Music And Ideas

#46 - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery May 13, 2022

Karl, Scott, and Trent explore two seminal albums in the catalog of arguably the greatest jazz guitarist of all time, Wes Montgomery. In Incredible Jazz Guitar and Boss Guitar, Montgomery lays down an adventurous blend of hard-swinging bop, romantic ballads, and Afro-Carribean inspired grooves with an effortless mastery of guitar technique.

Although he employs a wide variety of complex techniques such as fast triplet strumming, sweep picking, and octave melodies -- almost exclusively performed with his thumb -- Montgomery never comes across as pretentious or heady. He's a generous soloist for the audience, creating plenty of space and pauses to give listeners a chance to absorb and digest his playing. He frequently quotes and reworks melodies from popular tunes of the American songbook, and in the latter part of his career he performed jazz covers of contemporary hits as well.

Wes' life was cut short early (he died of a heart attack at 45), but he left a huge mark on jazz history. His work was influential to jazz guitarists such as Joe Pass, George Benson, and many, many others. It remains fresh, too, and an easy entry point into the world of jazz for new listeners.

#45 - Music for the End Times Mar 30, 2022

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the meaning and purpose of music during troubled times, and share their playlists for the end of the world.

#44 - The Russian Five, Or, Why You No Listen to Russian Musics?! Feb 24, 2022

Can you imagine five of the most brilliant young musical minds sitting around the fireside, discussing how they could make a new Russian music? What form would it take? What instrumentation? What would the proper influences be? That's precisely what a group of five Russian composers did in the 19th century -- set out to reclaim Russian culture from Western European influence and in the process create a grand, majestic, and distinctly Russian music.

The Russian Five, as they are known, include Cesar Cui, Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Influenced by earlier musical outlaws such as Mikhail Glinka, they brought a sweeping, picturesque programmatic style to the orchestra, often inspired by Eastern legends and Slavic folklore. Their music is full of beautiful melodies and forceful dynamic shifts, often without regard for traditional European rules of composition. More cosmopolitan composers such as Tchaikovsky refined this style, drawing from both Russian folk culture and western harmony, and in the process penned music that is still popular today, such as the Nutcracker Suite and the romance theme from Romeo and Juliet.

Overall, the Russian Five wrote music that stirs the soul while avoiding the intellectual abstraction that Western classical music sometimes tended toward. Consequently, it's easy for the modern listener to get into, and the programmatic nature of the music suits modern film well. It's no surprise, then, that film composers draw heavily from Russian composers (John Williams in particular).

#43 - Tracing the Roots of Rock n' Roll Jan 19, 2022

Scott, Karl, and Trent trace the family tree of the biggest musical genre of the 20th century: rock n' roll. The roots are deep and gnarled, it turns out, and while they touch on the usual suspects such as Elvis and Chuck Berry, rock can trace it's roots all the way back to the big bands of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, as well as a myriad of American folk genres.

#42 - Bing Crosby's Christmas Classics Dec 23, 2021

In part two of their study of Bing Crosby, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss Bing Crosby's enormous impact on Christmas music and culture since he first sang "White Christmas" in 1942's Holiday Inn. "White Christmas" proved to be a huge hit, hitting number one on three separate occasions, including 1954's classic film White Christmas (twelve years after its public debut). Although the film was not initially a box office success, the titular song became the best-selling single of all time with an estimated 50 million copies sold.

Of course, Bing's Christmas legacy does not begin and end with White Christmas. He sang nearly all of the American Christmas standards, and his versions are still the most often played. For better or worse, Bing is the voice of Christmas, and all contemporary performers that dare to sing a Christmas song do so under his vast shadow.

#41 - The First Multimedia Star: Bing Crosby & His Glittering Career Dec 14, 2021

Nowadays he's the American Father Christmas, the singer of nearly all the classic Christmas songs, but for several decades he was also the biggest pop star in the world. From his early days singing in The Rhythm Boys with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (a major band in it's own right in the 1920's), to his breakout solo career in the 1930's, and well into the 1950's with classic movies such as White Christmas -- Bing Crosby is probably the most important singer in American musical history.

