A Little Egocentric Fun

I'm sitting in my room listening to a really great set from Maria Schneider's band a couple of weeks ago at the Kennedy Center in DC and perusing the Bad Plus's wonderful blog, "Do the Math." A while back, they sent out questionnaires to different musician friends asking some simple music-related questions. Considering how much I like making lists (see below), how can't I get in on the act.

GIVE US AN EXAMPLE OR TWO OF AN ESPECIALLY GOOD OR INTERESTING:

1. Movie Score. Johnny Greenwood's "There Will be Blood" and Michael Giacchino's "Ratatouille." I'm also a major sucker for Randy Edelman's "Gettysburg" score.

2. TV Theme. "The Simpsons"

3. Melody. Ornette Coleman, "Lonely Woman," Joni Mitchell "Refuge of the Roads"

4. Harmonic Language: "Introitus" from Manuel Cardoso's Requiem, Steve Reich "Music for 18 Musicians"

5. Rhythmic Feel. Brian Blade on anything, Olodun on Paul Simon's "Obvious Child" (and whenever else they play Batucada)

6. Hip-Hop Track. "You Got Me" by the Roots w/Erykah Badu

7. Classical Piece. (This changes by the week) Schoenberg's "Pierot Lunaire," John Cage's "Third Construction"

8. Smash hit. "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies, "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals

9. Jazz album. Fred Hersch's "Leaves of Grass," Don Cherry "Symphony for Improvisers"

10. Non-American Folkloric group. The Chieftains. Seriously.

11. Book on Music. The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross and The Joy of Music by Leonard Bernstein

Bonus Questions:

A) Name an surprising album (or albums) you loved when you were developing as a musician: something that really informs your sound but that we would never guess in a million years:

Buddy Rich "Mercy, Mercy"
Ben Folds "Songs for Silverman"

B) Name a practitioner (or a few) who play your instrument that you think is underrated:

Nate Wood, Han Bennink, Bob Moses, Scott Amendola, Gernot Bernroider.

C) Name a rock or pop album that you wish had been a smash commercial hit (but wasn’t, not really)

Ted Leo "Hearts of Oak," so that "Where Have all the Rude Boys Gone" would be played at every high school dance.

D) Name a favorite drummer, and an album to hear why you love that drummer:

Hmm, this changes by the week too: Jack DeJohnette on Pat Metheny's "80/81"