June 30

Over the years, I've been witness to some I consider craftsmen/masters. They seem to be always "doing the work." This doesn't mean being a workaholic. Balance is also key. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Characteristics such as consistency, steadiness, balance, persistence, unchanging, undeviating yet, selfless/egoless were obvious. They never seem to be seeking fame or reward and are undaunted and fearless about failure.

"Work alone is your privilege, never the fruits thereof. Never let the fruits of action be your motive; and never cease to work. Be not affected by success of failure."

Bhagavad Gita

Interview
Bill Evans discussing improvisation and the creative process


Creativity Exercise
DeBono's Creativity Workout #7 (pg 34)
Random Words - Combining Random Words to Deliver a New Value

Composition

Today I finally took action on a project I've thought about for a long time. I'm starting to write an etude book for trumpet. Just what the world needs right? Hahaha..well, I'm writing (hopefully) in my voice, the way I speak on the horn. So, there might be something there for someone to take a look at. But then again, it doesn't really matter. I just want to get this down on paper. Kind of "clearing process" for me.

Listening
Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations
Keith Jarrett - Live in Tokyo 1996

Movie
Syriana
Watched this movie probably 5-6 times already. One of the best geopolitical films I've seen. A little too realistic.

Reading
Effortless Mastery - Kenny Werner

Keith Jarrett - NY Times - Jazz Martyr
Keith Jarrett: Zen in the Art of Jazz
Michael Michalko, 100 Monkeys (Collective Unconcious)
Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
by Deon Du Plessis
An Enlightened Approach To Success
Kenny Wheeler Interview

Food/Drink
Having a new wine tonight from a company called Concha Y Toro (Sunshine - Merlot) and listening to Keith Jarrett. A great wine from Chile and the piano playing is pretty good too!

June 29

Reading
Was taking a look (again) at "Zen in the Art of Archery" today. This is probably the most important book I've ever read relating to playing my instrument. I recommend this book to anyone in the arts. As I read this book, I just substitute the word trumpet every time Herrigel uses archery.

"What is to be done? How does skill become "spiritual," and how does sovereign control of technique turn into master swordplay? Only, so we are informed, by the pupil's becoming purposeless and egoless. He must be taught to be detached not only from his opponent but from himself. He must pass through the stage he is still at and leave it behind him for good, even at the risk of irretrievable failure. Does this sound as nonsensical as the demand that the archer should hit without taking aim, that he should completely lose sight of the goal and his intention to hit it? It is worth remembering, however, that the master swordmanship, whose essence Takuan describes has vindicated itself in a thousand contests."

Zen in the Art of Archery - Eugen Herrigel, pg 72

Art
Wassily Kandinsky
I'm a HUGE fan of Kandinsky's work. I started reading this book of Kandinsky's today. This is a follow-up to his first book, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art." In these two books, he outlines the dynamics involved in his painting regarding texture, time, and even drawing parallels between color and musical pitches and the emotional effects.

"Composition V" 1911 - Wassily Kandinsky

Music
Chet Baker Interview
In college I really got into a deep Chet "thing." Probably lasted from 1980 to 1983 when I had moved to Washington, D.C. I was never into the stuff Chet did in the early years. I was very attracted to his playing just before he died. He spent all that time in Europe after having new teeth put in. I thought his playing in the later years had really changed. To my ears, his sound had become darker and more soulful. He was always a person that had a good balance of space in his melodic lines. I think in the later years, he had really mastered the use of space. His improvisations really remind me of a painting. His use of space along with the harmonic color and his vocabulary was very much like a painter.


Chet Playing Cherokee in Antwerp
I included this video cause it's nice to hear Chet "fly." A lot of people would be surprised to hear him playing like this on Cherokee. A lot of people only associate Chet with My Funny Valentine and other moody ballads. That's something I like about his playing. He could play as fast as anyone but, he wasn't the kind of player that felt a need to have to show you that all the time. Maybe cause he had reached such a level of maturity and detachment, he didn't have to be "up in your face."

I remember reading something pianist Hal Galper mentioned in the liner notes of a recording I was listening to a lot in the early 80's. Galper was talking about his time working with Chet in Europe. Galper talked about how Chet was a master at not playing too much.

