Next Season - Buffalo Chamber Music

Last night we got the flyers announcing the line-up for next season's 8 concerts of the Buffalo Chamber Music series. 

• Jupiter Quartet - Oct 7
• Poiesis Quartet - Nov 10
• YCA on Tour Piano Trio - Dec 15
• Quatuor Diotima - Jan 26
• Brentano Quartet - Feb 9
• Isidore String Quartet - Mar 30
• Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center - Apr 26

Looking forward to another season after a six month break.

More Miles - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening this morning with more Miles Davis from the time period covered in the jazz book I just read. This time a little more quieter and with a thoughtful laid back groove. Sounded nice especially after that wonderful string quartet concert last night.

• Sketches of Spain, 1960
• Porgy and Bess, 1959
• Quiet Nights, 1963
• Seven Steps To Heaven, 1963

Chamber Music Concert - The Jerusalem Quartet

We had a very nice time last night in the Mary Seton Room at Kleinhans Music Hall listening and experiencing The Jerusalem Quartet from Israel. Another great night of fantastic musicians and some interesting selections of music to play. This was also the last concert of the season.

They played the String Quartet in F major by Ravel then the String Quartet No. 4 - Betwixt and Between by Shulamit Ran that was commissioned and composed for the Jerusalem Quartet in 2025. After the intermission they played Beethoven's String Quartet in B flat, Op. 130 and the Op. 133.

The concert ran a little longer than usual and we didn't get home until a little after 10pm. Driving back on Elmwood Avenue we saw lots of bars packed we folks watching the Sabres game which was tied 1-1 at the time. We were able to watch the overtime period when we got home which the Sabres lost 2-1. 

Theodore H. White - Authors List

Theodore H. White - Authors List. 6 books by this political writer. Around the time of Richard Nixon's  Watergate scandal and his resignation from the presidency I started reading this series of books about the presidential campaigns and elections of 1960 to 1972 written by White. 

The 1972 election between Richard Nixon and George McGovern was the first one where I could vote. Of course I voted for McGovern who lost in a landslide victory for Nixon who won about 61% of the popular vote and carrying 49 states. I voted by mail from a ship at sea.

This experience made me interested in the presidential campaign process and then there was Watergate which made people think of the possibility of election fraud. Later on I would read several books about Watergate and Nixon including another book by this author.

Theodore H. White books I've read:

• The Making of the President 1960: Inside the Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Campaign, 1961 - Aug 1974
• The Making of the President 1964: LBJ, Goldwater and the Campaign Battle That Reshaped American Politics, 1965 - Sep 1974
• The Making of the President 1968: Nixon's Election, Kennedy's Assassination and a Nation Divided, 1969 - Oct 1974
• The Making of the President 1972: Richard Nixon's Campaign and Historic Landslide, 1973 - Nov 1974
• Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon, 1975 - Dec 1977
• In Search of History: A Personal Adventure, 1978 - Jul 1984

John Coltrane - Kitchen Listening

Listened to some early John Coltrane from the years 1958 to 1962 after reading James Kaplan's 3 Shades of Blue. A relaxing three hour set of Coltrane from four of his albums in my collection. Plenty more where these cams from.

I could listen to his incredible sax playing all day... every day.

• Soultrane, 1958
• Blue Train, 1958
• Giant Steps, 1960
• Coltrane Plays the Blues, 1962

Jules Verne - Authors List

Jules Verne - Authors List with 6 books read. Four of these science fiction adventure novels I read as a teenager after seeing the movies that had come out in the 1950's and early 60's. Then I read them all again in the early 1970's while I was doing my own journeys around the world. Just last year I read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea again for a third time.

Jules Verne is considered the father of science fiction and he along with H.G. Wells and the Tom Swift Jr. series got me interested in the genre at an early age.

Jules Verne books I've read:

• Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1867 - May 1970
• 20,000 Thousands Leagues Under the Sea, 1871 - Jun 1970
• Around the World in 80 Days, 1873 - Dec 1970
• The Mysterious Island, 1875 - Sep 1971
• From the Earth to the Moon, 1868 - Jan 1973
• The Lighthouse at the End of the World, 1905 - Apr 1973

3 Shades of Blue

3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool by James Kaplan, 2025.

Becky got me this book for Christmas and I loved it. I took my time reading it in small segments rather than going through it like a mystery novel page-turner and enjoyed every bit of it over the course of four months. 

The main focus of the book was the year 1959 and the making of the album Kind of Blue which is often considered the greatest jazz album of all time and one of my favorites. The book then followed those three giant jazz musicians through the next few years of their accomplishments and struggles.

I have also been doing lots of kitchen listening to the music discussed in the book. Great albums from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus and so many more.

Over the years I've read several other books about Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Warm Day and New Chairs

Today was warm and sunny. Almost felt like summer. We had gone over to Home Depot and got a couple of new backyard plastic Adirondack chairs that were on sale for $20 each. We did spend some time sitting in the backyard today. Got the grass cut over the weekend too.

These chairs are replacing the two that caught some falling nuts last Fall that punched holes in the chairs which I wrote about here.

Lots of birds singing. 

Kurt Vonnegut - Authors List

Kurt Vonnegut - Authors List. 6 books of his I've read starting with Slaughterhouse Five which I read in 1971 while cruising on a Navy ship in the Caribbean Sea. It was very intense to read this semi-autobiographical anti-war novel while in the military during a war. I quickly followed this book with Cat's Cradle and then four more of his novels over the next few years. They were all fascinating quirky novels that in hindsight fit very well in the 70's.

I remember seeing the movie at a downtown Philly theater right when it was released while I was home on leave and waiting for the bus to take me back to the base in Virginia. 

Kurt Vonnegut books I've read:

• Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade, 1969 - Nov 1971
• Cat's Cradle, 1963 - Dec 1971
• Sirens of Titan, 1959 - Feb 1972
• Player Piano, 1952 - Mar 1972
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, 1965 - May 1973
• Breakfast of Champions, 1973 - Jan 1974

Miles Davis in Person 1961 - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening. Reading about Miles Davis and listening to Miles Davis. In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, San Francisco Complete. This is a 4 CD set that includes the original first two albums released in 1961 along with the additional sets from Saturday night released in 2003. This is a four hour box set that makes for a wonderful kitchen listening experience especially while reading so much about his  recordings and live shows during that period along with John Coltrane and Bill Evans. 

BTW, I did write about this album here for another live Miles Kitchen Listening set in 2020 along with a couple other of his live albums. I do have a lot of live Miles albums in my collection from every period of his career.