Walking the dog music thoughts...

So today i was walking Sessie...the dog of my heart, and my mp3 player had some interesting offerings...

First was "they all laughed" by Louis and Ella. The absolute effortless joy that came from these two icons was palatable. And i think that if our planet gets invaded by hostile beings, our best defense from certain annihilation is just to play Louis and Ella...
The Nearness of You
Lets Call the whole thing off
Baby, it's cold outside

it doesn't matter...these other worldly beings would listen to those two and say...ok...maybe we should let them survive.

Next came the greatest unknown musician of our lifetime.

We've all heard him...frequently... yet have no clue who he is...
Give up?

Johnny Costa was Mr. Rodgers piano player. His version "Don't do nothing 'till you hear from me" was four of the most intense minutes imaginable. His theme and variations thereof never stopped. And each verse gets bigger and slightly more outside. Then, at the point where human physicality and western twelve tonealty hit the breaking point, he restates the theme, lets us catch our breath, and the song ends.

Every song is like this...and every song was a one take.

After his death, the producer said that he just sat down and said off the top of his head what song he was going to play. After playing the songs...he would look at the producers and ask if that take was ok.

The prodcuer, knowing he was standing in celestial glory, would eek out "yea...that was great." And he'd go on to the next song.

The thing that hit me that time (as opposed to the hundreds of times I'd heard that before) was that i was not just listing to the most technically proficiant musical hands but the most facile musical mind.

He just heard and thought better than anyone. Ever. And his hands kept up.

The next song was Whitesnake...not so transendant.

My dog was happy...so that's all that matters.