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DIMA'S BLOG is an interactive collection of music, art, photographs, video clips, audio podcasts, quotations, humor, poetry, interviews, anecdotes and memoir, curated by Dmitri Matheny and with commentary by readers. You can keep up-to-date with Dima's Blog through RSS feeds and email updates. Click on the orange RSS button [below, right] to subscribe. Please pause the streaming music at the bottom of your screen before playing video or audio clips. |
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ODE TO MARISKA "Did I make the right decision in coming home to this suburban desert after 20 years in San Francisco? My days are so strange. There's something absurd about the sound of a lone horn, accompanied by a hundred humming air conditioners on an otherwise silent street. When I can't take it anymore, I get on the treadmill and watch another episode of Law & Order..." ~D.M. PAPER WEIGHT "Ninji is always so helpful whenever I'm organizing my music." ~DM AND THE LIVING IS EASY
"A big heartfelt thanks to our friends JoAnne & Ed Soued, Ed Dunsavage and all the good folks at the Siskiyou Institute in Ashland, Oregon, who hosted last weekend's concert and launch party for our new duo album, GRANT & MATHENY! Darrell Grant and I have been performing at the Old Siskiyou Barn annually since 2000, and it remains one of our favorite venues anywhere.
The DMITRI MATHENY GROUP will stage a series of events in Southern California next week as part of the 87th annual Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival. Charles McNeal, Nick Manson, Ruth Davies, John Lewis and I will perform Tuesday evening 7/6 at the Redlands Bowl, and will offer several free workshops for children and families in San Bernadino County.  And next month, August 7-8, the DMG is delighted to return to Colorado's spectacular Telluride Jazz Celebration. Telluride provides a stunning natural setting in which to beat the summer heat and experience the best in live jazz. So hush, little baby, don't you cry." ~DM KUDOS, OKEEP! "Congratulations to my friend (and producer of my album Penumbra) ORRIN KEEPNEWS, on the occasion of his receiving the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy. The NEA Jazz Masters Award is our nation's highest honor for jazz musicians and industry professionals. I can think of no one more deserving than Orrin, who, by following his own street sense and good taste, became the leading curator of American jazz, producing nearly every historically significant jazz album of the modern era. Like many musicians and fans, I trace the beginning of my jazz education to nights at the turntable, courtesy of Orrin. Thank you, Mr. Keepnews -- and kudos!" ~D.M. MONSOON SEASON C'EST ARRIVE !
"According to 'Good Morning, Arizona,' the monsoon season officially begins tomorrow. What is monsoon season? It's when the tropical rains arrive, bringing welcome relief from the desert heat.
 Here in the Sonoran Desert, we call these thunderstorms “monsoons”...a misnomer, since the term refers "to a seasonal shift in wind direction." But that simple definition doesn't do justice to the spectacle of Arizona’s summer monsoon season.  Every year, sometime between mid-June and mid-July, the prevailing winds, which come from the west most of the year, change direction and flow from the south and southeast. This seasonal shift of winds brings tropical moisture from the Sea of Cortez and the Gulf of Mexico into Arizona.  When this moist tropical air collides with the desert heat, monsoon thunderstorms--one of the most spectacular and thrilling of nature’s displays--are born.  We desert dwellers yearn for the crack of thunder, the brilliant flashes of lightning and the deafening downpour of rain that cools the sweltering desert heat and makes the creosote bushes release their aromatic, herbal fragrance...if only for a few hours.  And when a monsoon moves in, temperatures may drop from 105°F to 60°F in a matter of minutes.  