she said, poignantly.....

picture by Pat Perrin, - dearly treasured

...amd what are you going to do tomorrow? asked my youngest son

as we ended our nightly chat from the Chilcotin.

I thought quickly - what am I going to do tomorrow???

Nothing sprang to mind.

Oh, I said, tomorrow is a surprise - I have no idea what

I will do tomorrow, but it will be something

that pleases me.....

And that's what it has come to.

I try to remain disciplined and keep my "shoulds"  in good order

and limit my commitments

so that each day is governed by that lovely question

What SHALL I do today!!!!!

I haven't yet reached the stage where I wander the streets, running my cane along fences

and picking other people's flowers,  but I definitely pick and choose

and I only really commit to things I consider very important

and anything involving family.

So last night, as I drifted off to sleep, I thought about tomorrow,

and what I would do after the obligatory pleasures of

the early morning hour in the garden -

and I thought how nice it would be to have some buttermilk biscuits

around for a few days, and what a pleasure

it would be to make them!

And I could write a little Stone about them - which

is something I am trying to do each day

(as an 'I shall' not an 'I should')

So I got the blue bowl out and the salt and flour

and rising ingredients,  turned on the oven to 450

and in no time at all they were done, baked and cooling on the counter.

I added a little water to the last of that delicious lamb stew I made 

the other day, and put it in the blender...

Presto - lamb and vegetable soup

and fresh baked biscuits

and all on a delightful whim and a fancy that came to haunt my drowsy thoughts.

Life is good if you are creative with the 'shall' philosophy

instead of the 'oh dear, I should, I should, I should!!'

Even better if you have a certain someone to share the biscuits with

(she said, poignantly)

The Trombone

ABC Wednesday
May 27th, 2015

The letter is T for Trombone and Trombonists

A little history and a little music!

The trombone is not often heard as a solo instrument, but many legendary performers have left their marks on the history of jazz, tracing the line from Miff Mole and Kid Ory through Jack Teagarden, Tommy Dorsey and on to Bennie Green and now today's original sounding trombonists, like Ray Anderson and Craig Harris.

In the early 1900s to the 1920s Dixieland, primarily improvised music with the trombonist playing a countermelody to the cornet with glissandos and other raucous effects that could be produced with the slide trombone.

Most well known of these 'tailgate' trombonists were Edward "Kid" Ory and Irving Milfred "Miff" Mole, with Miff being perhaps more technical and with a brighter sound, avoiding the glissandos and growls that Ory favoured.  Miff's composition "There'll come a Time" (Wait and See) can be heard in the modern release of 'The Strange Case of Benjamin Button' (which I thoroughly enjoyed)

As the thirties wore on there was a new trend in jazz trombone, known as Swing, and it differed from Dixieland in several ways, the most obvious being in the greater number of musicians performing

in a band, and in the tendency to arrange the music prior to the performance, so that improvisation was eliminated.

Trombonists enjoyed a prominent role in the jazz ensemble of the swing era and were often featured as soloists.  One such trombonist was Jack Teagarden who developed a lighter and smoother tone, possessing a fluidity that many other trombonists tried to imitate.

Tommy Dorsey, who was to become one of the most popular trombonists of the swing era, so respected Teagarden's playing that he refused to play a solo while Teagarden was in the same room.

In the early 1940's a new style of jazz began to develop, known as Behop.

Prior to Behop jazz style were performed for dancing, but now jazz was being written and performed for its own sake, with smaller combos allowing more freedom than was possible in a big band.

Bennie Green was perhaps the first trombonist to play in the Behop style.  His music possessed a warm and smooth tone, influenced by trumpeters Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie 

with whom he played.

A little music to illustrate the lovely sounds of the trombone!

For more Ts - visit here at ABC Wednesday,

 with thanks to Roger, Denise and the visiting crew.