Steve Coleman is a saxophonist/composer who is one of the more innovative composers in jazz. Here is an incredibly detailed analysis of Charlie Parker's work by Coleman.
STEVE COLEMAN ON CHARLIE PARKER
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Socially Responsible Investing for regular folks
My first encounter with socially responsible investing was with the Calvert, Domini, and Neuberger Berman socially responsive funds that I found in my employer's 401k plan. Contributing to a better world appealed to me, so I added them to my 401k portfolio.
As the recession deepened, I saw rates for saving accounts and CDs drop to pitiful levels. As of September 23,2009, the average CD rate was 1.751%. Of course, saving account rates are lower than that. Then I found MicroPlace. MicroPlace is an online broker-dealer that allows regular folks to make investments in the microfinance industry. I found MicroPlace while checking out the Oikocredit website, which mentions MicroPlace as a way for investors to invest in Oikocredit. I can choose an investment with only $20 minimum. For example, one investment I selected was "Advance social change in Nicaragua", which will be repaid in 2013, at a rate of 6% a year. As of September 23,2009, the average rate for a 4-year CD was 2.5%, according to bankrate.com. Granted, I invested only $30, but the difference in rate is pretty dramatic, as you can see. Today, I noticed there is now a "special liquidity" investment offered at MicroPlace by Oikocredit - unlike all the others, this one is practically a savings account - you can take your money out anytime. My monthly budget for savings/investment is pretty small, so MicroPlace is a great fit for me - the investments available through it pay better than savings accounts and CDs, and the investments benefit poor folks who need it.
More socially responsible investment options I've found for low budget investors:
FTSE KLD 400 Social Index Fund and FTSE KLD Select Social Index Fund at iShares.com. These are ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund) rather than mutual funds. The iShares site has a good little tutorial explaining the differences between their ETFs and regular mutual funds. Unlike the mutual funds I've found, these two ETFs do not have a minimum investment requirement. If I read their prospectuses correctly, I could theoretically start investing in them for just a few bucks, plus whatever the broker charges for a transaction if I'm using a broker (TradeKing for example charges $4.95 per trade.
Pax World Mutual Funds. Just about every mutual fund of theirs has a $250 minimum investment, with $50 minimum for subsequent investments. Many mutual funds have a minimum investment of $2000 or more, with a minimum of as much as $250 per additional investment. Every single Pax World mutual fund that I found has socially responsible goals. I saw on Google that Pax World filed to open up its own socially responsible ETF offerings too, but I guess that's still in the works.
As the recession deepened, I saw rates for saving accounts and CDs drop to pitiful levels. As of September 23,2009, the average CD rate was 1.751%. Of course, saving account rates are lower than that. Then I found MicroPlace. MicroPlace is an online broker-dealer that allows regular folks to make investments in the microfinance industry. I found MicroPlace while checking out the Oikocredit website, which mentions MicroPlace as a way for investors to invest in Oikocredit. I can choose an investment with only $20 minimum. For example, one investment I selected was "Advance social change in Nicaragua", which will be repaid in 2013, at a rate of 6% a year. As of September 23,2009, the average rate for a 4-year CD was 2.5%, according to bankrate.com. Granted, I invested only $30, but the difference in rate is pretty dramatic, as you can see. Today, I noticed there is now a "special liquidity" investment offered at MicroPlace by Oikocredit - unlike all the others, this one is practically a savings account - you can take your money out anytime. My monthly budget for savings/investment is pretty small, so MicroPlace is a great fit for me - the investments available through it pay better than savings accounts and CDs, and the investments benefit poor folks who need it.
More socially responsible investment options I've found for low budget investors:
FTSE KLD 400 Social Index Fund and FTSE KLD Select Social Index Fund at iShares.com. These are ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund) rather than mutual funds. The iShares site has a good little tutorial explaining the differences between their ETFs and regular mutual funds. Unlike the mutual funds I've found, these two ETFs do not have a minimum investment requirement. If I read their prospectuses correctly, I could theoretically start investing in them for just a few bucks, plus whatever the broker charges for a transaction if I'm using a broker (TradeKing for example charges $4.95 per trade.
