Off-Tempo Blue Notes Soon to Torment Neighbors

It's an exciting day. But then, aren't all days exciting when you're a homebrewer?

I digress.

It's an exciting day because I'm scheduled to receive an Amazon shipment. Two Diana Krall CD's, a book on jazz piano theory, and a jazz piano instruction book.

I really like Diana Krall. Some people consider her "jazz lite," but that's wrong. She has an understated style, vocally and pianistically, but that doesn't put her in the same questionable category as Spirogyra and Pat Metheny. Billie Holiday's style was understated, too, and so was Frank Sinatra's. So what? Not everyone wants to be Oscar Peterson or Art Tatum or Ella Fitzgerald at her busiest.

Last night, I watched a Netflixed DVD of Diana Krall in Paris. What a class act. She introduced the musicians. She introduced the conductor and the orchestra. She even credited her arrangers. Contrast that with Michael and Janet Jackson, who hid Paula Abdul's choreography skills like a state secret.

One quality I really admire in jazz performers is the ability to take utter garbage and turn it into great music. A lot of the songs that are considered jazz standards are complete crap. Consider "Tea for two." Consider "Fascinating Rhythm." Ugh. But good musicians take these lumps of coal and polish them into diamonds.

Diana Krall has that ability. For example, on the Paris DVD, she took "The Look of Love," a botched abortion of a song, and made it beautiful. If you can save Burt Bacharach from himself, you are a true musical genius.

The DVD is phenomenal. I should see if there's a CD of the music.

I look forward to the jazz books because I have been studying for a year and still know absolutely nothing about jazz. These books were highly recommended by experienced pianists, so I plan to give them at least half an hour a day and see what develops.

I want to learn jazz for two reasons. First of all, there is more room in jazz for creativity than there is in classical music. There are a million ways to be creative in classical music, but in the end, you have to play what's on the page. I want to write my own variations and improvisations.

Second, I realize that even if I practice twelve hours a day until I die, I will never be a particularly good classical pianist. I started too late. But I can get pretty good at jazz if I try. In terms of technique, it's much less demanding. Some jazz pianists are technique monsters, but you can play jazz well without the kind of technique you have to have in order to be competent as a classical pianist.

So. Hurry up, UPS. Don't keep me waiting.