Marching Bands. You either love 'em or hate 'em. When I was a youngster I was in a marching band. Most of the time I played trumpet but one year I agreed to play Tuba. I have some fond memories of that time period and I remember the challenges of playing and marching in precision formation at the same time - being aware to alway keep the horn pointed to the home crowd unless there was a need for quieter sound then we could face the direction we were marching in. No easy task. We occasionally played band arrangements of pop songs by groups like Chicago etc.
It was about this time in my life when the band RUSH burst on the scene being championed on local FM radio. Today I wanted to pay tribute to RUSH and marching band. Here is a fun clip of the Ohio State University Marching Buckeye Band playing a medley of RUSH classics. Enjoy. I will not post any videos by RUSH because there would be too many to feature. When watching this video remember that in addition to playing the band members are counting steps and direction at the same time. Just great fun.
As a side note: the band always end their halftime shows marching to write out the word Ohio in script.
A photo-based digital creation.
Asking & Hearing – posted as a tribute to the late Ornate Coleman 9 Mar 1930 – 11 Jun 2015.
Cheers to the man who showed us “THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME”. He also taught us that the “CHANGE OF THE CENTURY” would affirm “WHEN TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION!” and answer “FREE JAZZ” and involve “THE ART OF THE IMPROVISERS”. Right up to the end he espoused “THE NEW VOCABULARY.” Thank you for teaching us the “DANCING IN YOUR HEAD” and opening our eyes and ears to all of life’s possibilities “IN ALL LANGUAGES”.
“The idea is that two or three people can have a conversation with sounds, without trying to dominate it or lead it,” Coleman said in a 1997 interview with the French philosopher Jacques Derrida.
“What I mean is that you have to be — intelligent,” he said.
“I think the musicians are trying to reassemble an emotional or intellectual puzzle, in any case a puzzle in which the instruments give the tone.”
He had a notorious relationship with music labels. His groundbreaking works were considered on the cutting edge and he had little patience for the industry’s business side. “I’ve never had a relationship with a record executive. I always went to the record company (because of) someone that liked my playing. Then they would get fired, and I’d be left with the record company,” Coleman told Cadence Magazine in 1995.
... on being and becoming ... 