Famous Ellington quotes

Here's a bunch of cool things I said:


1. "A problem is a chance for you to do your best."

2. "Critics have their purposes, and they're supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what they did."

3. "There are two kinds of worries -- those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter."

4. "By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with."

5. "My mother told me I was blessed, and I have always taken her word for it. Being born of -- or reincarnated from -- royalty is nothing like being blessed. Royalty is inherited from another human being; blessedness comes from God."

6. "I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."

7. "Gray skies are just clouds passing over."

8. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where jazz starts or where it stops, where Tin Pan Alley begins and jazz ends, or even where the borderline lies between between classical music and jazz. I feel there is no boundary line."

9. "Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one."

10. "Love is indescribable and unconditional. I could tell you a thousand things that it is not, but not one that it is. Either you have it or you haven't; there's no proof of it."

11. "Roaming through the jungle of 'oohs' and 'ahs', searching for a more agreeable noise, I live a life of primitivity with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats."

12. "The wise musicians are those who play what they can master."

13. "There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone."

14. "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."

Tommy TuTone ~ 867-5309

Have I got a treat for you! Here's a real blast from the past that you're going to love.
Now I know this may surprise a lot of folks that know I wasn't keen on rock music in my day.

But I once said there's good songs, and there's the other kind....and there's no denying this is a GREAT song.

It's clever, unique and incredibly catchy. It was a huge hit when it came out in 1982, and it's the cornerstone of this latest release. I think it's very witty to make a phone number the chorus of a song, and it fits the music like a glove!
Hope you enjoy it as much as I have....

Tommy Tutone
"867-5309/Jenny" (mp3)
from "The Singles"
(Spectra Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
More On This Album

Hot Little Hands: Scene of the Crime review

Well I've been long associated with being "cool", and so I think this band will fit very well in my blog. They are cool to the extreme of glacial frozen. Their album name caught me at first, and I thought I was in for a big band treat, but it turned out to be some solidly written and recorded rock and roll. I dig rock by the way. I would put rock music under my definition of "good music".

So have a listen, download it, share it with your friends. This number is really something else. it sounds derivative of several bands, but it has so much fire and excitement to it that it sounds brand new.

Hot Little Hands
"Scene of the Crime" (mp3)
from "Dynamite In Black & White"
(Rubber Records)
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at mTraks
More On This Album

The Uptones ~ Ska at Slim's in SF

“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing".......one of my most famous quotes. I saw a band swing the other night, and this band is called The Uptones. Their show was much more than you're average concert, it was a celebration of a music style they love and hold strong allegiance to.

I've always enjoyed ska music. In fact I was around to watch the birth of ska in the 1940's, and even saw my style of jazz influence it's development. The Uptones hold true to the deepest roots of ska. You can tell they want to do justice to the music, and their performance the other night did honor to the ghosts of ska while exposing a much younger generation to it's delights.

And by the way, they put on a very tight, professional show. I found myself riveted to the spot until the last encore. The horn section was one of the shining parts to the group, but the guitars, drums and singing were all top notch. I thoroughly enjoyed the lyrics and harmonies too. In particular, I was greatly impressed with the new material written by one of the singers, Moose Lethridge. He's a great dancer too, and never missed a stroke on his guitar while throwing himself around the stage in a stomping frenzy. The other front man, Eric Din confidently delivered his well written tunes in a booming voice while joining in the fray of dancing feet onstage. I was standing right next to the bass amp too, and really enjoyed how solidly Ben Eastwood was holding down the wildness happening all around him.

Another quote of mine: "There's only two kinds of music. There's the good kind, and there's the other kind". This my readers was the GOOD kind. If you want to see a tight knit band take command of a stage with irresistibly catchy songs, then make sure you go to their next show!

You can find The Uptones here

Duke Ellington speaks

Jazz = Freedom of Expression

Duke Ellington answers Proust

I spent most of my life on a train touring from town to town and writing music. Music is what I know and it's my greatest love. And I've arrived here in 2008 and I'm blogging! Well, I'll be blogging between sets or band rehearsals that is.....I want to share some of the amazing music I'm finding in Netsville! I think you'll dig it.

Today's world of music and entertainment feels like another planet to me. There's such an abundance of musicians and talented artists, and such a dizzying number of styles to choose from!

So before we get started sharing music and art, I thought I'd come out here and introduce myself with some questions my friend Proust gave me. I thought I'd take a stab at answering some of them because they're quite good:

- Your most marked characteristic?
I'd say playing piano in black tie every night

- The quality you most like in a man?
Ambition and responsibility

- The quality you most like in a woman?
Oh I just love women....everything about them....they're like a song

- What do you most value in your friends?
FUN....and a lighthearted view of the world.

- What is your principle defect?
I suppose being a perfectionist and a workaholic. I think that's what my wives would say....

- What is your favorite occupation?
Composing a new arrangement, giving it to my band, and then hearing them play it for the first time. There's nothing like the rush of that experience.

- What is your dream of happiness?
The life I lived was my dream of happiness. I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to play with some of the greatest musicians of our century, and to have experienced the times I lived in from the vantage point I had.

Here's the Proust questionnaire ~ maybe you'd like to try it!

cheers

The Mooche

Duke Ellington biography

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was the most prolific composer of the twentieth century in terms of both number of compositions and variety of forms. His development was one of the most spectacular in the history of music, underscored by more than fifty years of sustained achievement as an artist and an entertainer. He is considered by many to be America's greatest composer, bandleader, and recording artist.

Click here to read further

Black and Tan Fantasy

These were magical times.