Flute Player .net

Harold McNair - The Hipster

2008-08-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

Like Jeremy Steig, Ian Anderson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Harold McNair had the singing technique on the flute down cold! Tragically, Harold died young at the age of 39 from lung cancer. His track 'The Hipster' recorded in 1968 is on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK0-NG8EhGo

Outdoor gig? - don't forget the wind screen

2008-07-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

I brought my Zoom H4 to the gig yesterday. It was outdoors and a little windy. Too bad I forgot to bring the wind screen... it's all over the recording! :-|

Ronnie Laws - jazz flutist extraordinaire!

2008-07-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

One of THE jazz flutists whose work seems to go largely unnoticed when people talk about great players is that of saxophonist Ronnie Laws (Hubert's younger brother). I first became aware of Ronnie's incredible flute chops (thanks to my friend Elias Leüvwarden) about thirty years ago on his 1978 album, "Flame" (Ronnie then was only 28).

His two solos on the tune "Joy" are a blistering display of technique as well as being very hip harmonically and rhythmically (especially solo #2 after the vibes!). Unfortunately, "Flame" is long out of print. The good news is that I was able to find it online (Google: Ronnie Laws flame cd) and also posted on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwgpuJZ_sDs.

For jazz flute, very few players have anything on Ronnie Laws.
Check him out!

Flute Fever by Jeremy Steig - on CD?

2008-07-24T04:17:00.000-07:00

One of the landmark jazz flute records is the 1963 Columbia release of "Flute Fever" by Jeremy Steig (flute) with Denny Zeitlin (piano), Ben Tucker (bass) and Ben Riley (drums). I've long wished for this on CD (my LP is trashed!) and even talked with Denny on Saturday night after his concert about getting Columbia to re-release it as such. He agreed, adding, 'I love that record!'

In searching around on the net this morning, much to my surprise I discover that in 2003 the label Collectables apparently did just that:

In 2003, Collectables released Flute Fever/Monium, which contained two complete albums -- the classic Flute Fever (1963, originally released on Columbia) and Monium (1974, also originally released on Columbia) -- by Jeremy Steig on one compact disc. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

Unfortunately, I cannot find this CD for sale anywhere online. :-(
What I can find are lots and LOTS of mp3 download sites that have a digitized copy of the LP (I'm assuming Collectables did NOT stoop this low for their release, did they??), you can hear the needle scratches! (listen to the beginning of 'Oleo')
http://www.mp3fiesta.com/flute_fever_monium_album155869/

If you know of where I can get - or have this CD for sale - please let me know. Thanks!
-Bob

Gemeinhardt releases it's flute serial numbers - again

2008-07-21T04:08:00.000-07:00

I just discovered that Gemeinhardt once again has posted their serial numbers. In my April 2006 post Lars Kirmser's: serial numbers, I mentioned that both Yamaha and Gemeinhardt hadn't made their serial numbers public. Then in September 2007, I was notified in the comments to my post that Gemeinhardt had just added a serial number link to their Home page (as a PDF file). However, the link to the file was subsequently pulled by Gemeinhardt from their Web site. Well, it's back!

From a brief look, it appears to be the same difficult to use PDF as before (except this time with an intro added to it and the prices removed). Here's the link:
http://www.gemeinhardt.com/main.taf?p=6,7

Hello Yamaha? Are you there?

UPDATE (7/26/08): Joe Butkevicius has converted the pdf to Excel and posted it on flutenet:
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/flutenet/ files/Gemeinhard t%20serial% 20%23%20history. xls

Perl - Find and Replace script

2008-07-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

The following Perl command is great for changing a string on multiple pages:
perl -i -pe 's/original text here/edited text here/g' *

For example:
perl -i -pe 's/red/blue/g' *

TapTheBeat on the iPhone!

2008-07-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

I was listening to some latin jazz piped in a restaurant a couple of days ago and thought, "That's a great groove, I wonder what the tempo is? It'd be nice if I could tap that into my iPhone." Turns out, Masayuki Akamatsu thought the same thing and what's more, has made the app, uploaded it to the App Store and is giving it away for FREE!

AT&T iPhone 3G coverage - does your city have it?

2008-07-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

Sebastopol, California does NOT have 3G. Earlier today, I couldn't get 3G in Petaluma or Rohnert Park either, just Edge. So far, the only place that I know of around here that has 3G is Santa Rosa. I called AT&T about being charged for a network I don't get and they said, "sorry, the iPhone 3G only has one plan." When I asked her about when 3G would be available in Sebastopol, Rohnert Park and Petaluma she said, "Don't expect it anytime soon."

UPDATE: I've just noticed here at home in Sebastopol that when I turn on Airplane Mode, then turn it off, the iPhone shows "Searching..." and then, 3G! However, it doesn't stay 3G for more than a few minutes and also there is only one bar for voice showing. It then changes to E and a couple of voice bars. I checked the speed when showing 3G on iNetwork and it came back 241 kbps, in other words, Edge.

