Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish zoning with the MJQ. No, that does not stand for Major Jewish Quisling. Nor does it stand for Men Jealously Quoting. Nor does it stand for My June Query. No, MJQ stands for the Modern Jazz Quartet, a quartet consisting of piano, bass, drums, and excellent vibes. I discovered the Modern Jazz Quartet in my first year at LACC when I found a couple of their albums at near to LACC record store, Music Man Murray. I bought The Comedy and The Sheriff. I loved the album jacket art for both, but more importantly I loved the albums – they just had a unique sound and feel to them, and I liked the original music by leader John Lewis. So, I happened to pull out all my MJQ CDs yesterday and there were a lot of them, and I put them into iTunes and spent many hours listening to them. I began with their CD with the Swingle Singers and that is a total masterpiece. I listened to Blues on Bach, which, for me, doesn’t quite reach the heights of the Jacques Loussier Play Bach albums, but it’s awfully good nonetheless. Then two albums they did with full orchestra, both incredible. Then the soundtrack to John Lewis’s great score to Odds Against Tomorrow, both the original soundtrack and the MJQ cover version. Then the soundtrack to No Sun in Venice, which is great. Finally, the album Collaboration with Laurindo Almeida and full circle to The Sheriff. I know I have The Comedy but it’s in another box with yet more MJQ CDs. Great listening.
Prior to all that listening I was up too early after six hours of sleep. Then I had a light breakfast and picked up no packages, after which I came back home and began my listening party whilst relaxing and saving my voice. But it was another day of crazy phlegm and hocking although my voice was in slightly stronger shape.
Then Peyton Kirkner and mom arrived and we went over the timing of the dialogue in her song, so she has that down now. And I played her the other song she has a small part in and she learned that so she can sing with me on Tuesday. She picks up very quickly. Then Hartley Powers came by and read her long scene with Peyton – it was very good and I just gave a couple of small suggestions. We also went over Hartley’s interior dialogue stuff, although we still have to go through one other song.
Then Peyton, mom, and I went over to Tony’s Bella Vista, where I rather stupidly had the Carbonara – cream wasn’t a good idea and I paid for it later with a very annoying evening that so irritated me that had there been any living thing in close proximity I would have throttled them by squeezing their ankles really hard.
Then I spent the rest of the evening listening to more music. Aside from the MJQ I heard Oscar Peterson (about three albums) and a few other things. The nice thing is that all these CDs are the original album length, usually thirty minutes, so that’s how I was able to listen to so many albums.
Today, I shall totally rest and not speak and hope I can get my voice up to full speed sooner than later. I will pick up some Sunday packages and I’ll just get something light from either Ralph’s or Gelson’s, since I ate too much yesterday. Perhaps a wrap or some pasta from the food bar – we shall see. But mostly I’ll listen to music, relax, and perhaps watch something, too. And I’ll prepare for our two-CD announcement, which will probably come on Tuesday.
Tomorrow will be exactly the same – resting my voice and taking it easy. Tuesday will be exactly the same right up until people arrive for our private reading. Then the next night it’s the Sherman Brothers evening at the Academy. I should know lots o’ folks there and it should be fun. The rest of the week is meetings and meals and a work session for Kritzerland.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, totally rest and not speak, hopefully pick up packages, eat something fun but light, and listen to music and perhaps watch something. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have been zoning with the MJQ. And a happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there in the dark. My Darling Daughter sent me a whole batch of fresh cherries.