With his silky smooth baritone voice and effortless delivery, Bing guided America through the depths of the Great Depression, delivered hope and spirit through World War II, and voiced the exuberant postwar 1950's. He has reportedly sold over a billion records, with 43 number one hits and nearly 400 charting singles between 1931 and 1965. He ushered in the crooner genre, paving the way for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and many others. Bing was an early film star, winning four Academy Awards for Best Song, and hosted a long-running radio show with over 4,000 recordings.

A visionary and astute businessman, Bing invested in Ampex, a small California company which produced the first commercial magnetic tape recorder (originally discovered and prototyped by Jack Mullin). The tape machine proved to be a boon for Bing's demanding radio sessions, which until then had to be performed live in studio. With the tape machine, shows could be pre-recorded in high fidelity, and edited to fit the producer's tight airtime schedules. This allowed Bing to record multiple shows in one session, and experiment with multiple takes, while giving him more time to relax on the golf course afterward.

Bing was everywhere for decades, a true titan of a new era of multimedia, and the voice of multiple generations. While young people today may only know him for his Christmas music, his legacy has influenced every pop star in the twentieth century and beyond.

#40 - The Joyful Sounds of Sacred Steel Nov 25, 2021

Scott digs up an old treasure from his music vaults -- the gospel music of Florida which features an unusual instrument, the steel guitar. Played with a tonebar pressed over a horizontal neck with 6 or more strings, the steel guitar is usually found cooing and whining behind country western troubadours, but in sacred steel gospel, it's the primary instrument and often played as the sole accompaniment to the congregation's singing.

#39 - The Form of Beauty: Hilary Hahn Performing Bach's Violin Sonatas 1 and 2, Partita 1 Nov 10, 2021

Scott, Karl, and Trent tackle Hilary Hahn's electric, virtuosic performances of three timeless pieces for solo violin: Bach's Sonatas 1 and 2, and the first Partita.

#38 - Sam Cooke: The Father of Soul Oct 26, 2021

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss arguably the greatest singer of the 20th century, and how he invented the classic genre now known as "soul."

#37- A Window into Live Jazz: Oscar Peterson at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival Oct 12, 2021

Oscar Peterson at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival is a 1956 live album by Oscar Peterson, accompanied by Ray Brown and Herb Ellis.

The Peterson trio is celebrated for their seemingly telepathic sense of interplay and its virtuosity. In listening to this album, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss how certain kinds of creativity can't be done in a premeditated way. Scott says, "It's thoughtless and intuitive— pure creativity between three people."

Karl adds, "It's closer to what I think music is, which is an expression of spirit."

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#36- The Master of Tension: Holst's 'The Planets' Sep 22, 2021

The trio discusses The Planets, Op. 32, a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917.

When you first listen to this, you might just be recollecting it— The Planets comes with a long list of imitations churned out by film composers. Karl says, "It's the form of 20th-century film score."

You'll immediately recognize Holst's ability to create tension with certain musical cues. As an avid astrologer, he brings each of the planets and their corresponding astrological character alive with different styles of orchestration.

The whole score has become a modern classic. But how does it compare to Beethoven? Scott says, "Modern writing shies away from nobility... Beethoven is fine feeding you a steady diet of pure beauty and nobility. This doesn't have that hope in it that I hear in Beethoven."

Still, The Planets remains one of the most accessible entrances to classical music. Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#35- Neko Case's Album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Sep 07, 2021

This week, the trio discusses an album on Trent's shortlist: Neko Case's album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.

Released in 2006, it's a mix of folk, country, and early rock elements. Case classifies her style as “country-noir."

"She defies genres... she doesn't fit comfortably into any of those worlds," Trent says.