I can't wait." ~D.M. TONY CENNAMO ~ You Will Me Missed "TONY CENNAMO was a tireless jazz warrior, a colorful and eccentric broadcaster, and a true friend. He went out of his way to support the New Voice Jazz Sextet, the Boston band my friends and I started when we were all still students at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. He interviewed us, played our demo tapes, encouraged us, and augmented our formal education with his wonderful late-night radio show on WBUR. Thank you, Tony. You will be missed." ~D.M. CONGRATULATIONS, MISS NELLE ! "I first read Harper Lee's southern gothic story To Kill a Mockingbird when I was 12, at the Brookstone School in Columbus, Georgia. I was too young to fully appreciate the novel's themes, but its compelling characters made a deep and lasting impression, ultimately becoming part of my personal mythology. I've always aspired to be like ATTICUS FINCH: a beloved, respected, tireless crusader and a morally upright community leader. Atticus is educated, honest and articulate, yet free of racial and class prejudice. He does not hold himself to be superior to his neighbors. In fact, he hides his extraordinary skills (for example, he's an expert marksman) until they're necessary. Atticus is the intersection of supreme intellectual confidence and absolute social humility. As it turns out, I'm no Atticus Finch. I'm more like BOO RADLEY: a pale, reclusive, misunderstood shut-in. I keep to myself, emerging for the occasional creative, caring or heroic act. These go, for the most part, unseen, unsung and unpunished. And I'm more like the MOCKINGBIRD: I don't do much but make music for folks to enjoy...(and that's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird). Congratulations, Ms. Lee, on the 50th anniversary of the publication of your masterpiece -- and thank you." ~ D.M. GRAVITAS "Morgan Freeman, my favorite actor, has a very distinctive speaking voice. He speaks with a quiet confidence, a calm reserve, a comforting authority. There is great compassion in his delivery, and such gravitas in his measured tones. The sound of his voice is so compelling that anything he says -- whatever the content -- rings true. If Morgan Freeman is speaking, you want to listen, because you have the sense that whatever he's saying must matter greatly. I want to play the flugelhorn the way Morgan Freeman speaks." ~Dmitri Matheny INTERCONNECTED "We are, all of us, interconnected. Life is a work of art, each one of us is an artist, and compassion is our medium of expression. Daily we have the opportunity to create and shape our lives." ~DM POWER OF MUSIC "The power of music is that it expresses what words cannot." ~DM ONE BRIGHT PEARL "I'm a voracious reader of Asian classics. Lately I've been reading the collected works of Eihei Dogen, a thirteenth century Japanese teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. Dogen's writing on time and the nature of existence reveals the precise mind of a scientist interpreted through the poetic soul of an artist. He would have made a phenomenal jazz musician!" ~DM ON DOING NOTHING "When I feel overly stressed by my own ambitions and aspirations, I find it helpful to set them aside for awhile, focus on other people, get out into nature, or spend time with family and friends. When the chaotic and competing demands of others overwhelm me, I just stop. To sit still and do nothing. Counter-intuitively, non-action is often the best course of action. In the silence, clarity may be restored before the dance begins anew." ~DM QUIET CONSISTENCY "Humility and quiet consistency, like the grandfather clock in the corner that steadily ticks away quietly, regardless of the weather outside." ~DM A LABOR OF LOVE "Like many independent jazz labels, Monarch Records was a labor of love. None of us got rich, but we had fun and were able to make available some quality music by Cedar Walton, Dave Ellis, Eddie Marshall and others. We released dozens of recordings before the company was sold. I am most proud of our live recording by Art Farmer, one of his last and best." ~DM THE SECRET TO BANDLEADING "I take the Miles Davis approach to bandleading: hire the best cats, give them lots of freedom, and embrace the music, wherever it leads." ~DM THE AMINA FIGAROVA INTERNATIONAL BAND "Amina Figarova can play faster and with more energy than any horn player. I tease Amina and the "crazy Euros" about their intensity, but I admire their joie de vivre and their work ethic. They challenge me artistically and every performance is a party. Amina is a world class pianist and is one of the most distinctive jazz composers in Europe today. I met her at the Monk Institute's summer jazz colony in Aspen a few years ago and we hit it off. In the years to follow, our international band became like a family, touring and performing all over the world together and having a great time always." ~DM MY FAVORITE PROJECT "Grant & Matheny is my favorite project. Darrell Grant is simply the finest musician I've ever had the pleasure of working with. His conception is so complete that playing with him in duo is like being supported by a full symphony orchestra. And the two