UPDATE #2: I was just at the Santa Rosa Plaza Mall AT&T store inquiring more about the 3G speed test. While in the store I got 409.8 kbps (they've got a mini-tower in the back!). According to the guy I was talking to, I very well could be getting 3G in Sebastopol from a rogue tower because 241 kbps would be towards the top end of Edge speed and not likely with the poor reception I get there. So I turned off the 3G (to go back to Edge) and ran the speed test from the same location in the AT&T store and got 190.4 kbps, so perhaps he's right! :-)

Speeds Recap:
1258.1 kbps (WiFi in the Apple Store)
409.8 kbps (3G, AT&T store)
241 kbps (at home in Sebastopol, supposedly on 3G)
190.4 kbps (Edge, AT&T store)

I bought the iPhone 3G

2008-07-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to buy the 3G. Here were my primary reasons:
1.) supposed to have a much better phone
2.) 3G
3.) not sure how long the AT&T subsidized upgrade for first gen iPhone's will last. If I wait a couple of months, would AT&T still give me the phone for $199 or will I be looking at $399?

I got to the Santa Rosa Plaza mall around 8:00AM and was first in line. The next person didn't show up until around 9:20AM so I could have probably just shown up at 9:00AM and STILL have been first to go in when the Apple Store opened at 10:00AM. The checkout/activation process was quick and easy - I was out by 10:10AM.

The 3G does indeed seem to be a better phone. Now I'm at least able to stay inside my house and make calls that don't drop (like my first gen iPhone!) and the people I've called say the calls sound better too - yay! The 3G speed (though not available yet at my home) is a great improvement over the dial-up days of the Edge (would have been great if AT&T had offered it without the $10/month bump, but whatever). Also, I was able to pick up 3G briefly in downtown Sebastopol by Whole Foods even though technically it's not supposed to reach that far. 3G has definitely not made it to the outskirts of Sebastopol however. Hopefully soon.

All in all, I like it! :-)

iPhone - back from the dead

2008-07-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

It took nearly four hours yesterday, most spent over at the Apple store, trying to get my first generation iPhone to work again after the 2.0 software upgrade. Nice having my $400 phone functional again -- thank you Apple.

Now that I've had a little time to play around with the new software, the mass email delete is a very welcome change. I'm surprised however at how faint the little check circles are -- what's wrong with having easy to see checkboxes like a typical email client such as Yahoo!?

The #1 issue for me however is the phone reception here at home in Sebastopol. With all the new 3G iPhones, AT&T does seem to be aggressively expanding their network of 3G cell towers in the area. I didn't realize it before, but each tower has about a seven mile radius. One tower that would be in my range was supposed to go live on July 6th, and another is scheduled for August 29th. If those towers make it so that the 3G signal is strong enough that I can actually use my iPhone at home like my land-line, then I'll most probably buy the new 3G iPhone. If not, I'll most likely stick with my reborn first generation iPhone (at least for a little while longer!).

iPhone down! :-(

2008-07-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

The 2.0 update just killed my iPhone! Perfect. :-|
It's showing 'Emergency Call' and is absolutely 100% not working. Looks like I'll be heading over to the Apple Store on the worst day of the year after all.

iPhone 2.0 software download

2008-07-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of downloading/updating to the iPhone 2.0 software. I didn't bother to notice the time I started the download, but it must have been at least 10 minutes by now, maybe 20! That's a HUGE update. Looking forward to it!

Guess I won't be getting the iPhone 3G - at least not yet

2008-07-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Went into the AT&T store in Santa Rosa yesterday and asked them about 3G coverage in Sebastopol. Nope, just Santa Rosa. That makes 'upgrading' to the new iPhone a whole let less attractive to me seeing as I won't be getting the benefits of the faster network or GPS at home -- so why pay an extra $120 a year?

WALL•E - cool flutes!

2008-07-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

Love the great flute work in Thomas Newman's score for WALL•E! Especially "Repair Ward" (track #16)

Chronic sinus condition is over!

2008-07-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

For several years now I've had a chronic sinus condition, probably allergy related but not sure about that. For some reason, this last week something changed and I believe the thing is actually over as I am breathing normally - YAY! :-)

I suspect it's a combination of things that is responsible for my recovery. Chief among them is fruit smoothies and using Neil Med's Sinus Rinse with sea salt (about 3/4 of a teaspoon) and warm water. In regards to the sinus rinse bottle, I've found it makes a big difference to use it with the mouth open. This opens the Eustachian tube and allows for maximum water movement. For those suffering from a bad sinus condition, you have my sympathies -- it can be really miserable. Hopefully, the fruit smoothie / sinus rinse regimen will work for you too!

The Serious Jazz Book II: The Harmonic Approach by Barry Finnerty

2008-07-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

New from Sher Music Co., The Serious Jazz Book II: The Harmonic Approach by Barry Finnerty. I've just begun reading it, so far looks great! :-)

Lawn Art

2008-06-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

One of the local's idea of lawn art! :-)

MAILER-DAEMON spam attack

2008-06-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

I had over 550 MAILER-DAEMON emails in my Inbox today. :-|
Most appearing to be coming from Russia. For example, MAILER-DAEMON@aha.ru

A friend of mine just a few days called about the very same thing. Unfortunately for him, he had over 5000! Anybody know what's going on here?