Along with her booming voice, Neko Case is also known for her independent, non-traditional songwriting. This particular album was inspired by Eastern European fairy tales— not overly dark or moral and a bit funny.

Tune in as Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss Case's cryptic lyrics, her vocal stylings, and the album's production quality. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#34- The Live Sound Experience: Mad Dogs & Englishmen Aug 25, 2021

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss Joe Cocker's live album, Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

Released in 1970, the album was spontaneously formed on a few days' notice to meet Cocker's contractual obligations.

These concert tapes ended up being just as much a showcase for Leon Russell, who helped organize and perform the tour, as it was for Joe Cocker. Accompanying the duo is a choir, a three-piece horn section, and several drummers.

Scott says, “It’s not polished. It’s just people who are pretty good at what they do having a freak-out on a Saturday night in San Fransico. All of that is what’s wrong with the album, but that’s also what’s good about the album.” Karl later adds, "You get to hear the personality of everyone in the band.”

Tune in to learn more about this pickup orchestra's rock and soul sound. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#33 - Greatest Album of All Time? Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon Aug 11, 2021

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss an album you may have heard of: The Dark Side of the Moon by English rock band Pink Floyd.

As Scott points out, Pink Floyd is one of those bands that you either love or hate. Released in 1973, this particular album became one of the most critically acclaimed records in history, tallying 741 weeks on the US Billboard Charts.

The trio agrees that unlike other chart toppers from the era, this album’s music and lyrics still hold up beautifully today. Tune in and learn more about one of Karl's all-time favorite albums, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#32- Iconic Synth-Pop Album: Depeche Mode's Violator Jul 27, 2021

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss Depeche Mode's 1990 album Violator, a synth-pop smash.

Featuring nine tracks of synthesizer dominant grooves, this English electronic music band created what Trent calls "a perfect album."

The trio discusses how this highly stylized exploration of the dark side of human emotion became a mainstream, chart-climbing album. Scott says, "I think this shows a sinister, dark worldview and a yearning for some sort of intense experience that those Gen X kids had."

Still, there seems to be growing interest in this music outside the core goth audience. Trent says, "It's really this artificial world that Depeche Mode is creating and asking you to step into. It has a mechanical heartbeat that's a little alienating, a little dark. I think that is a key part of this album's aesthetic."

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#31- Rebels With a Cause: The Outlaws of Outlaw Country Jul 13, 2021

Buckle up! In this much-anticipated episode, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss outlaw country music.

Starting as a movement about freedom, authenticity, and rebellion, outlaw country is all about breaking the rules.

During the 1970s, Nashville's country music stars had to fight for creative control of their songs. When Willie Nelson bucked the Nashville sound and made the pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, a new era of country outlaw was born.

Operated entirely outside the law of the country music establishment, this is the music of rowdys, degenerates, and hell-raisers. Scott says, "This show is more about the rednecks and outlaws that I grew up with— how they interpret this music and what it means to them."

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#30- Beethoven’s Fifth: The Most Famous Symphony Of All Time Jun 29, 2021

Da-Da-Da-DUM — hardly any succession of notes is as famous as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the life and legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music.

Trent says, "I hear him having all of the virtuosity and command of the musical vocabulary that Bach, Mozart, and Haydn have. But I think he is ultimately inspired by fits of passion— these violent, emotional impulses. That's the muse for his music. It's a different mindset."

Beethoven's Fifth is a powerful expression of his force of character. Scott adds, "It is maybe the purest expression of what a person can have."

First performed in Vienna's Theater an der Wien in 1808, Symphony No. 5 has gone down in music history as the Symphony of Fate. When asked about the opening motif of the Fifth Symphony, the composer is said to have replied: "This is the sound of fate knocking at the door."

Karl believes there's nobody better than Beethoven. Do you agree? Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#29- Demystifying Indian Classical Music Jun 16, 2021

In today's episode, Trent orients Scott and Karl to Indian classical music.

