Listening lots lately

First of all, to everyone who has been reading this week, thank you. I have been participating in the Your Turn Challenge - posting daily for 7 days. It's been great and has forced me to just out thoughts to paper daily. To those of you who have generated discussion, my sincere appreciation. That is what my blog is about. Now, on to today's post!

It has been on my mind quite a lot lately just how hard it is to fit in all the listening I want to do. I find myself limited both time wise and from sheer ear fatigue! It sure is fun though!

As life has taken me back towards a music-heavy period, my listening wishes have increased exponentially. I have spent many nights lately after the kids have gone to bed catching up on some things. In no particular order, here's some of the things occupying me:

1. The Black Keys - I saw a couple of their albums on vinyl today at a bookstore...which just increases my wish for a turntable!

2. Ewald Brass Quintet No. 2 - performing it in a couple of weeks, so I've been reviewing it a bit as it's been a while since I've played it!

3. Dirty Loops - I just can't get over the bass player. And the Jerry Hey Horns on a few of the tracks. And the drummer. Dang.

4. Esquivel - both Merry Christmas from the Space Age Bachelor Pad and Cabaret Mañana. Fantastic playing on these albums and some pretty amazing arrangements too. Thanks to Chris Tiedeman for these. I would love to find those on vinyl. If I can, I might have to combine listening to them with a vintage barware set from The Hour. This is one of the most awesome antique places I've ever seen.

5. Jack Johnson - From Here to Now to You. Very relaxing...

6. Valor Brass CD edits. For those of you who have asked lately, Matt has finished the 2nd round of editing! We are getting closer! Probably one more round of minor edits, then we head back to Ed Kelly for mix and mastering.

7. Top secret trombone related project of which I am sworn to secrecy. More later when I can talk about it - I will just say it's a LOT of listening.

8. Results of a late night mouthpiece/trombone testing session conducted with my friends Tim Dugan and Chris Tiedeman.

9. I had the good fortune to sit in the control room on a recording project at work this week. 3 days of Sousa! Our band records fairly regularly and our directors/producers and audio engineers have a great system down to get the recordings produced. Be on the lookout for some very cool stuff on the Marine Band's website later this spring!

10. The Kyle Clark Band - yep, I have a budding song-writer/rocker in my house. As I have been working on learning Logic Pro X, I helped Kyle record a couple of "songs" he came up with on the fly. We cut an "album" and are listening to it in the car, at school, etc. a copy of the CD (entitled Debut) goes everywhere with him!

11. Wheels on the Bus - I have a 2-year-old, enough said.

12. Talking Heads - I can't believe all I really ever heard was Burning Down the House! In reading David Byrne's book, How Music Works (future blog post) and I'm totally blown away. I especially like the album Naked.

Phew! Alright. Time to go find a quiet place to hang out!

If you have something awesome you would like to share, leave it in the comments!

Always Listening, The Virtual Trombonist