Ahh, Jazz, Swing It

Moreso over the past few months than ever before have I realized how much I adore jazz, swing, blues, and classical musicals. This adoration has led me to various projects (which I will discuss later), as well as to join the local jazz band at my university. Now, unfortunately, my band program while in High School was less than spectacular, and as a result I never managed to fully learn my chords, nor how to read notes or recognize pitches. Therefore, I ended up playing third trumpet.

The concert went quite well. I didn't make any big mistakes, thankfully, and I believe the audience enjoyed our performance. The below is NOT our band, but it is the same arrangement of one of my favorite songs we played: The Children of Sanchez by Chuck Mangione (alternate version), written for the movie of the same name.



In addition, I adore many songs of the late 30s to early 60s, which I personally consider to be the "golden age" of American culture. Amongst my favorite artists are those of the songs used by the Fallout series, including Louie Armstrong (A Kiss to Build a Dream On) and The Ink Spots (I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire). Oh, and, of course, Judy Garland (The Trolley Song). Note that with the linked-to songs, it's not the visuals that are important, but the music.

Of course, Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals (particularly the later movie renditions thereof) also hold a special place in my heart. The great music is nearly endless, one of my favorites being "My Favorite Things", sung by Julie Andrews.

A couple more songs from The Sound of Music:

Edelweiss


The Lonely Goatherd
(Not embedded because it is hosted by morons, seeing as how it will auto-play without a feature to not do so. Click here to view.)

Note: I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get actual footage of the Lonely Goatherd song from the movie. All I could find was a bunch of people filming themselves singing it, or a dubbed-over version. I don't have a problem with creativity with music, but I should never have to search for fifteen full minutes to find original footage for something as big as the Sound of Music. There's such a thing as too much user-created content when you can't find quality amongst the bogged-down rubbish and parodies.