of us are such great friends; we really have a ball together on stage. Our repertoire includes everything from Spirituals to Sting to Samuel Barber, allowing us the opportunity to blend the intimacy and precision of chamber music with the vitality, freedom and spontaneity of improvisation. The result is an elegant 'chamber jazz' unlike anything you've ever heard." ~DM OLD SCHOOL "Red Reflections was my first CD as leader, recorded when I was 29. We mostly recorded my originals. Art Farmer recommended that we include "The Outlaw" from the Horace Silver book. We also did a Michael Brecker tune we all used to play at jam sessions in Boston. We played a string of club performances and then went into the studio—old school—so the recording really captures our live quintet sound just as it was in the mid-'90s." ~Dmitri Matheny THE SOUL OF A SONG "For me, melody is the soul of a song. It comes first and matters most. Anyone can learn orchestration from Adler, or study arranging in school, but a melody is a precious, heaven-sent thing. Some composers write religiously at the same time every day. Not me. I can't compose unless I'm inspired. Occasionally I'll feel an overwhelming desire to write late at night or at some other inconvenient time. I've learned to pay attention to that feeling, to drop whatever I'm doing and "strike while the iron is hot." I write most prolifically when traveling, so you might say that many of my compositions are inspired by my travels. A melody will come to me and I'll sing it to myself, allowing it to evolve and develop organically in my mind. Eventually harmony, counterpoint and other formal elements will begin to suggest themselves. That's when I sit down and take out my score paper." ~Dmitri Matheny MEDIUM AND MUSE "For the serious jazz artist, technique and creativity are both necessary. They are medium and muse. They're like your left foot and your right foot: you need both to get anywhere. Because technical mastery devoid of inspiration is bunk, and an artistic vision without the skill to express it is a tragedy. I work on technical drills and etudes when I practice, but when I perform I endeavor to forget technique and play from the heart." ~Dmitri Matheny NEGATIVE SPACE "I'm still learning; I'll always be learning. Currently, I'm working on eliminating the nonsense phrases from my improvisations -- the musical equivalent of 'like,' 'ya know' and 'umm.' There are certain cliches I reflexively insert whenever I'm grasping for the next idea. I'm training myself to embrace more negative space during those searching moments, to simply be still and listen, to just pay attention, rather than to compulsively fill the space." ~Dmitri Matheny PASSING THE TORCH "It has been my privilege to work with a number of master musicians over the years. The lesson I learned from all of them is to follow their example, aspire to excellence, and pay it forward. Now that I'm having some modest success of my own, I try to encourage young talent they way I was encouraged. As James Williams used to say, 'Jazz is about passing the torch, from one generation to the next.' " ~Dmitri Matheny ON THE SCENE "One of my favorite players on the scene currently is Ingrid Jensen. Ingrid is inspiring because she's expanding the vocabulary for trumpet and flugelhorn, extending the innovations of Kenny Wheeler and Woody Shaw in a very personal and compelling way. Incidentally, Art Farmer was also a fan of Ingrid. He predicted that she will ultimately be recognized as a major artist of historical significance." ~Dmitri Matheny I TRY TO PHRASE LIKE A SINGER "I try to phrase like a singer, so I listen to a lot of vocalists, especially Ella Fitzgerald. And because I favor a melodic, lyrical approach to improvisation, most of the jazz instrumentalists I listen to are also from that tradition -- people like Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, Chet Baker, Art Farmer and Ben Webster." ~Dmitri Matheny THE LINEAGE "It's a remarkable gift, to meet your hero, the world's acknowledged master on your instrument, and for him to ultimately become your teacher and friend. Miraculously, it happened to me, and I will be forever grateful. Mentor-protege relationships in jazz are so important. It's wonderful that colleges, conservatories and other institutions are now embracing jazz education, but I feel strongly that our master musicians need to maintain the lineage of the oral tradition. There are some things you just can't learn in school." ~Dmitri Matheny Posts 1 - 25 of 673
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