next Generation this past week: one character gave another her late grandfather's guitar as a holiday gift... she said he used it when he played with Django Reinhardt.

I've heard Django mentioned a lot of late. I have to track his music down now; I'm very curious.