The Bloginator

 On the island of Trinidad in 1884, the Colonial British government imposed a law that highly restricted the use of drums with drum heads made from animal skin. This caused the lower class population, specifically in Port of Spain, to turn to alternatives such as "Tamboo Bamboo" , which is a term used to describe an ensemble of various lengths of bamboo being struck on the ground or with a stick in poly-rhythm. Over time, these ensembles gained scrap metal instruments made from retired household items, or barrels meant for storing oil. Eventually the bamboo was replaced by metal objects, specifically the steel oil drums that were so commonly found around the Island at the time. By the 1940's, people called "tuners" had developed the technique of hammering metal paint cans in order to make them produce a certain pitch when struck which developed into the modern steel drum. Many accredit the creation of the first steel pan to Winston "Spree" Simon, the ...

 For this blog I interviewed my dad, some background information on him is that he was born on June 2, 1960 in Raleigh North Carolina, he's a computer programmer, and a long time hobby of his has been collecting vinyl records from thrift stores and ripping them onto his computer. When asked what his earliest experience with music was, my dad said it was hearing Mama Mimi (his mom my grandma) practice piano on Saturday mornings. He also said he remembered gospel music his dad listened to, his dad being a preacher. Having to be in church 3-5 days a week caused him to drop the gospel music, but ever since he was little he says he has love Chopin, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff because of Mimi (she had a masters in piano something he can't remember). He also noted that later in his childhood he liked the Monkees because of their TV show, and he also really liked the Beatles. Despite his mother's best attempts he disliked Lawrence Welk. I remember being subjected to his favorite show...

 Salsa is the result of Cuban and Puerto rican immigration into New York in the 1960's and 70's, and it sounds absolutely magnificent. It's the happy upbeat feel of Guaracha mixed with the rhythm and texture of Son as well as instrumentation and harmonies from New-York jazz and blues bands that is proven to get people up and moving. Some of the most impressive dancers in the world are salsa dancers and although the basic idea of the dance style is simple, there is a lot of room to add whatever you'd like to add. Here's a pretty old example and what you might expect to hear in a restaurant or something. El Brujo by Frankie Figueroa Salsa was brought about in New-York when mostly Puerto Rican but some Cuban immigrants brought over music such as Son, Guaracha, and guaguanco. These styles fused with the vibrant New-York jazz scene exposing the puerto rican musicians to new harmonies, and the New-Yorkers to new and more complicated rhythmic idioms. This fusion also op...

My favorite saxophonists are Coleman Hawkins, Ornette Coleman, Nobuya Sugawa, Eric Marienthal, and a whole lot more, It's like an endless list. It wasn't until recently that I realized there aren't any women on this list, in fact I did't know very many female saxophone players at all, I think I've met four in total. Also whenever I see a video online of a woman playing the saxophone, the critique is always much heavier in the comment section, so I thought I would share my three favorite female saxophone players. Jess Gillam is a British saxophonist, she started playing saxophone at seven, and has said in an interview  that she would not conform to the classical saxophone expectations. This is her recording of Pequena Czarda by Peter Iturralde and when listening to her play it versus a ride or die classical player play it, you'd hear a heavier articulation, and a brighter sound, which may not win you a saxophone competition but it sound really nice. Theres a s...

 My name is Dale Watson and these are three certified BANGERS. Banger #1, A.K.A. Something I'd put on a playlist right now "Migration" by Camel A little over a year ago I started going through my dad's records and CD's from the 70's and found what can only be described as an overwhelming amount of prog-rock. I got introduced to one of my new favorite genres of music. I like this song a lot because of the way it naturally grooves despite being in 7/8 which is a fairly uncommon way to write in the west, but it works so well. I think that the song was made just so that the band could play a cool 7/8 groove because when I listen to the rest of the album this song is very repetitive comparatively. It's just the same baseline and vocals transposed around three or so times, and they didn't even bother to write words for it. Normally I might have chosen a different song by this band but having just learned the word "Vocable" it felt very appropriate...