Thanks!

It's a Small World - cut from WWDC Apple playback

2008-06-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Like many others trying to follow along with the WWDC online, I wound up using a combination of sites to get as close as possible to the action: MacRumorsLive, Engadget and iphonealley. Both during and after Jobs presentation, I wondered why Apple didn't simply provide this broadcast. I *think* now I know why -- it's called editing.

As some of you may recall, during the segment where Jobs was showing how many countries were going to be getting the iPhone, the Disney song "It's a Small World" played in the background. Curiously, in the Apple broadcast of the WWDC the song has been cut. We watch the 67 countries names in silence.

Now, why is that? Did Apple not get permission? Did some editor decide it sounded lame? hmmm... please Apple, do tell.

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0806wdt546x/event/index.html

Flutemakers Guild - History

2008-06-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

For those interested about Flutemakers Guild, here's a PR blurb from them (circa 1986)

The Flutemakers Guild was founded in 1961 as the result of a number of craftsmen breaking away from a very famous flutemaking firm that was being absorbed by a larger organization. It was felt that the individuality needed to produce a handmade flute of the highest quality would be lost when the heavy hand of “big business” took over.

Contact was made with the Lord Mayor of London (who had played flute as a young man) and he suggested the owner of a gold and silversmithing company, Mr. C. S. Padgett, might be able to help with premises and finance, this he did and became, and still is, our director. These first premises were at 48 Broadwick Street, London, W. 1. where we stayed until 1974 when these premises were sold and the move was made to our present address, 10 Shacklewell Road, London, N. 16.

The Guild was formed to carry on the tradition of making flutes in the ways that had produced the fine British flutes of earlier years, this we like to think we are still doing! Of the original seven craftsmen who started regrettably we are now down to two, various people having been trained and gone on to other flute firms, but we are still going and producing handmade instruments. The remaining two members are Chris Bouckley, trained by us and with us for nine years and Harry Seeley, founder member and flutemaker for thirty six years - maybe one day we will train some more flutemakers, who can say!

Because of the way we work we are able to produce, to order, any instrument of the flute family from piccolo to C Bass in any of the precious metals. Wood flutes and piccolos are also available, one of these being the Thinned Wood flute, the body of which is about half the thickness of a normal wood flute, the tone holes being left raised out of the wood instead of being cut in. This instrument may seem an oddity in this age of mass production but it illustrates that the skills to make them are still available.

In the last few years much talk in the flute world has been about “modern scales” which we have tried to keep in line with, our type of manufacture lends us very easily to accommodate anyone who has the desire for a scale of his or her own design. We like to think that in these times of the “hard sell” and “in built obsolescence,” players can come to us to order a handmade flute that really is made by hand and will last a lifetime.

iPhone 3G - and the bad news is ...

2008-06-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

AT&T is raising the data plan to $30 a month :-|

Live blogging the WWDC - winners and losers

2008-06-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

Since I couldn't attend the WWDC in person, I tried to the next best thing - watch it on the web. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a live video stream but instead found sites attempting the next best thing, live blogging. My first choice was TechCrunch, but it fell apart in a number of ways and so I wound up using Engadget (and thanks to Elisa Camahort), MacRumorsLive and iphonealley. What was interesting about this was that unlike TechCrunch, MacRumorsLive and Engadget both were well prepared and intelligently set up to deal with the task -- namely getting the info to us! TechCrunch came off as if they had never done one of these things before! -- with page layout and loading problems galore. So frustrating that, rather than miss out on the show completely, I ended up quickly scrambling to find alternatives. Thankfully, MacRumorsLive and Engadget were there to cover what TechCrunch couldn't

However, the real star was iphonealley and the audio provided. Being able to hear in real time Steve Jobs talking about the iPhone on iphonealley, supplemented by nice up-to-date photos from Engadget and promptly updated commentary from MacRumorsLive, made the experience. Why Apple can't just go ahead and broadcast live escapes me. Hopefully, one day they will.

iPhone 3G $199 - it's official!

2008-06-09T11:53:00.001-07:00

Just followed along Steve Jobs keynote and yes, the iPhone 3G is a reality PLUS it's only $199 for the 8gig model - WOW! Way to go Apple. I'll be buying mine (right along with everybody else), July 11th, 2008.

Will you be buying the new iPhone?

2008-06-06T08:58:00.001-07:00

With the highly anticipated announcement of a 3G iPhone just three days from now, I'm curious how many current iPhone owners are planning to buy the new model (and what your plans are for the 'old' one -- put it on eBay? give it to a family member or friend?). At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy since I use my iPhone a lot! Anything to make it faster would be welcome. You?

-Bob

When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again.

2008-06-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

said Eric Dolphy (listen). I had a gig Saturday night and had brought my Zoom recorder to record it. Unfortunately, I didn't double-check the settings when I hit record and wound up not recording at all -- and it was a good gig too! So "gone in the air" it is. :-(