Tag: ingrid jensen

Weeknotes S05 E01: Return of the Mack

Watch my flow.

WRITING:
Feels like the time of year where I feel I have the space and the spoons to start reconnecting with the writing world again. If past is prologue, it may not last long. But if I’m not here for a long time this yeear, let’s make it a good time!

It’s been a minute since I put up one of these. It’s also been a minute that I’ve been this consistent, with short fiction at least.

Screen shot of a Google calendar showing red banners on dates in June when I met a writing goal.

LISTENING:
It was also a week to splurge on music, apparently.

Why did I not know that one of my favorite trumpet players has been part of an all-star jazz band that’s put out 3 albums on Blue Note in the past 5 years until I saw this Tiny Desk Concert? You know I picked up their latest album ARBORESQUE the microsecond after I watched.

ARBORESQUE by Artemis on Blue Note Records

I’ll also throw my money at The Budos Band and their brand of Psych Funk for the End Times. BUDOS VII is not one to sleep on, folks!

I swear, you look at the tracklist for their last 2 or 3 records, and it reads like the table of contents of someone’s Weird Fiction story collection.

READING:
Came across this article on The 1970s “Filipino Invasion” of Comics, and it reminded me of a relative who was an artist himself with “I could’ve been a contender” stories about the days when he hung out with Romeo Tanghal and Whilce Portacio. But, as is typical, the good old days weren’t always good…

The Filipino Invasion has a complicated history: there’s the implied union busting and opportunistic underpayment, plus allegations that DeZuñiga, who served as a go-between for DC and the Philippines-based artists, skimmed a percentage off the top without DC’s knowledge. But none of that negates the beauty of the work that Filipino artists did in comics during this period (and continue to do!), or the importance of recognizing and celebrating their contributions.

If nothing else, I’ve kept a full book-reading dance card. On tap right now:

That’s all I’ve got right now.

Invisible Sounds

The album Invisible Sounds: For Kenny Wheeler by Ingrid Jensen & Steve Treseler has been in my rotation lately.

I got turned on to Jensen’s trumpet playing in the early 2000s, around the same time I got turned on to Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (or as he was known at the time, Christian Scott). Up until that point, I think it’s fair to say that just about any trumpet player in any genre I listened to on a consistent basis had been playing before Jensen or Adjuah were born. At least these days, I can say I listen to as much Maurice Brown or jaimie branch (Rest in Power) as I do Miles and Chet.

Invisible Sounds is a tribute album but I’m woefully ignorant of Kenny Wheeler’s music (or Steve Treseler’s for that matter). Jensen and her Freddie Hubbard-like playing is the draw for me here, though. So I’ll educate myself later, after I’ve worn the album out.