Blog – Page 20 – Noah Baerman

Top 10 favorite “One Man Band” tracks

noahjazz June 12, 2014 0 Comments

I have long been fascinated with music that was recorded by a single person. As my friend and colleague Dave Kopperman (himself an underappreciated master of this approach) has pointed out, there is the potential for the results to have a synthetic quality. Indeed, at their worst, songs recorded in this manner sound artificial, not to mention wonky due to the virtual inevitability of the artist having limited proficiency on at least one of the instruments. At their best, though, these songs not only avoid these pitfalls but also display as close as one can reasonably get to an unfiltered view of the sounds going through that artist’s own head.

Top 10

EDS Awareness 2014: Persistence

noahjazz May 31, 2014 2 Comments

Last Tuesday, my father was put into hospice care and the medical staff evaluating him said that he had maybe a couple more days, possibly more like hours . . . and yet he kept on going for six days. One thing that this did was provide me with the impetus to contemplate the notion of persistence.

EDS Awareness Month, Philosophizing

Music = Love

noahjazz May 5, 2014 0 Comments

I’ve been chewing on the question of “why do I do it,” and I think I found the answer . . .

Philosophizing

Top 10 Favorite Victor Lewis Tracks

noahjazz April 24, 2014 1 Comment

I’m mega-excited to play with the great Victor Lewis this Saturday at the QJOG Spring Jazz Festival (and yes, nerd-police, we ARE playing “I Wanted to Say”). Looking at the breath of his career is fairly overwhelming and inspiring. If you can’t make it out on Saturday, enjoy the music on this list. If you can, then you’re in for a treat, as everyone is whenever he plays the drums.

Top 10

40 Things I Love About My Wife

noahjazz April 19, 2014 1 Comment

It’s Kate’s 40th birthday. I was going to write a song, but it’s been a tricky month. I was going to write a rhapsodic essay about all the things she is, but . . . well, I think she’d rather I spend the day with her than spend it doing that. So instead here is a list of some of the things about her I think are fabulous.

Important People, Philosophizing

Why Help Others?

noahjazz April 9, 2014 1 Comment

The air has been thick with “shoulda-been” birthdays, with Ana Grace’s 8th birth anniversary last weekend and my aunt Margie’s 73rd birth anniversary today. On Ana’s birthday a playground was dedicated in her name at Elizabeth Park in Hartford, and while the weather was uninviting, people flocked out to be there and I didn’t see a single person leave. Meanwhile, this weekend I will be celebrating Margie’s life and the music it inspired on Ripples in Baltimore to an audience of her devoted friends and family. Through it all, I can’t stop thinking about the spirit of human connectedness.

Philosophizing

Top 10 Favorite Isley Brothers Tracks

noahjazz March 26, 2014 0 Comments

I love the Isley Brothers, and their place in my heart is as unique as their place in music history. I’m hard pressed to think of many other artists who’ve produced strong work with such a diversity of sounds and a consistent evolution over such a long period of time.

Top 10

Top 10 Favorite “Piano Trio Plus” Tracks

noahjazz March 20, 2014 0 Comments

Or maybe “Augmented Piano Trio?” I don’t know what to call it, really, but the Trio plus Chamber-Ensemble on my Ripples album have evoked a lot of questions about the inspiration and methodology behind that music. The hierarchy I had in mind is difficult to articulate. It’s not really “octet music” in the sense of the piano, bass and drums being a rhythm section. Neither, though, is the work of the rest of the ensemble purely decorative window-dressing. Essentially, the trio is the central unit with the rest of the musicians playing a supporting role, but a (hopefully) well-integrated and important one.

Top 10

the Cast of “Ripples” Part 5: Noah Baerman Trio

noahjazz March 1, 2014 0 Comments

As a musician, it is a treat whenever the opportunity arises to play with someone who brings out your best. It is, however, a rare and special confluence when you can play with someone who brings out a “best” that you otherwise wouldn’t have even known was in there. So it has gone for ten years now with the members of my Trio, Henry Lugo and Vinnie Sperrazza.

My Music

Hooray for the Healers

noahjazz February 27, 2014 2 Comments

We’re not talking about healers in the New Age sense, although there’s nothing wrong with that either. The healers I refer to here are people with the courage and caring and compassion and commitment (stop me before I come up with more words beginning with “c”) to identify someone struggling and reach out to help.

Philosophizing