Red hook launches with the final studio recording of Masabumi Kikuchi as its debut

Erstwhile ECM producer Sun Chung has a new label called Red Hook Records, self-described as ''a place for encounters, where musicians have opportunities to interact with creative minds, share insights, explore and carve new adventurous ways of …

Published: 16 Feb 2021. Updated: 3 years.

Erstwhile ECM producer Sun Chung has a new label called Red Hook Records, self-described as ''a place for encounters, where musicians have opportunities to interact with creative minds, share insights, explore and carve new adventurous ways of creative wayfaring.'' The first release from the Bantry, County Cork-registered label on 16 April is to be Hanamichi from the Japanese pianist Masabumi Kikuchi (1939-2015). It comprises six solo performances and is the final studio recording by the great musician. Among the label’s other upcoming releases are new projects by trumpeter-composer Wadada Leo Smith, drummer Andrew Cyrille and electronic musician Qasim Naqvi.

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Love Music and it Will Love You Back: Essays on Music by Jeff Colella

'Playing from memory is like taking a mirror to our learning process. It is where we find out just how thorough that process has been. It represents the culmination of our learning. 'I have a proposition for you. What if instead of saying ''I’m …

Published: 16 Feb 2021. Updated: 3 years.

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'Playing from memory is like taking a mirror to our learning process. It is where we find out just how thorough that process has been. It represents the culmination of our learning.

'I have a proposition for you. What if instead of saying ''I’m going to learn to play this piece or tune”, we said “I’m going to internalize this music”? For me the word internalize is more visceral, the word learning more intellectual. (Visceral as defined in the dictionary relates to deep inward feelings rather than to intellect.)'

The above quotation from the 'Memorization' chapter of the e-book is what I gained most from reading Love Music and It Will Love You Back written by the distinguished erstwhile Lou Rawls pianist and session player Jeff Colella. Not a massive tome but there are quite a few pearls of wisdom contained within its pages and the above is only a small example. Love Music operates on two levels: as a kind of pep talk for musicians and teachers first and foremost. But anyone into music appreciation will also gain things out of it on a general level in the encouraging of the need to bypass paralysis through analysis and move more into a different headspace. Colella is good on interpretation and not getting too derailed by logic. Yet he is insistent about things such as knowing your tune themes, what voicing actually is, and above all immersing yourself in the process of improvisation through deep consideration. The more detailed chordal discussion however is really more for pianists. The Colella tone is friendly. Don't worry about a few typos here and there. Internalising is the biggest takeaway. Thinking and then doing is instead in its pages core. SG. mymusicmasterclass.com