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Friday, June 6
Jazz Guitar [Music]
It must be something to do with turning 42 - the jazz guitar is getting to me. I really love Pat Metheny's new solo album 'One Quiet Night' [UK|US], which arrived Wednesday and has been playing near continuously. It's just Metheny playing new and favourite music on his new baritone guitar, quite unlike what BBC reviewer Peter Marsh calls "the airbrushed sheen of the Pat Metheny Group." (which I also love).
Wistful, peaceful, tonally rich, the music is perfect calming therapy. The range of the custom-tuned baritone guitar means there's a bass accompaniment to the melody, and even the track "Ferry Cross the Mersey" is delicious rather than out of place. As the BBC reviewer says,Late at night, with the rain beating against the windows, this is the kind of record that can send you to bed feeling that all's right with the world. In times like these, that's no bad thing. This isn't more 'Smooth Jazz' - this is heartfelt virtuosity.
The excellent Norah Jones also receives an accolade that I assume will thrill her. Metheny performs a very pleasant cover of 'I don't know why' from her album. My son just bought a copy of the Pat Metheny Group album 'American Garage' (on vinyl) from the Oxfam shop today and it's dated 1979, just to give you an idea how long Metheny has been a modern jazz master. But best of all (for Norah), Metheny's sleeve notes suggest this is now one of his three all-time favourite songs.
And finally, more joy - Metheny is performing tracks from the album on 'Later' (BBC 2, Fri June 6, 11:35pm).
posted at 1:23 AM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far)
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Thursday, June 5
Wednesday, June 4
Monday, June 2
Sunday, June 1
Distracted by the good? [PhotoTravel]
 As I mentioned earlier, all the family came with me to Copenhagen this week, where I was speaking at Dansk IT's annual conference - my topic was open source software. We found Copenhagen a beautiful, light and gracious city, with a population of largely gentle and charming people. I should probably post some of the other photos we took but instead here's the famous sculpture of 'The Little Mermaid'. Many Danes we met cringe to see this as the icon of their capital city, as it is a small and undistingished artefact at the periphery of the place, but it provides an interesting object lesson that I believe the open source community would do well to learn.
By using it as a token of the city, people largely forget that the place has over a thousand years of history, three magnificent royal palaces, the world's first 'theme park', eclectic and excellent dining and many other qualities. So too, by carping on about licenses and no-cost software, the open source movement has distracted the casual observer from the real qualities that make open source the future - great, more secure software, built by professional engineers in a collaborative way that fits more people's needs, and with the costs distributed and indirectly channelled.
Just as Copenhagen's statue was a good addition to their heritage but has become a burden, so maybe the phrase 'open source' is due for replacement, having served us all well for five years? Professor Benkler's [via Lessig] phrase "commons-based peer-production" says it well but is hardly snappy. Once people grasp the core of the concept, they often have an aha! moment. We need a new phrase that will prevent detractors from focussing on the ephemeral.
posted at 7:14 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far)
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