To a novice listener, the complexity of Indian music might seem overwhelming, but knowing just a few basics can give you the tools to appreciate the melodic richness. Scott admits, "We have never done a show which we know so little about."

Indian classical music is very closely connected to nature, taking inspiration from the cycles of the natural world to create ‘ragas’ or the melodic framework. Trent says, "This traditional music is a very strong affirmation of Indian culture."

The trio dives into basic components of ragas, the differences between Hindustani music of North India and Karnatak music of South India, and musical instruments used to produce each distinct sound.

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

Resources Mentioned:

#28- How to Listen to Jazz Jun 02, 2021

Scott, Karl, and Trent introduce us to one of America's premier art forms— jazz. To better understand this music genre, the trio listens to the Clifford Brown and Max Roach album Study in Brown.

Jazz is a language on its own: it's explorative, improvisational, and an aesthetic experience. "Brilliant, beautiful things can come out of the danger of the improvisational style," Karl says.

Scott adds, "It's musical dialectic. When you listen to jazz, you have to listen to everything everyone is doing for what it is and realize everyone is making a choice for a particular reason at that time."

Through careful listening, one can demystify the intricacies and marvels of this musical form. Tune in and get primed on jazz appreciation, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#27- Chanting: A Religious Experience May 18, 2021

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the history, ritual, and tradition of chanting.

Karl walks listeners through the musical structure and rules of different chanting traditions in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church.

Karl says, "For most people, chanting is an accompaniment for their yoga... it's something alien that we throw in to add a little spice. That's not what it is." Chanting is contemplative music that touches the soul and raises the heart to God.

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#26- Just Pleasures May 04, 2021

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent each choose three "pleasure-only" songs to share on the show.

From The Bangles to Lady Gaga, these picks are not guilty pleasures. These are the fun songs you listen to in your car, while you're lifting, or while drinking a Busch Light.

What songs do you listen to just for fun? Trent says, "If you're trying to win cool points, you're not doing it right."

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#25 - Les Paul: The Father of Multitrack Recording Apr 20, 2021

Scott, Karl, and Trent introduce us to the genius of Les Paul.

Best known for the solid-body electric guitar, Les Paul was a prolific inventor and tinkerer.

He also developed many of the techniques that formed the backbone of modern music recording, including multitracking, overdubbing, and tape effects. Scott says, "He's an interesting kind of genius because of the way it all came about."

Les Paul will always hold a special place in the pantheon of American musical greats. Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#24- Pop Pathos Apr 06, 2021

Have you ever thought about what makes a pop song tick?

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent analyze the lyrics in some of the biggest pop hits from different eras of American music.

The trio discusses the various levels a pop song can operate on. Trent says, "There are songs that have a subtext to them that belies their exterior... Pop songs can connect with people in a very immediate and visceral way, but can also open them up to the whole human experience."

Has pop music lyrics moved from submissive to obvious and banal? Tune in to more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#23- Instruments of the Orchestra Mar 17, 2021

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent talk about the different instruments of the orchestra.

A Symphony Orchestra is defined as a large ensemble composed of wind, string, brass, and percussion instruments and organized to perform classical music. Karl says, "It's one thing to have a melody, but really that's not where it's at. It's who plays the melody."

The trio dives into the different voices in an orchestra that can produce such a rich, well-blended sound. Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

What We Mention:

Two Set Violin

Sir Mashalot Bro-Country Mashup

#22- Rock 'N' Roll Pioneer Buddy Holly Mar 03, 2021

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent talk about the life and music of rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly.

Growing up in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy began his musical career singing country and western songs. Scott points out, "Buddy's love songs aren't the sad, lonesome songs like Hank Williams, but they are about interpersonal relationships, they have the same swagger, and he sings in the vernacular."

