SO MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP....


...in August. Who is going to be my best friend this year & buy me one of these--



(courtesy of Wikipedia)

The clavioline was an electronic keyboard instrument, a forerunner to the analog synthesizer.

It was invented by Constant Martin in 1947. It consists of a keyboard and a separate amplifier and speaker unit. The keyboard usually covered three octaves, and had a number of switches to alter the tone of the sound produced, add vibrato, and provide other effects. Several models were produced by different companies; among the more important were the Standard, Reverb, and Concert models by Gibson and Selmer in the 1950s. The Bode 6-octave model employed octave transposition.

Recordings

The clavioline has been utilized on a number of recordings in popular music, including:

* The 1953 tune "Little Red Monkey" by Frank Chacksfield's Tunesmiths, featuring Jack Jordan on clavioline. This was the first record featuring an electronic instrument to feature on the UK pop chart (April 1953).
* The 1961 song "Runaway" by Del Shannon. The song features a famous solo by Max Crook, performed on a heavily-modified clavioline that Crook called the "Musitron".
* The 1962 hit instrumental "Telstar" by The Tornados.
* The 1965 jazz albums The Magic City and The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two by Sun Ra.
* The 1967 hit "Baby You're a Rich Man" by The Beatles.

Van Phillips also composed music for the clavioline for the science-fiction radio trilogy Journey Into Space.

It hasn't been updated on Wikipedia yet, but this is also the organ used to make the cool snake charmer sounds on The White Stripes' new single "Icky Thump".

SUPER-HYPER KID

JB, there's gotta be a place in The Le Duo (Sextet) for this kid...his a natural performer!

AKRON/FAMILY @ CLUB METRONOME TOMORROW


Wow, it's been nearly a week since my last post....I've really been slacking. Sorry, it's just been tough with not being able to blog from 8-6 since I've started the new job. I'll do my best to start posting again more regularly; we'll call it my Mid-Year's Resolution.

I really should have been posting more this past week because I've had a lot of music & film-related experiences. Here's a rundown:

* JB & I went to the Flynn Theater last Saturday evening to see the Kenny Garrett Quartet, featuring the great Pharaoh Sanders on tenor sax. The show was amazing and gave me a newfound respect for Kenny Garrett ("newfound" only because I'd never heard him before) and an even deeper respect for Mr. Sanders.

* Speaking of the Pharaoh, I've been listening to "Jewels of Thought" quite a bit lately. In fact, I think JB has kind of passed on his free-jazz virus to me, because I've been listening to a lot of it lately. My other favorite two albums this week are Anthony Braxton's "3 Compositions of New Jazz" and The Mahavishnu Orchestra/John McLaughlin's "INNER MOUNTING FLAME". The first is sparse, chimy and delicate and the second is, uh, completely the opposite. (Oh, and by the way, I put the album links to Amazon not because I'm encouraging you to buy there, but just because the reviews are usually decent and well-rounded. Support your local indie music store and buy it there. Or have them order it if they don't have it in stock. Fuck Amazon.)

* In film news, I watched quite a few movies this past week. I revisited the beautiful classic C.T. Dreyer film "The Passion of Joan of Arc", saw a newer film called "Old Joy", featuring the charming and talented Will Oldham as well as the beautiful camera work of one of my favorite cinematographers/directors Peter Sillen , and I watched "The Devil's Backbone" (an earlier film by "Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo Del Toro). All three were brilliant, highly original works and I would recommend them highly.

Oh, and the reason I originally started this entry...the tragically underappreciated band Akron/Family will be playing at Club Metronome tomorrow evening at 9pm with Burlington's "King of the Drone" Greg Davis opening along with a band I don't know about named the Lexie Mountain Boys (who apparently all girls....I'm confused...). Tickets are $15/$20 day of show & let's thank the wonderful folks at Tick Tick for bringing this great band to our humble little town!