Jazzketblog

New Web page on SEO - SEO4Yourself.com

2008-05-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

I've put up a new Web site on Search Engine Optimization that I hope folks out there find useful. It encompasses a lot of the information I used to teach to non-profits and government agencies regarding SEO and Web content design. Visit http://www.seo4yourself.com to check it out. Free, no strings attached.

Anderson Varejao or Eduardo Najera?

2007-11-07T15:55:00.001-08:00

So I haven't posted to my blog in moons, but we have had a lot going on. I'll get into that later. But all these articles about the Cavs and Anderson Varejao make me want to write *something*.

What on earth does Varejao do that anyone thinks he merits $6M a year? Ok, so he is 6'10", an"energy guy" off the bench, makes the hustle plays, sometimes, and of course would easily win any sort of award given for tallest Side Show Bob look-alike. But he's a missed shot or turnover on O, and overrated on D. Officials are now giving the benefit of the charge/block call to the offensive player, so that last year's flopping = this year's mopping. Thank goodness.

So real quick here are some energy guys that have a lot more skills than AV and make less than six mil a year (salary info at Hoopshype.com):

Eduardo Najera
Mikki Moore (I'm on the fence about Mikki)
Brian Scalabrine
David Lee (he *will* make more than this soon though, especially if he escapes the Knicks)
Jason Maxiell
Walter Herrmann
DeSagana Diop
Chuck Hayes
Nick Collison (although he will make more than $6mil next year)
Matt Barnes
Quinton Ross

Sure, most of these guys are not 6'10" but wouldn't you take their skills any day over Side Show Bob? Having been a season ticket holder for three seasons for the now defunct North Charleston Lowgators, from what I saw I'd bet the Cavaliers, if they looked, could find a hungry D-Leaguer who could do most of what Anderson Varejao does, on the cheap. Or for $6 million sign an entire D-League squad and have them ride along in coach class all season.

Would Jason Kidd be an MVP...

2007-05-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

if he were on the Suns now? I am a Steve Nash fan but how well would an experienced Jason Kidd, even after microfracture knee surgery, fit with D'Antoni's system and roster? For several seasons in New Jersey Kidd has been surrounded by talented but flawed players who do not play team ball. Vince Carter puts up big numbers but falls in love with the 3 point shot when he should be courting the lane, driving to the basket, and getting to the foul line. Richard Jefferson has only this season become a decent outside shooter and I don't think of him being particularly good in the clutch.

Nash and Kidd are both excellent ballhandlers and can deal with the press easily. Both can recognize when a quick outlet pass deep will lead to an easy bucket for a teammate. Even now Kidd may still be quicker down the court. Nash is a much better shooter. But Kidd is a great rebounder for a PG and really is a better rebounder than a lot of small forwards.

So if you drop Jason Kidd in Phoenix right now under the D' Antoni system what happens? I think the Suns would stay at a high level. Because Kidd is not a good shooter (and some nights he is waaaay off) Raja Bell, Barbosa, and Jones get a few more shots. And with Kidd doing some good work on the glass you would get some high-quality second-chance shots from a quick pass to an open player lurking just outside the lane.

Nash feeds Stoudamire a lot of easy buckets. I think Kidd would do the same for Shawn Marion, delivering him the ball for that little 8 foot hop shot he does so well. Kidd could easily have an MVP season working with these guys.

And if Steve went to the Nets? He'd have to play a lot of minutes and take more shots and would not get the rest breaks he does in Phoenix. Plus he would have to deal with Vince Carter's hoops petulance. Even though I like Steve Nash I think the Nets would slide a little bit. He is the two-time MVP, a great player, fun to watch, works hard to get his teammates involved, and seems like an overall good dude. But he is in the perfect system for a true point guard with skills, a classification fitting Kidd as well. Regardless, I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Go Suns!

Have you met Miss Jones at the bridge?

2007-05-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

And if so, what did you do? Seriously, is there anything you can play during the bridge of "Have You Met Miss Jones" that sounds coherent and doesn't require tracking those chord changes? Has anyone found a safe place within only two scales that can produce decent results without too many clams?