With his prominent, black-framed eyeglasses and too-big suits, Buddy Holly looked different than most rock stars. He looked like an everyman, and audiences identified with him. Karl sums it up, "Charm and a good heart, that's Buddy Holly."

While Buddy's career was cut short after a fatal plane crash, his legacy lives on. Tune in to learn more about the bespectacled '50s teen idol that taught Scott about romance. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#21- The World's Saddest Guitar Player: Roy Buchanan Feb 16, 2021

Known as ‘the guitarist’s guitarist,’ Roy Buchanan never attained any real fame or fortune during his lifetime.

As an American guitarist, blues musician, and pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan turned guitar tone into an art form.

As the first commercially successfully solid-body electric guitar, the Telecaster was able to produce extra power and muscularity that Buchanan tapped into.

Scott says, “It’s not just about the notes, he was trying to make the guitar cry.” Trent adds, “He’s searching for something when he plays, a moment in his solo where he hits on a certain feeling.”

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the sound and soulfulness that Buchanan is able to summon.

Karl says, “If it’s not tearing your heart out I don’t know what to do. The electric guitar is the most expressive instrument in the world today, except for the human voice.”

Tune in to hear more about Buchanan’s revolutionary sonic palette, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#20- Sh**ty Is Pretty: The Anatomy of Funk Feb 02, 2021

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the anatomy of funk music.

Trent opens, "Funk music is dirty, it's degenerate, and it's wonderful." Both highly danceable and hypnotic, funk music includes a mixture of soul, jazz, rhythm, and blues, but there's also a psychedelic element as well.

Scott says, “I love the aristocratic, regal, civil rights aspect to funk... I think that funk is probably one of a few music stylings that came out of the 20th century that made no attempt for crossover success. It’s a cultural time capsule.”

Trent adds, "It’s a celebration of Blackness.”

In the podcast, Trent references the article "Shitty Is Pretty: Anatomy of a Heavy Funk 45, Part 1." Author Gabe Roth writes, “When used in combination with good taste and a little giblet gravy, this guide will give you the basic tools to produce a highly potent Funk 45’.”

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#19- George Gershwin: A Leading American Composer Jan 19, 2021

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss George Gershwin, the celebrated American composer of Rhapsody in Blue, the opera Porgy and Bess, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Of Thee I Sing, and hundreds more songs that continue to be radiant examples of the Great American Songbook.

Gershwin's compositional career began as a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley, progressed through the theatres of Broadway and the concert halls throughout the U.S., ending far too early in the starry heights of Hollywood's glory years in 1937.

Karl says, "There’s a myth about Gershwin that he’s this untutored, unschooled rube who comes on the scene and then attempts to make classical music," which couldn't be further from the truth.

With his Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin brings two competing genres of music together, creating something that lived in a world between jazz and classical.

Trent believes this guy is the greatest melodist he has ever heard. Do you agree? Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#18 - Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Dec 21, 2020

Scott, Karl, and Trent explore Vince Guaraldi's timeless Christmas album, the soundtrack to "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the 1965 TV special based on Charles Schultz's iconic Peanuts comic strip. At once hopeful and melancholic, Guaraldi's breezy jazz soundscape captures the childhood innocence of the Peanuts cast while lamenting the loss of meaning in the increasingly commercialized Christmas season.

Tune in to hear more music and ideas— brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#17- Tracing the Origins of the Blues Dec 01, 2020

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent trace one of the most influential forces in music and culture: the blues.

The trio talks about the migration of the blues, starting from its origins in slave communities on plantations. As the blues extended its reach in the US, you'll find that each region imparted its own flavor and culture as jazz, gospel, country, and ragtime all fused with the blues in various combinations to create an endless variety of regional styles.

Trent explains, "It's actually a really unified art form when you think of it in those terms. Culturally, thematically, musically— it makes sense."

Karl adds, "It's a really cool style and family of music that grew out of unfortunate situations. It's a tribute to what the human spirit can do."

From Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters to Jelly Roll Morton, tune in to hear more music and ideas— brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#16- A Guide to Tuning and Temperament Nov 17, 2020

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent dive into a brief introduction of tuning and temperament: The math, the musical history, and the relationship of the theoretical with the practical.

The tuning of musical instruments is as ancient as the musical scale. Together, tuning and temperament is the adjustment of one sound source, such as a voice or string, to produce a desired pitch in relation to a given pitch, and the modification of that tuning to lessen dissonance.

Scott says, "Most of our Western music is built around the idea that there is a home... going away from this home key, this tonal center, instilling more or less tension, and resolving that."

The trio also talks through the problem with equal temperament and atonal modern music. Karl says, "It's floating, unrooted, occasionally interesting, but it never gets to a tonic center."

Why should you spend time trying to tell in-tune from out-of-tune? As Trent points out, understanding these concepts is key to understanding why you like the music you like.

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#15 - That High Lonesome Sound: The Evolution of Bluegrass Nov 03, 2020

This week Scott, Karl, and Trent examine the evolution of old country, folk, and gospel music into the distinctive, high-energy acoustic genre known as bluegrass.

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#14 - Masters of the Classical Period: The String Quartets of Haydn, Dvorak, and Beethoven Oct 22, 2020

Scott, Karl, and Trent explore the string quartets of the Classical period, which lasted from roughly 1730 to 1820, following the Baroque period and preceding the Romantic period.

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#13- An Introduction to Metal Oct 06, 2020

In this episode, the trio is joined by special guest Riley Hambrick to discuss the birth of metal music.

Trent says, "Metal, from the beginning, is concerned with matters of the soul. There's substance to it that's just not present in rock music."

The group discusses where rock and metal diverge, metal's classical influence, and the defining attributes of metal across its many subgenres. "Heaviness is the aggregate of all of those characteristics," according to Scott.

It's not an easy sound to produce. If you admire heavy metal, you know the level of musicianship is really high.

But what about it has attracted such a tribal group of metalheads? Trent says, “It’s exploring the ugly which is a part of the human experience. Because of that, it’s able to bring that catharsis because we’re going dark, deep, and ugly so that when we do resolve and get beautiful with the music, it’s much more powerful."

Karl later adds, “If you only cultivate one side of your personality, you’re leaving a lot of your soul untouched.”

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#12- Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys Sep 22, 2020

Known as the King of Western Swing, Wills formed several bands and played radio stations around the South and West until he formed the Texas Playboys in 1934.

The Texas Playboys' signature dance-floor style of Western swing encompassed blues, jazz, country, and pop standards. Trent adds, "This is the folk music of the European, Celtic peoples."

It's hard not to be happy when you listen to Bob Wills. Scott, Karl, and Trent dig into his early years, music style, and the influence he had on performers like Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and The Stranger.

Tune in to hear more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#11- Why Opera Doesn't Suck Sep 08, 2020

In this much-anticipated episode, Scott, Karl, and Trent dig into what makes opera music so great, and why you should give it a chance if you haven't yet.

Whether you’re completely new to opera or just need a refresher, you're bound to learn something new.

Opera shares a root with the Latin word 'opus' meaning "to work, effort." Scott says, "It's so tortured and so far removed from reality and normal ways of being, all to prove a point about the culture." Karl adds, "It's something that you probably ought to know something about, just because it's such a peak of human artistic work."

For many people, opera represents (whether this is understood positively or negatively) the very embodiment of “high culture.” But as Trent points out, "You're taking small, pedestrian moments and we're elevating their experience to the very height and grandiosity of the human experience."

From gateway pieces to start out with as a new listener to the basic types of voices you encounter in an opera, the trio covers all the bases. Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

What We Mention:

#10- Frank Sinatra: The Man, the Music, the Legend Aug 25, 2020

Also known as “Ol’ Blue Eyes," “The Chairman of the Board,” or simply as “The Voice,” Frank Sinatra was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century.

