Joseph Shaker

Portrait

Taken from our Egypt to visit family last January. I know my eyes are sealed shut but it was very Bright

Jimi Hendrix’s Music

Since it wasn’t loud enough in class, I’ll post a few of his songs here

Discography

Are You Experienced (1967)

Axis as Bold as Love (1967)

Electric Ladyland (1968)

Famous songs include All along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover), Purple Haze, Voodoo Chile, Hey Joe, Red House, Foxy Lady

Here is My favorite musically and my favorite Politically

Star Spangled Banner (Live 1969 @ Woodstock)

I really cant stress enough how awesome the sounds he made yet how bold this was. I can screaming and bombing and crashing in it. But the other distrubing thing, to me, was that after the noises he made with “Rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air”, he played taps, a funerary song and then He played the later section much more distorted than he played the first section. As if to say something was lost(?) What do you guys think?

Little Wing (idk what the vid is but its the only version thats free online)

Released on “Axis as Bold as Love”

https://vimeo.com/125588239

Jazz at Lincoln Center

Last night I had the special pleasure of seeing one of my favorite trumpet players (Wynton Marsalis) and one of my favorite piano players (Brad Meldau) covering the genius work of Thelonious Monk. Monk’s work was characterized by huge intervals, complex syncopation, and resolutions in bizarre places and the band represented all that perfectly. Monk was also genius at playing chords that were not technically complicated but fit with the melodies in a complex way.

I was honestly a bit skeptical that a big band was performing small, 4 or 5 piece jazz music but the execution was perfect and they used the extra horns to write their own counter melodies and harmonies.

For the most part they sounded organic and fed off one another during improvisation, but my one complaint is that sometimes the performance felt “too polished” or too intricately composed and a bit less free flowing than I would have liked. I guess thats what happens when there are 20 on the stage instead of 5. It didn’t have that “raw” feel to it. Of course, I am sure they chose to be polished and I am just disagreeing with their choice

What was really crazy though, is that they brought in a child progidee pianist Joey Alexander (who is 12!!!!) from Bali to perform two songs with them. And, if I was listening to a CD and I heard his playing, I would guess he would be a veteran of 40 or 50 years. It was funny to see hi mask for the stool to be raised about 3 times before playing and then completely blowing me away.

For those of you who don’t listen to Jazz, I would suggest listening to some songs from the program, these are some of the definitive classics. Monk’s style of harmony is widely imitated by artists after him.

My favourite where Criss Cross, Ugly Beauty, and Brilliant Corners, but I enjoyed every piece

Interesting Areas in Harlem

I often times walk around in Harlem to explore the area and I have found the area East of St. Nicholas Ave is much more lively than the area near CCNY. Two places in particular I enjoy are Adam Clayton Powell Square (Adam Clayton (7th) and 125th) and Paris Blue (Adam Clayton and 121).
In the square I have found once to twice a week there are usually out door African drum performances, and I am sure they will taper down as it gets colder.
At Paris Blue there are free live jazz/blues shows starting from 830-9pm nightly.

Snarky Puppy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJIgTLe0hc&index=6&list=RDL_XJ_s5IsQc

I think you guys might like this. They are a huge jazz big band full of really talented musicians. They released an album called “Family Dinner”. In this album the stepped away from writing very complicated jazz instrumentals, and instead rearranged a variety of old songs and had the original vocalist come in and record.

This is one of my favorites from that album. I really like how you can feel and see the energy in the room and it (in my opinion), isn’t just complicated for complicated’s sake, rather it serves an artistic purpose.

My name is Joseph Shaker, I am the son of two Egyptian immigrants and I grew up on Long Island. I plan on majoring in Electrical Engineering. I went to Egypt last winter and it was awesome to see my family and the ancient temples, but it was also interesting to compare how the media portrayed it to how it actually is.

I will enjoy this class and for the art and performances but I am a bit intimidated about the deep analysis required. With the exception of music, I haven’t learned to sit down and analyze art; I just enjoy it.

I have played guitar since middle school. I began playing blues and rock but as my tastes evolved I embarked on a deep journey into jazz and all the bizarre yet interesting theory and chords involved. I started running live sound systems since 9th grade. Last summer, I was offered an opportunity to intern at a recording studio in Lynbrook. There I learned the fundamentals of microphone placement, basic recording techniques, and a variety of software that allow people to correct rhythmic or melodic mistakes from the performance. I especially enjoyed that through our work, we took ideas and thoughts and materialized them into something physical, a CD. I worked on bits and pieces of 3 different albums and would like to show you when they are done. I still work part time on the software side.

I my free time listening to and writing music, playing chess, exploring the city, walking over bridges (GWB, Triboro, 59th St, they all have stunning views), or looking up fun yet useless facts.

One difficulty I have is that my 3 interests, music, physics, and math are divergent from one another. There aren’t many jobs where I can use my apptitude for math and science (which I thoroughly enjoy) with or for music (my passion). I have considered trying to get a job designing microphones but I am not sure. The other plan would be doing active research and development, working on radical new ideas such as the “Hyperloop”