"Chet always knew how to leave the audience wanting more."
Hal Galper

Performance at OPCM

Free Rein, a performance at OPCM on April 3, 2009 from mxxx palmer on Vimeo.

Poetry Reading: Ted Kooser


Stevie Wonder wrote this tune for Michael Jackson
I Can't Help It (Live)


Edward Elgar
I started looking into Elgar's life and music today. Here is a rare clip of him conducting his own incredibly famous "Pomp and Circumstance."
k

June 28

Sometimes I really love rainy days. Today was one of those days. Woke-up late today, got a good warm-up on the horn, ,did chi kung/yoga, had my blueberry/banana juice and talked with family. For me that's a great way to start the day. This old building I live in has one of those great tin roofs. I think they were especially made for rain. If it's one of those slow steady rains, there is kind of a rhythm to the sound of the rain landing on the roof. I spent several hours alternating between playing the trumpet, clearing/reading email that came in last week and checking out some new websites I've been introduced to. Here's a sampling of what I got into today.

Newsletters/Websites/Videos
Mind Map Inspiration
Murderous Musings in Creativity
Creative Liberty
Open Culture
Mycoted
Creative Education Foundation
Creativity Exercise Blogs
Kristina Dryza Official Website (friend of mine in Tokyo-SUPER creative!)
Futurethink
Futurethink Newsletters
NASA Newsletter
iconoculture
Creative Pro Newsletter
Creative Pro - "Mag Covers that Broke the Rules"
James Mahones' "Practice Portal" Blog (happy to call him friend)
Lateral Action
Creativity - Wiki
Creativity - Graham Wallas

Speakers at Google


Links for Creativity Sites on Creative Liberty
YouTube "Smart" Videos

92st Y
Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd
20th Anniversary of Sandman


FreeJazz
Got this book from Senzoku on Friday. Looks like it could give me more insight into the "free jazz" scene.



Yoga Journal
Count your blessings..have gratitude.


WebProNews
"Dow Jones Exec Describes Google as Digital Vampire"
Interesting reading the story and then the comments and trying to take the side of each one. A good creativity exercise I think.

Finally, around 9pm I decided to go into Ikebukuro for a jam session. Walked a few blocks from the house with my horn listening to Alex Jones' podcast and suddenly asked myself, "Why am I walking to the station, taking a 15 minute train ride, another 15 minute walk to the club and then have to pay $25 (¥2500) to get in and only play a couple of tunes?" So I turned around and took my horn back to the house. Just couldn't pay $25 to sit-in. That's why there really isn't any kind of good jam session scene in Japan where the musicians can come together as a community and hang and talk and play. The club owners want to "feed" off of us and continue to drain a group of people that are already struggling financially.

Went to Mister Donut and spent a couple of hours reading more about Victor Vasarely and doing exercises from DeBono's book, "Creativity Workout." Tonight I continued with some of the "random word" exercises. Did exercises related to "pairing", "grouping" and "connecting."

June 27

Started out today with a good work-out and a productive session on the trumpet.

Art/Photography
Went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography to see the "To the East - Travel and Photography in the 19th Century" exhibition. Saw some amazing photos.


Yebisu Beer Museum
An interesting way to finish off a trip to the Museum of Photography is with a little trip into the Yebisu Beer Museum. It's in the same complex as the Photography Museum. It's actually quite a good museum showing the history of beer-making in Japan. I noticed that most of the people didn't seem to want to look at the displays and video monitors showing the beer-making process. When I got to the end of the tour, I found out why. There is a nice size beer tasting room with "samples" for ¥300 and free munchies. Might have to stop in there a couple more times this summer.


Photography
Had my camera with me so while I relaxed in the big open spaces outside at Yebisu Garden Place, decided to try to get a few shots. There were tons of small children there and I realized how fun it can be to try and capture their unique moments.

June 26

Quote

"The painter passes through states of fullness and of emptying. That is the whole secret of art. I take a walk in the forest of Fontainebleau. There I get an indigestion of greenness, I must empty this sensation into a picture. Green dominates in it. The painter paints as if in urgent need to discharge himself of his sensations and his visions."

Christian Zervos and Pablo Picasso, "Conversations with Picasso"
Cathiers d'Art, 1935
The Creative Process, pg 59

Interview
Jon Hassell | Ambassador From the Fourth World

June 25

Art
Been reading and studying a lot the past couple of days about Vasarely's art. As I read about his development as an artist and his influences, it keep leading me deeper and deeper into areas that I had absolutely no knowledge. So, I've been checking out Constructivism, Ernest May, Super blocks, linear cities, urban design, kinetic art, op art, socialist realism, suprematism and geometric forms. Wow! It's amazing when you take one topic and just "go deep" with it, how many new things can be uncovered.







The OSA Group (Union of Contemporary Architects) was an architectural association in the Soviet Union, which was active from 1925 to 1930 and considered the first group of constructivist architects.

"Communal House of the Textile Institute (also known simply as Nikolaev's House) is a constructivist architecture landmark located in the Donskoy District of Moscow, Russia."

The Narkomfin Building is a block of flats in Moscow, designed by Moisei Ginzburg with Ignaty Milinis in 1928, and finished in 1932.
Photos (now in bad condition)

Social capital is a social science concept used in business, economics, organizational behavior, political science, public health and sociology that refers to connections within and between social networks.

social capital is anything that facilitates individual or collective action, generated by networks of relationships, reciprocity, trust, and social norms

Ernst May - Frankfurt Art & Architecture

Magnitogorsk
"According to original plans Magnitogorsk was to be inspired by Gary, Indiana and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the time the most prominent centers of steel production in the United States. It was to have followed the linear city design, with rows of similar superblock neighborhoods running parallel to the factory, with a strip of greenery - or greenbelt - separating them. Planners would align living and production spheres so as to minimize necessary travel time: workers would generally live in a sector of the residential band closest to the sector of the industrial band in which they worked." - Wiki


Communal House of the Textile Institute - Wiki

Victor Vasarely Website

Recording
Marcel Duchamp
The Creative Act (1957)
read by the author
A paper presented to the Convention of the American Federation of the Arts at Houston, Texas, 1957 (Click here to listen)

“All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments.”

The Medium is the Massage

Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore

Music
Bela Bartok - Solo Violin Sonata


Creative Thinking
Edward DeBono talks on lateral thinking


Tony Buzan on "mindmapping"


Live Music/Exhibition
Went to see/hear the Morgan Fisher/Pascal D'Aboyer photo exhibition/LIVE tonight at Super Deluxe in Azabu. Later, went over to What the Dickens in Ebisu and "sat-in" with Derek Short's band.

June 24

Music
Had a fun gig last night with the Jeff Curry Trio at the New Marunouchi Building in Tokyo. It was great playing again in a piano-less trio. No offense to all the piano players I know. It's been a while and felt good. Harmonically, I like that freedom. Also, it felt comfortable to play flugel in that group with the wood bass and wooden drums and in a large open space. Tone of the instruments seemed to match up well. I need to consistently play in a group like that because maybe sometimes I rely a little too much on listening to piano players for the form. When playing in this type of trio I sometimes feel like I get lost in the form or am on the edge. That used to bother me a lot more than it does these days. I just figure if we lose the form, that's how somebody on the bandstand was hearing it and let's go with that. It used to be a source of tension and stress. These days, my thinking has completely changed about those things. I love a quote I heard yesterday...

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."

Ken Robinson

Art
Living in Tokyo? If you're into going to museums, you have to use Tokyo Art Beat's handy little guide to the Tokyo Art Scene.

Tokyo Art Beat Website
Tokyo Art Map (download) PDF

Powered by Tokyo Art Beat

Magazines
I've enjoyed Z magazine because of the wide spectrum they cover. Just scanning through magazines like this can open up some new areas of thought.



Exercise
Doing a new yoga pose today. Great for stretching knees, legs and ankles. Been having a lot of pain in my left ankle recently. Sometimes it has been difficult to walk. Going to the doctor SOON!
Utthita Parsvakonasana


Movie
Saw a great 1954 Japanese movie today at Shin-Bungeiz theater in Ikebukuro. They're having a film festival celebrating the work of Kyo Machiko. The name of this movie was Shunkin Monogatari (The Story of Shunkin).
Shin-Bungeiza Theater



Misc
Sat in a cafe doing some DeBono random word exercises tonight. Did one called "double effect." The results were really surprising.

June 23

Book
Kenny Werner - "Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within"

Just ordered another copy of this book. Loaned it out a few years back and the student is still "AWOL." Not much I can say about this book except...GREAT!!!!! This book isn't only for "players." It's for anyone on the path to "mastery" in their life. Can really unlock some creative doors....



Music/Video
One of the great creators and individual voices on saxophone and in music, Stan Getz, playing with a couple my favorite musicians, pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington:



Creativity/Video

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."

Ken Robinson

Tai Chi
Until now, I've been studying chi kung (qigong), yoga and bagua. My chi kung practice has been a long "intro" to tai chi. I'm interested in these arts for the "energy work", health benefits, and being able to use the relaxation techniques used in fighting while playing the horn. One of my favorite musicians, Woody Shaw, was known to actually stop playing in the middle of a solo if he felt too much tension in his body and break into a tai chi pose for immediate relaxation. I think the tension he felt was a distraction from his creative process.

Tai chi is a martial art, a fighting art. I think a lot of people completely overlook that fact and look at tai chi as some kind of a dance. For me, the deeper meaning of tai chi is generating chi (ki) in and around the body. But as I watch the tai chi form being done on this video, I'm once again reminded of the importance of SLOW practice. This is what I'm trying daily to incorporate into my trumpet practice. I've found 3 great schools in Tokyo to study tai chi and am excited to get started.



Tai chi on wiki

June 22

Exercise
Yoga and Chikung this morning and again tonight.


Trumpet
Long slow warmups
Reviewed several Brandt etudes
Played tunes tonight (runnin' keys)

Books
Pumping Ions - Tom Wujec
Did some visualization and random word exercises

Creativity Workout - Edward DeBono
Random word exercises related to some future photography projects I want to do.

Music
Listening to:
Samuel Barber - Piano Concerto Op. 38
Stravinsky - Firebird

Podcast
Alan Watt - Cutting Through the Matrix
June 19 Podcastra

June 21

Books
Couldn't resist going to the used book sale at Book-Off in Shirokanedai yesterday. Couldn't believe it! I got all this stuff for about $10! Picked up a couple of great little things:

I'm collecting and reading/studying all of DeBono's books now. Great ideas on creativity..especially "lateral thinking."

***See the documentary below***

I had kind of forgotten how much I used to enjoy looking at mind-bending illusions.

I was lucky to find 2 old issues of my favorite magazine right now.

I'm really looking forward to spending some time in this book and studying about one of my favorite composers!

Documentary
I was amazed/shocked the first time I saw this documentary. In fact, this is one of the things that started me a mission for the past 3-4 years to get down to where the "rubber meets the road" regarding the reality of the world we live in and the one that is being presented to us..hahaha..talking about mind-bending illusions!

"The Corporation"
***see the book above***


Random Word
Spent some time sitting in a cafe at the bookstore this evening and doing some random word exercises that I saw recently in Tom Wujec's book, Pumping Ions.

June 20

Healing/Creativity
In 1992, I was on a search for healing materials (books/videos/foods/herbs/etc). I had been through 6 months of cancer surgeries and radiation treatments. I lost 50 lbs. and had no energy. I remember getting out of bed and putting on my shirt and pants and being so exhausted that I just went right back to bed. I was on a mission to find something to help me restore my energy and also to keep my mind quiet and relaxed. After a lot of searching, I found the sound table.

My table was built in California by a group of doctors who were interested in creating profound states of relaxation and healing at the cellular level in the body. They also composed/recorded music that included certain frequencies that would cause the maple frame of the table to vibrate/resonate. To lay on this table (even without the music) was such a relaxing experience. However, they built speakers into the table. Basically I was laying on the speakers (embedded into the top of the table).

I had many friends and family try the sound table and everyone was amazed at the experience. After 30 minutes on the table, I felt like I had just woken from an 8 hour sleep. It really was a profound experience. I felt like it really was a turning point in my recovery process.

My sound table is in storage at my parents house in West Virginia. I hope to bring it to Tokyo in the near future.

Now that I'm many years into the recovery process, I would continue to use the table on a daily basis if I had it in Tokyo. Because of the deep state of relaxation you can achieve, and the fact that music can be played through the table, I feel like the table is a great tool for the creative process......

June 19

" A student visited a Zen master to ask him about Zen. As is the custom, the master served tea. He poured the student's cup to the brim, and then kept on pouring. The student looked on with astonishment as the tea overflowed and finally he said, "The cup is full. No more will go in." The master stopped pouring, looked at the student, smiled, and said, "Like the cup, you are full of your own ideas, opinions, and speculations. How can I teach you until you empty your cup?"

Tom Wujec, "PUMPING IONS" pg 217

June 18

Photos
Went to Kita-Sakado this morning to photograph the rice fields. I always enjoy May-June in Japan, not only because of the weather but, also enjoy rides in the countryside and seeing the flooded rice fields.

Only slept about 3 hours last night before leaving the house at 5:30am this morning. When I got home from Saitama this afternoon, I spent a couple of hours uploading my RAW files and practicing trumpet. Then I slept about 6-7 hours. Didn't do much today. Watched an old Gene Hackman movie, The Domino Principle, when I woke-up this evening.

June 17

Listening
Podcasts
I really like the Lenswork podcasts and magazines because its all related to the creative process. Not much info about photographic technique.
Lenswork #535 Examining Our Habits
Lenswork #536 Repeat After Me

What It Means To Be Human - "Biological Colonialism" podcast
On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, bioethicist Wesley J. Smith examines the biological colonialism that has come in the wake of the devaluation of human life. With the rejection of human exceptionalism, we now have the commoditization and exploitation of the body parts and functions of the poor, effectively treating human beings as mere natural resources to be exploited and/or harvested. Listen in and learn what it means to be human -- and why it's so important.
Text

What It Means To Be Human - "Granting Rights to Plants in Switzerland"
An ethics panel in Switzerland is considering granting rights to … plants. On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, Wesley Smith, Discovery Institute senior fellow in human rights and bioethics, looks at how Switzerland's enshrining of "plant dignity" is a symptom of a cultural disease that has infected Western civilization, causing us to lose the ability to think critically and distinguish serious from frivolous ethical concerns.


Gymnast Shawn Johnson Put To Sleep After Breaking Leg

Bill Moyer's Journal Vodcast - Talks with Robert Reich
June 12, 2009
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich sits down with Bill Moyers to talk about the influence of lobbyists on policy, the economy, and the ongoing debate over health care.

New Juice
Blueberry/Cantalope


I know..I know..it's blank. Give me a couple of days...a new song is on it's way..^_-

Exhibition
Went to see the Ryoichi Aratani Photo Exhibition at the Canon Gallery in Gina. He is a great photographer who is always around the Yokohama jazz club, Airegin, taking photos of musicians. What I surprise I got when I arrived at the exhibition. Aratani-san had one of my photos displayed at the entrance to the gallery along with 3 or 4 others throughout the exhibition. In addition, he had a copy of Photocon magazine June '09 issue sitting on the table. Photocon had a few of Aratani's photos from the exhibition in the this month's issue including one of mine. Aratani will move his exhibition to Fukuoka, Japan in July.





Photocon Magazine
http://www.photo-con.com/
http://www.photo-con/0906/index.html


HPGRP
Went to the hrgrp gallery in Aosando (between Aoyama & Omotesando) to see Miki Kubata's exhibition. Very cool, very unusual. hrgrp is a very nice space.

Reading
LensWork May-June 2009 Issue
Brooks Jensen
Editors Comments
Ten Motivations
"From time to time, we all need motivation to keep a project moving-or more commonly, to break the inertia of inactivity. Here are some ideas to get moving and finish your photography projects."

DeBono-Lateral Thinking
Difference between vertical and lateral thinking:

Rightness is what matters in vertical thinking. Richness is what matters in lateral thinking.
DeBono-Lateral Thinking, chapter 2 pg 37

Art
When I met Tommy-G at Aratani's exhibition, he told me about a great artist in Kyoto, Japan. Her name is Rie Mandala and you can see some of her work on flickr.




Rie Mandala's Art
http://www.flickr.com/photos/riemandala/




CONGO
Check-out my friend CONGO (sax). Sometimes we play together at Airegin in Yokohama. He is extremely passionate about the music and so creative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txLf5wGeG1g&feature=related


Photography
A few photos I took yesterday and today....