Scott, Karl, and Trent primarily discuss three of his albums, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, Sinatra at the Sands, and Sinatra–Basie: An Historic Musical First.

Although you can see similarities in Sinatra's vocal style to his idol, Bing Crosby, Sinatra had a patented approach to his music that is hard to replicate. Scott says, "He's telling you his story every single time when he's at his best. He does it in his own way, at his own speed."

In the span of six decades and 59 albums, Sinatra raised the art of romantic singing to a new height, an art form that seems to be lost in modern pop music. Scott adds, "He represents the end of popular music being created for and marketed to adults."

Writer David Hajdu once assessed Sinatra's career memorably: "To hell with the calendar. The day Frank Sinatra dies, the 20th century is over."

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#9- The Complete Works of Led Zeppelin Aug 04, 2020

This week, the trio discusses the work and legacy of a band you may have heard of, Led Zeppelin— one of the most popular and innovative rock bands ever.

Initially called the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 by English guitarist Jimmy Page before taking the United States by storm. In addition to Page, the group included vocalist Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham.

The band's blues roots frequently gave way to heavy folk, psychedelic rock, and orchestral detours— a testament to the group's versatility and willingness to push sonic boundaries. Scott says, "It's less about the technical difficulty and more about the aesthetic."

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#8- The Best of Hard Bop: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Jul 24, 2020

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent listen to Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers' most archetypal and popular album release, Moanin’.

Recorded in 1958 for the Blue Note label and released the following year, the LP was originally self-titled, but the instant popularity of the opening track "Moanin'" (by pianist Bobby Timmons) led to its becoming known by that title.

As some of hard bop’s signature tunes, expect to hear 40 minutes of improvisation, swinging rhythms, and an aggressive, driving rhythm section in the album.

Known for more than just his impressive drumming skills, Blakey was a mentor and talent scout for over 20 years. Scott says, “Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers was an important finishing school for jazz musicians.”

Tune in to hear more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

#7- Jazz Icon Miles Davis: Kind of Blue Jun 30, 2020

This week, Scott and Karl are joined by Producer Trent Jones to discuss the best-selling jazz record of all time, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. Recorded in 1959 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, this album brings together six other now-legendary musicians in the prime of their careers: tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb.

As a trumpeter, Davis is known for experimenting with "modal jazz" instead of the usual harmonic foundation of jazz. As Scott puts it, "he is deconstructing the art to seek some expression." Trent continues, "Structured music can push you to feel a certain thing whereas here, we are exploring. It's free-form. It's more in tune with the raw emotions and thought that is happening."

Kind of Blue has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz record, Davis's personal masterpiece, even one of the best albums of all time. If something gets the moniker of 'the best ever,' you have to wonder: is it famous for just being famous? As a Davis fan, Karl says, "It's a different type of jazz. It's been influential in all sorts of atmospheric kinds of music that floats around you."

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by Online Great Books.

#6- Jimmie Rodgers: America's Blue Yodeler May 26, 2020

In this week's episode, the trio discusses the themes and song stylings of the original blue yodels, a series of thirteen songs written and recorded by Jimmie Rodgers during the period from 1927 to his death in May 1933.

Known during his career as “The Singing Brakeman" and later "The Father of Country Music," Jimmie Rodgers created a defining rally cry for the Southern poor.

Jimmie's 1928 hit “T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1)” was a national phenomenon and generated an excitement and record-buying frenzy that no one could have predicted. The song has been covered by the likes of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Merle Haggard.

If you aren't attached to the nostalgia, Jimmie's yodeling may become a question of aesthetics. Of the music quality, Michelle points out, "There's no groove, it doesn't feel grounded."

Scott counters, "It's not about his musicianship. It's about the stories, his authenticity, his character, and that he represented a whole group of people."

Tune in to hear more music and ideas, brought to you by Online Great Books.

#5- The Legacy of Toto May 12, 2020

Did Toto create the most perfect pop song ever?

