Interests:reading, live music, a cappella groups, guitar, friends, GOD, missions, singing, volleyball, dancing, photography, musicals, exercise, travelling, road trips, skiing, swimming, keeping up with news, journalling, museums, pondering life's mysteries, beauty, worship teams, taiwan, choir, food Expertise:precious daughter, child of God, currently working on strength through patience and gentleness...
1959 was a watershed year in jazz history. Ella Fitzgerald recorded the sublime George and Ira Gershwin Songbook. John Coltrane’s Giant Steps expanded jazz’s harmonic universe into realms of unprecedented complexity, while Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue went the opposite direction, presenting each chord as a discrete entity of abstract beauty. Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come revealed new frontiers of expression by subverting convention, Charles Mingus’s Mingus Ah Um put an avant-garde spin on the sanctified roots of jazz, and Dave Brubeck’s Time Out attracted a new audience with its coolly sophisticated rhythmic grooves. It was an amazingly fertile era when innovation blossomed and jazz was near the peak of its national popularity. 50 years later, the same creative energy and spirit of originality still motivate jazz musicians, and echoes of 1959 can be heard all over. With pianist/violinist Victor Lin as emcee, the outstanding faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop will revisit this magical era in jazz to celebrate its sounds and trace the developments of its many styles.
“One of the foremost keepers of the flame in jazz today.” – Highlights In Jazz
I must say - visually, without her saying a word, I formulated one idea of Emily. And then she started strumming the guitar, and she took on another persona. And then she opened her mouth! And still another. I wonder, what IS her background? and how did she learn to sing like that? Did she decide she could sound like that, and just did it? Did she listen to a few artists on Youtube, on iTunes, in person and emulate?
Recently, one of my friends came back from Tanzania and brought video clips of the children and villagers singing these beautiful choruses in their native language. The vocal harmonies and depth with which they sang is very emotionally jarring. I assume, that ability lies in the strength of their culture - it's literally infused in their every day village life.
Still another thought- there was this kid in youth group with me. He got the idea that he should learn to breakdance. So, in the middle of a conservative Asian church, he would practice spinning around on the floor and kicking his feet in the air. He looked pretty ridiculous to start. And there was no one around for him to mimick. (and no Youtube back in those days). But he turned out to be pretty good at it after what seemed like a few years a really really trying to learn.
And then there is my boyfriend. For one, he was the first professional jazz pianist I ever met. Add that he's Asian, and also an educator, and it makes him somewhat unique. One of his high school buddies passed him a jazz record one day, and he fell in love. He also happened to pick it up pretty easily.
I wonder.. how much of one's artistic identity is self-taught vs. how much is immersion-based? These stories inspire and frustrate me.