For fun a couple of friends and I have been getting together almost weekly to work on some jazz standards. Jerry plays trumpet, Frank bass, and yours truly guitar (sometimes using a GR-20 guitar synth). I'm decent at comping, and know enough chords and alterations to get by, but am a lame soloist. And so far for "Miss Jones" I have found nothing that works for me. Although at one point I read bass and treble clef well and tenor clef a little I am mostly self-taught on guitar and never bothered to learn to read music for it. That doesn't help matters. I play by ear and knowing what the chord notations mean.

I've read that some folks think Coltrane took the bridge from this tune as the basis for "Giant Steps" as they both cycle backward via major 3rds instead of the circle of 5ths you hear in most compositions. Anyway, if you met Miss Jones at the bridge and it worked for ya, lemme know.

Click here for the great Jimmy Bruno's version.

Shorted cords, flubbed notes, only in jazz

2007-05-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

The other day at work I finally got around to giving a real listen to Al Cohn's Overtones CD, one of a bunch of disks I picked up cheap at B&N when they had a display rack of Concord Jazz cutouts. For the most part it's a pretty good CD, with good tunes and session players and the typical Concord production values - listenable but not particularly present. One song stood out though, and not for the musicianship or arrangement, but for the fact that the guitar player Joe Cohn (Al's son) kept dropping out when you'd think he would be comping away. So I skipped back a bit, turned up the volume, put on my headphones so as not to disturb my fellow feds, and replayed the last minute or so. Sure enough the dude had a bad guitar cord making his contributions to the mix a rather random affair.

Now in jazz a flubbed note created when a player is "going for it" is an oft-hallowed thing, a vibration signifying effort and emotion, unless of course the player is one you don't like. And the great Miles, who probably became intimately versed in the flub while trying to keep pace with speedsters like Dizzy or Clifford Brown, discovered that an intentional flub while playing a slow n' easy passage could help set a mood. But a bad guitar cord? You'd think they would have cut another take. There just *might* be crying in baseball, but there is no deep meaning to a cold solder joint or frayed conductor or bad input jack. Of course some deconstructionist music critic could say something about the meaning of the shorted cord in relation to some aspect of the session, or the year it was recorded etc. More than likely it had something to do with tired or bored players, a sleeping engineer, or whiskey.

Rooting for the Jazz and Suns on principle

2007-05-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

I've been rooting for the Suns ever since they decided to go run and gun with D'Antoni at the helm, and now that Nellie is back in Golden State I am pulling for the Warriors to succeed as well. The Spurs and Detroit might be better teams but their brand of basketball is like a coffee from Li'l Cricket - works to keep you awake, barely, and isn't very tasty. Defense might win championships, but a final score 80-75 means a big steaming cup of sucky basketball for fans... or at least to me.

To a lot of folks the NBA's peak was the era of Magic and Bird where games could have both teams scoring over 100 points with good defense in the 4th quarter making the difference. To its credit the NBA recognized the product was getting ponderous and made two key adjustments: reducing how much hand-checking happens on the perimeter, and adding the confusing yet still beneficial defensive 3 seconds rule. But there is one thing left that needs to be addressed IMHO - the isolation play. To watch a player dribble the ball for 15 seconds at the top of the key, then go one-on-one against the defender while his teammates scratch and stare... well, it's just plain irritating. Passing to catch the zone in rotation, creating mismatches with the pick and roll, guards driving and dishing to an open shooter, or a quick entry pass to a big man who goes to work inside is good basketball both fundamentally and visually. But since the isolation play is within the rules, and can be effective for teams that rely on a star player, how do you discourage coaches from calling it ad nauseum? I think some sort of 5 second rule would be a great idea to keep the game moving.

A Cyber Howdy to You

2007-05-25T13:10:00.001-07:00

Eventually this site will be a blog on the stuff I enjoy - jazz and other music, basketball, and various and sundry topics as they wiggle into or out of my brainpan. Or more accurately, this will become a set of pages created by yet another person deluded enough to think others will read his musings.