According to Karl, "You can uncover a lot more beauty in just regular old pop music if you shift your focus from that first hit that it gives you— listen a little deeper and you’ll find neat stuff.”

Although the three hosts disagree on the best Toto song, they all recognize that the shelf life of many Toto hits has reached remarkable, unexpected lengths.

In the second part of the episode, the gang breaks down Toto's "Africa," a single so good that it still lights up the Internet today. But have the memes gone too far? Scott says, “It’s become a symbol for excess in pop music and that hurts me a little bit.”

Tune in to hear more music and ideas, brought to you by Online Great Books.

#4- Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Major Apr 28, 2020

Scott, Karl, and Michelle listen to and discuss Johann Sebastian Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846-847. It is the first prelude and fugue in the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer.

What is a fugue? As Michelle points out, a fugue's purpose is, "to reveal, or to play, the exact same melody in all of the different predetermined voice parts." To Karl, Bach's Fugue is "like a conversation between four people.”

Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier is instrumentally indifferent, eliciting a universal appeal.

The shortcomings of the keyboard instruments of his time meant that he looked to instruments like the harpsichord and clavichord as kinds of “universal” instruments. After all, the instrument for the home was, in Germany at the time, the clavichord.

The trio first listens to a version by Friedrick Gulda on the clavichord. Later in the podcast, they listen to another version by Martha Goldstein, also performed on the clavichord.

Tune in to hear more music and ideas, brought to you by Online Great Books.

#3- Harmony in Chopin's Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 Apr 14, 2020

This week, Michelle, Scott, and Karl listen to the Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 by Frédéric Chopin in E minor. We are listening to the Nino Gvetadze version which you can access here.

As Michelle points out, "This is the clearest example of what happens when you put notes together and you just change them little by little." In other words? Harmony.

Harmony has the capacity to elevate a piece of music from common and predictable to challenging and sophisticated.

Whether or not you believe harmony to be its own form of rhetoric, Karl reminds us, "Being able to know what someone is doing makes your peaks higher.”

Tune in to hear more music and ideas, brought to you by Online Great Books.

#2- Louis Armstrong's West End Blues: Improvisation and the Blues Mar 31, 2020

Dear listener,

Where to begin with such an influential piece of music. Michelle believes, "This is about the blues, the blues scale, the blues feel, blues style and form. It's fundamentally what was groundbreaking about improvisation."

Karl's take? "It's about classical cornet method meeting the rest of that stuff."

They are of course referring to "West End Blues" written by King Oliver in 1928. By the time Oliver wrote "West End Blues," his protege, Louis Armstrong, had formed a studio band that recorded as either the Hot Five or Hot Seven, depending on its size.

You may know Armstrong for some of his later hits like "Hello, Dolly" and "What a Wonderful World" but "West End Blues" will always hail as a mile marker in the evolution of jazz. For starters, its 15-second opening cadenza has become one of the most influential and hard-to-copy solos in jazz history.

Tune in to hear more music and ideas, brought to you by Online Great Books.

#1- Brahms' Symphony No. 3: Music as Conversation Mar 17, 2020

Scott Hambrick, founder of onlinegreatbooks.com, Karl Schudt, and Michelle Hawkins launch this podcast at the only suitable place to start— with a melody.

Before tuning in to the podcast, go listen to Brahms' Symphony No. 3.

Michelle says, "This particular melody is not repetitive, it takes you on a journey that makes sense. It’s an unfolding of his thought process." Scott adds, "The thought process of the genius is more accessible when it’s music than reading what they’ve written."

In listening to Brahms' musical journey, the trio asks questions like: What is melody? Are you able to talk about sound without metaphor? Can music itself just be its own end?

If you have grown up on pop music, you may have not been exposed to these melodic sentences. This is a chance to expand your exposure and what you can delight in.

Why would you not want to have more things that are beautiful in your life?

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected