Jazz participation

In the last six or seven months, I've been trolling thru You Tube looking for jazz artists unfamiliar to me. In the process of doing so, I of course came across many who were already familiar to me. One tends to think of jazz being an American art form, however, it is played/sung in most parts of the world in many other unique ways.
We seem to be in a generation of 'ohs' and 'ahs', of the sensational. Back in the 60s and before there was one artist who was truly a genius. He was a pianist named Errol Garner. He not only created a whole new way of playing jazz piano, he was recognized all over the world because he was a genius. To back that statement, he could not read music! I hope anyone reading this will check out his playing.
Many of the European countries have great bands playing swinging big band sounds. To name a few, The Bohuslan Big Band (Sweden), The Oulu All Star Big Band (Finland), and the WDR Big Band (Germany).
There is a relatively new non-profit organization named Resonance Records out of Los Angeles. They have such stars as pianist Gene Harris, guitarist Andreas Oberg, and a piano wizard named Marian Petrescu. Then there are the vocalists like Viktoria Tolstoy (Sweden), Johanna Liveneinen (Finland) and Salena Jones (U.S.A.). She has a great rendition on You Tube backed up by the Hank Jones Trio playing in Japan. Also on Resonancce we have Cathy Rocco, one of the top jazz singers around today.
As I look down my list I can see some people I missed, and as I continue in the coming months I'm sure there will be many more new discoveries.
When Oscar Peterson passed away we all thought there would never be anyone to follow him...how naive that was.

CNN

While surfing the Net, I came to CNN. They had several clips on the crisis in Haiti. Attempting to view one of a 15 year old girl pinned between two concrete slabs alive, but just barely, I was expected to view an ad. The ad was for a body wash. I found this completely revolting! How can Americans expect to have real friends if this sort of thing continues?
Then there is minister Pat Robertson. He announced that Haitians brought all this upon themselves because they are under the power of the devil. Or a guy called Rush who questioned why Americans are expected to deliver aid to Haiti because 'we pay taxes'.
The White House commented saying how really sad it is that some people take such attitudes when humanity is in crisis.

Kanata Rangers

Great news! The Kanata Rangers are into the semi-finals. We were fortunate to see one of their games. When the players came on to the ice, it was like a swarm of hornets escaping from a disturbed hive...so fast!
Today is a cold but sunny one, ideal for going out to lunch, of getting outside to enjoy the fresh air.
We sometimes wonder if this is a fast food place...for cats! There are half a dozen feral cats we support, and during breakfast, they can count on a feast. The indoor cat here, Pusa, isn't so amused by all this. There are several homes on the street that feed these animals, it is like a buffet for them. We know they are cold, however, they are not skinny!
Now it is time for some online music via You Tube!

No Blue Mt.!

The plan was to go up and have lunch at Blue Mountain. After some banking, we noticed the vehicle shuttering, checking the tires proved they were fine. It turned that Blue Mt. Honda found the O ring on the drive shaft needed replacing. They were pretty impressive. Within 5 mins. they had the shaft out to show us the worn part, and in less than 1 hr. we were back on the road, deciding on Kelseys for lunch instead of the Mt.

Winter big time!

It's nice having days like this once in awhile, that is, being snowed in, talking to some incredible daughters on Skype while Belgian chocolate melts in my mouth. Any day now, the chocolate will be gone, replaced by some honey crisp apples, cold, crisp and juicy.
It's hard to believe that I'm sitting here next to a todo list with 9. items on it. Nothing very earth shattering there, but then that's the life of someone in the autumn of life.
This early in a new year, one tends to think about what's ahead for the rest of the year...how are things going to go?
In about a month, my participation in the project known at The Genographic Project, being carried on by National Geographic and IBM. They have my DNA at the University of Arizona at this point. Perhaps due to an illness four years ago, I have taken a deep interest in all life more than usual. Genetics, that is one field I find so very interesting. I always believed all life was somehow related. Just think, if everyone realized that, people everywhere would be helping instead of killing each other.

People say I spend too much time 'on the computer'. Does it not enable me to pursue my passion? One of mine is listening to big band jazz and solo artists e.g. Marian Petrescu, and Andreas Oberg. YouTube has been a wonderful source of discovery in this direction. Another thing I use it for is getting a wider perspective of what is going on in the news from all over the world, and without all the pesky ads.