Know Thyself - New Release from Noah Baerman

Noah Baerman is one of my heroes - not that I'm really into heroes or putting people up on ridiculous pedestals so we can feel better about ourselves when they fall off - but hero as in someone who walks the walk and who's piano & composition chops I am in awe of.

Noah's latest record Know Thyself isn't just for Jazz fans, it's for music lovers. If you dig Coltrane, Evans (Gil & Bill) or even if you don't really get "Jazz" but want something hipper than hip for your next party playlist - check it out - stick it on and you'll find yourself being blown away by the musicianship.

As Noah writes:

"Have sweeping journeys lost their place in the era of the cute little web video? Is the in-depth musical exploration of intense personal transformation irrelevant when one could instead condense those experiences into a text message? Is spending an uninterrupted hour-plus listening to an intricate and ambitious piece of instrumental music a waste of time in the era of the ringtone? If your answer is no to any of these, I’m glad you’re here."

Delivered as one track coming in at just over 65 minutes, it is funny, thoughtful, evocative and definitely hip - I've been listening for several days now and I tell you - it is killer music to work to as well.

Long Form Instrumental Music - Say what?

So I’m taking a course at Berklee College of Music on Digital marketing and it’s been the best decision I’ve made since I got married.  Of the many aspects on the course, the one we are looking at right now is: “Who is the market for music2work2?”

Unlike my fellow students who are marketing everything from start out rock bands to singer songwriters, club DJs and established music celebrities, music2work2 is less concerned with who you are and who you hang out with and more concerned with what you do.

We know that having noise in the background helps improve performance and we’re familiar with the Mozart Effect; it seems that the idea of music as a study aid is becoming more prevalent, this article in Teen ink that puts forward the idea that music helps with homework and we agree entirely.

So – where do you go to get this kind of music, and what is it called?  For my own purposes I classify it as:  Long form, instrumental music.  Long form because when you longer have the need for words, you free the music from the 3 ½ minute “song” structure that has been so dominant over the last 70 years.

Of course if you go and Google “Long Form Instrumental Music” it doesn’t exactly come up with a playlist.  You see, when I start looking at the current categorizations of this kind of music – they don’t exactly make me think of stuff that I would play when I want to work or study: New Age, Spiritual, Holistic, Jazz, Classical, Ambient, Chillout, Trance, Dub etc.  I’m listening to a piece called Language of Silence by Deuter right now – it was written to be used by Reiki healers but it’s great as a writing accompaniment.

Most metal heads wouldn’t be seen dead listening to a New Age meditation, but that same metal head on a deadline might suddenly find the same tones exactly what they need to finish. One of the opportunities that I see for music2work2 is to introduce people to a whole range of music that they might not have thought they would like - the challenge here is not the music but the nomenclature.

Lally - 15 minutes 21 seconds

Piano theme inspired by my Grandmother and Miles Davis' "Blue in Green"

Written for Lally, my maternal Grandmother – this track is built around three chords: B minor, B minor7 and D major. It’s one of the first times that I sat down with a set of chords in mind for a piece.

I had been listening to “A Kind of Blue” and reading about how the sessions came about. The story goes that Miles Davis had approached pianist Bill Evans at some point before they recorded the track “Blue in Green” and handed him a note that had just two chords on it – from that, Bill Evans developed the piece and it’s probably my favorite on the album.

Lally passed away from a stroke at the beginning of the year – she was 91 and had had an incredible life. There was enough time to fly to Scotland and hold her hand and tell her we loved her before she passed on. She was a wonderful person, kind and gentle but not someone who suffered fools gladly. I love the fact that this music exists – I think of her every time I listen to it.

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