Paul Read News

Great cd to check out: Antonio Sanchez (drums) with Chris Potter, Dave Sanchez, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Scott Colley

It is amazing how much music is literally at our fingertips these days through digital distribution. I make use of it myself on a regular basis. Think of something – look it up on eMusic or iTunes (or…) and minutes later, for a little cash (much less to the creators of the music) you have the tracks on your hard drive. If you are EXTREMELY lucky you might get a pdf file with liner notes. (Rivers by Herbie Hancock is an example – but should be the norm instead of a rarity). What is promoted by these sites seem to be lists based on previous purchases or the purchases of the masses. Its usually easy to tell for me, since my tastes seem to run into the paths less followed. I wonder how the “What’s Hot” or “Featured” lists play into the purchasing of most people.

For those of us looking for less popular fare – like maybe the greatest hits of Sly and the Family Stone, or Ornette Coleman’s Atlantic recordings, or even Michael Brecker records (which you would think would be more towards the top of the pile) – it is amazing and wonderful that you can find so many things. But I can’t help but wonder what is going to be the shape of iTunes or other digital distributors, in 40 years or more. Will the mountain of music (growing exponentially) just continue to grow and grow. How then, will my grandson (or his children) be able to find Miles Smiles (in my opinion one of the great recordings in the last 50 years). Or will they even be interested? Or should they be? My thought is that Miles Smiles (a pinnacle of achievement) should be well known and well preserved by that time. Of course, what does a 61 year old jazz musician in 2009 know? Wayne Shorter is Wayne Shorter though. And by that I mean: genius is genius. And masterworks should inform the future while they reflect the past. At any rate, I am thinking this and I have a blog, so I am writing about it. What is astonishing to me (and encouraging) is that we read each other’s thoughts and take them to heart, at least some of the time.

Thanks for stopping by

Paul

Funny thing at the drugstore yesterday. I went in to find some over the counter stuff for a blister on my foot. There was a sign at the pharmacy with a private looking booth marked “Confer with Pharmacist”. It all looked very discreet – it didn’t need to be in my case. Then one of the pharmacists yelled from the back of the store, “Ya got a question????”. So I yelled back and said, “I found this stuff (holding up the package) for a blister on my foot. Is this the best stuff or would you recommend something else?” She then came over and talked to me. I just wonder how well all this would have gone if I had had genital itch or something else less appealing.

See ya

P