tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post6024258586329446424..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: What Charlie Haden’s Song Means to MeKen Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-78460822872502000112018-01-11T19:52:33.910+00:002018-01-11T19:52:33.910+00:00I read it myself, just now, right through, on the ...I read it myself, just now, right through, on the strength of your comment. It evoked some memories and a little emotional reaction. So I guess I did okay with this one. x<br /> Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-21671018113376605932018-01-11T16:22:53.325+00:002018-01-11T16:22:53.325+00:00Somehow I missed this one in 2014. Sad but lovely ...Somehow I missed this one in 2014. Sad but lovely words, sad but lovely version of the song.<br />xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-58078140722528897482014-07-17T16:13:07.357+01:002014-07-17T16:13:07.357+01:00I wasn't familiar either, but what a beautiful...I wasn't familiar either, but what a beautiful song. Your stories always elicit an emotional response, but I swear, for a moment, I could hear your Mother speaking and see where she was looking.hopehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03306622656461205674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-25991383775765341622014-07-14T07:48:22.930+01:002014-07-14T07:48:22.930+01:00Oh, Ken - I wasn't, until today, familiar with...Oh, Ken - I wasn't, until today, familiar with Charlie Haden's music or his voice at all. That song is very, VERY beautiful and hearing it in conjunction with such an emotional backdrop has really made me want to hear more & also to give you a hug! xKaren Redmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18368078023802765569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-49508975630618454802014-07-13T13:07:20.040+01:002014-07-13T13:07:20.040+01:00I don’t know Charles Haden, Ken. I know of Pat Met...I don’t know Charles Haden, Ken. I know <i>of</i> Pat Metheny but that’s about it. Jazz is an area of music I freely admit to being more ignorant of than I’d like to be. I like some jazz but I find it hard to explain to others what I like without putting on some CD and saying, “Like this.” It’s especially hard with musicians who’ve had long careers because I can’t simply say, “I like Duke Ellington,” and expect you to know which pieces by him I like. On the whole I’m not that fond of the big band sound but I love his <i>New Orleans Suite</i>. I love Dixieland jazz. Mostly I prefer small ensembles—piano, drums and bass, that sort of thing—and once you start using words like ‘fusion’ you can probably count me out although George Gershwin would be the exception there but that’s not what people mean when they talk about fusion. Free jazz is a mystery to me which is strange because I’ll sit and listen to all kinds of atonal and twelve tonal classical works but I don’t seem to have the same tolerance when it comes to jazz. Give me Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson or Thelonious Monk any day of the week though. If you’ve never seen the TV show <i>Treme</i> treat yourself. <br /><br />I don’t really associate any particular songs with my parents. My dad’s favourite singer was Bing Crosby and my mother’s was Gracie Fields although she was quite fond of early Ella Fitzgerald; she didn’t like her scat singing. I listened to some old reel to reel recordings from the sixties a while back. They were illuminating because basically Dad had just left the tape running and what we had recorded was what passed for normal day-to-day life in my parents’ home and the first thing you notice is how much both of them sang. There’s even a wee snippet of Dad having a go at ‘She Loves You’ only he does it in a rumpty-tumpty, jolly wee way that probably owes more to Eric Morecombe than Paul McCartney. Mum was always singing. She actually did do a fair-to-middling Gracie Fields. Dad’s Bing wasn’t so hot but he thought it was. They never had an ‘our song’.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-47129077407117137862014-07-13T11:15:25.415+01:002014-07-13T11:15:25.415+01:00A beautiful piece again Ken. Whenever you write ab...A beautiful piece again Ken. Whenever you write about your parents, the love certainly comes through, and reminds me of my own Mum and Dad and what they meant to me. Your words convey a depth of feeling without being mawkish. Thanks.Nigel Fathersnoreply@blogger.com