Pax World Mutual Funds. Just about every mutual fund of theirs has a $250 minimum investment, with $50 minimum for subsequent investments. Many mutual funds have a minimum investment of $2000 or more, with a minimum of as much as $250 per additional investment. Every single Pax World mutual fund that I found has socially responsible goals. I saw on Google that Pax World filed to open up its own socially responsible ETF offerings too, but I guess that's still in the works.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Artillery 2 Effects software
Interesting approach to the use of effects as an instrument, by Sugar Bytes:
The Artillery concept is as simple as effective: Effects are assigned to keyzones and can be triggered with MIDI notes in an intuitive and extremely flexible way. This way you are able to perform hair-raising sequences, and playfully put the effects you want in the places you want, whenever you want.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Jazz Anatomy by Mimi Fox (free jazz guitar lessons)
Pretty nice set of free lessons on jazz guitar by Mimi Fox. She introduces the viewer to jazz guitar via the blues, which I think works for guitarists coming out of rock.
Jazz Anatomy
Jazz Anatomy
Geoffrey Keezer's Jazz Piano video clips
Just found this cool collection of jazz piano licks in short video format.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Two informative articles on credit scores
For most people, a good credit score can save tons of money on home and car loans - like several hundreds of dollars a month off your mortgage payment. Here are a couple of good articles that you may find useful in your quest for a good credit score:
Credit Scores: What You Need to Know Now (Wall Street Journal)
Myths of credit (Andy Jolls)
Credit Scores: What You Need to Know Now (Wall Street Journal)
Myths of credit (Andy Jolls)
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Trogotronic Noise Synths, Effects, and Controllers
Trogotronic makes synths and processors for noise in both tabletop and pedal formats, which is unusual for a builder.
They also make interesting controllers for audio and control voltage (CV), also in tabletop and footpedal formats. The audio signal routing controllers range from familiar A/B switchers to a joystick-controlled audio mixer/router. The CV controllers should be of interest to anyone who has CV compatible gear such as Moogerfooger pedals.
They also make interesting controllers for audio and control voltage (CV), also in tabletop and footpedal formats. The audio signal routing controllers range from familiar A/B switchers to a joystick-controlled audio mixer/router. The CV controllers should be of interest to anyone who has CV compatible gear such as Moogerfooger pedals.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Harmony Central thread on Japanese Music
There's a huge thread on Harmony Central about Japanese music artists - mostly rock/pop, some noise, chock full of embedded Youtube clips. Some I'm familiar with - such as Green Milk From Planet Orange and Ruins.
Check it here.
Check it here.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Pedals and other tools by This1smyne
This1smyne makes signal routing pedals and other useful tools. Examples:
Mini Expression Pedal (with a big knob you turn with your foot):
Flip Flop - reverses the order of two pedals with a switch:
Pedals with extra switches for Eventide effects pedals:
Mini Expression Pedal (with a big knob you turn with your foot):
Flip Flop - reverses the order of two pedals with a switch:
Pedals with extra switches for Eventide effects pedals:
Dr FREAKENSTEIN FUZZ (and Igor)
I like the design of this fuzz pedal, which has a stylized switch that you must reach down and throw, just like Dr. Frankenstein throwing the big switch to bring his monster to life. It comes with a little expression pad named "Igor". More info at Rainger FX's site.
Friday, August 28, 2009
TapCritic
As a new iPhone owner (got my 3GS recently), I'm on the lookout for iPhone app review sites and blogs. I found this one via a review of a storyboarding app that was posted elsehere.
TapCritic blog
TapCritic blog
Friday, August 21, 2009
Intua BeatMaker
BeatMaker is a music creation app for iPhone inspired by hardware beatboxes (such as the Akai MPC- series), loop samplers and software sequencers. Like the Akai MPC- series beatboxes, it is a sample-playing instrument designed for quick creation of beats, songs, and remixes.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Noise.io iPhone Synth
Noise.io was one of the first iPhone apps that I heard of that relied on realtime synthesis rather than sample playback for its sounds. I'm not sure how it compares with more recent iPhone softsynths such as Jasuto, SunVox, and bleep!Box, but I'll probably end up getting all of them eventually.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
OHNOHO Pedals
OHNOHO makes a couple of unique effects pedals - the Chk Chk Boom and the Utter Stutter. From the website:
The CHK CHK BOOM works by feeding your effects loop input to it’s output. The amount of feedback is controlled by a pot with a real vintage chicken head knob.
