
My friend <a href="https://aabedraba.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Abdallah</a> introduced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snarky_Puppy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Snarky Puppy</a> to me last year and their music has consistently blown me away.

I've come to especially appreciate their album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Like_It_Here" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">We Like It Here</a>, where one particular tune rightfully has claimed a lot of praise.

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It's one of the nastiest grooves I've ever heard and what a marvelous solo by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Henry" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Cory Henry</a> (the keyboardist). 
He is incredibly sound technically but what really blows me away is what's coming out of his brain and his heart and the ability to share such wonders with the rest of us. It's unbelievable. 

The drummer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larnell_Lewis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Larnell Lewis</a> is also playing with great feel, technique and intelligence.
Even more impressive, he was a last-minute stand-in and had to learn the whole album on a flight from Canada to Netherlands. Needless to say, he absolutely nailed it.

Speaking of Larnell, it's worth listening to this tune from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost-Note_(band)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Ghost Note</a>, a band I've had the pleasure of listening to live. On this tune Larnell takes on the drums instead of their usual drummer Robert "Sput" Searight.

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A quite simple tune but so funky. All of them are great and Larnell's solo is just cherry on the top.


Thank you Abdallah for introducing me to such wonderful musicians. 

The Current


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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Miles Davis</a> is a hero of mine. He has inspired me throughout my life.

I invite you to listen to the above tune while you read. It's actually not from a Miles album but rather from an album called Something Else created by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Adderley" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">"Cannonball" Adderley</a>, that is, among others, featuring Miles.

The tune is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn_Leaves_(1945_song)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Autumn Leaves</a>, an incredible composition that has become one of the most recorded jazz standards.

What is so special about this version? Well, lets talk about the essence of jazz, one of its critical components. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_improvisation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Improvisation</a>.

That is, the ability to express your feelings through music in the now. It's an incredibly hard thing to do and even harder to make sound good, have coherence and be dynamic.

The best improvisers are able to invite the listener on a journey that is both melodically and harmonically inexplicably intriguing.

Any composition serves as the framework wherein to improvise by providing a chord progression and a melody, amongst other things. However, the constraints, or rules, are not set in stone. There are no mistakes, only better choice of notes.

For me, when I'm invited to take in the spontaneous ideas and instinctive creativity of a great artist, I'm left in awe of the incredible ability to spawn a wealth of emotions that connects with me, to a point where my entire body swings like a pendulum and I can't stop smiling. Music really makes me happy, especially jazz, particularly Miles. 

The above tune does all those things for me. An incredible show of improvisational mastery that makes that version of Autumn Leaves, the best I've ever heard.

I could ramble on but lets hear a last tune from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Kind of Blue</a>, famously the best-selling jazz record of all-time. I've been listening to this tune for over 20 years, and it just never gets boring to me. It's called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_What_(Miles_Davis_composition)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">"So What"</a>.

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The Genius


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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_Corea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Chick Corea</a> is one of my all-time favourites musicians. The amount of pleasure I have derived from his work is insurmountable.

Chick's rendition of `All Blues` (_the video above_) received the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Improvised_Jazz_Solo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Grammy Award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo</a> shortly after he sadly passed away in 2021. The tune itself is written by the magnificent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Miles Davis</a> and first occurred on the legendary album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Kind of Blue</a>.

Chick was a master of combining the harmony and improvisation from jazz with, say, the discipline and precision from classical music or the irresistible rhythmic feel from func - and much more. He never stopped exploring and never seemed to really have a dip in output quality.

The next video is a solo concert in Brussels, Belgium where Chick combines a composer dear to my heart, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gershwin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">George Gershwin</a>, with the classical genius <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Mozart</a>.

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There's not much to say. It's just timeless, wonderful music.

Lastly, one of his greatest compositions, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_(instrumental)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Spain</a>, is one of his most loved pieces. There are many great takes. This is one of them.

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Rest in Peace Maestro. What a blessing it was to hear you play.


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The Current

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The Maestro