The CHK CHK BOOM has a momentary switch so it’s only on when your foot is on it. This is a good thing because its perfect for short blasts of crazy noise mixed into other melodic content. It’s also great when you’re playing through a delay and you want the delay to swell and feedback with out bending down to twist a knob.
Like CHK CHK BOOM, Utter Stutter creates a timed feedback loop feeding your effects output to it’s input. What’s new here is you can set the oscillation rate of feedback like a tremolo pedal. This opens a whole world of possibilities to time your aural modulation to what ever tempo your working with.
Check out the site for more info and demo videos.
The CHK CHK BOOM works by feeding your effects loop input to it’s output. The amount of feedback is controlled by a pot with a real vintage chicken head knob.
The CHK CHK BOOM has a momentary switch so it’s only on when your foot is on it. This is a good thing because its perfect for short blasts of crazy noise mixed into other melodic content. It’s also great when you’re playing through a delay and you want the delay to swell and feedback with out bending down to twist a knob.
Like CHK CHK BOOM, Utter Stutter creates a timed feedback loop feeding your effects output to it’s input. What’s new here is you can set the oscillation rate of feedback like a tremolo pedal. This opens a whole world of possibilities to time your aural modulation to what ever tempo your working with.
Check out the site for more info and demo videos.
Cool Music Blog Alert - So Much Sound
So Much Sound is a new blog by NYC-based professional musician Sean Driscoll. I first became aware of this blog when Sean posted his transcription of Drew Zingg's solo over Steely Dan's classic "Peg". He's put up a lot of high quality info - mostly about jazz improvisation - in a short time already.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Expert Sleepers' Silent Way
Silent Way is a suite of plug-ins designed for use as part of a modular analogue synthesiser system. In other words, these plug-ins let your computer interact with your analog synths via any audio interface with DC-coupled outputs. Thus you can have your favorite DAW (eg. Digital Performer, Sonar, etc.) send control voltage to your analog synths. I'm sure there are other interesting applications
Silent Way sounds a lot like MOTU's Volta, except there's OSC support and a significant price difference.
Silent Way sounds a lot like MOTU's Volta, except there's OSC support and a significant price difference.
Steel Guitar Black Box
The Steel Guitar Black Box is a true, audiophile quality, vacuum tube pickup driver (buffer/impedance matcher) especially designed for enhancing the tone of steel guitar pickups, yet has proven to be equally effective with acoustic instrument pickups, electric bass & guitar pickups, electronic keyboards and drum machines, and much more.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Keith Jarrett Interview at Jazz.com
In conversation with keith jarrett
I would say the 'cleverness' syndrome has taken the place of melody. It’s like everyone has come down with this terrible disease in jazz. First of all you are always expected to do your own material, which is a strange thing to do if you’re a poor composer but a great player. If you are a great player and luckily you know what great melody is about things can happen that can’t happen otherwise.
I would say the 'cleverness' syndrome has taken the place of melody. It’s like everyone has come down with this terrible disease in jazz. First of all you are always expected to do your own material, which is a strange thing to do if you’re a poor composer but a great player. If you are a great player and luckily you know what great melody is about things can happen that can’t happen otherwise.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
5 Sliding Content Techniques, Examples & jQuery How to’s
Excerpt:
The more intuitive layout structure is designed, the better users can understand the content. Whatever content you have to present, you can present them in a more interactive & more responsive ways.
Today we would like to focus on sliding effects and how i can change the structure of a page in a truly unique and creative way
5 Sliding Content Techniques, Examples & jQuery How to’s
The more intuitive layout structure is designed, the better users can understand the content. Whatever content you have to present, you can present them in a more interactive & more responsive ways.
Today we would like to focus on sliding effects and how i can change the structure of a page in a truly unique and creative way
5 Sliding Content Techniques, Examples & jQuery How to’s
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