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Intellectual House o' Pancakes Webdiary

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2003-10-08 - 9:36 a.m.

An astute reader remarked yesterday that my so-called music blog is turning into a regular ol' personal diary. To which I say "Yikes, that is correct."


Part of my day job involves reviewing new age CDs (hey it beats workin' the docks), and although much of the music classified as "new age" is pretty awful, there is definitely some worthy stuff out there. (And even the wince-causing light-jazz-world-fusion-muzak stuff generally has its heart in the right place).

An interesting discovery of late is clarinetist Tony Scott, who put out an album in 1964 called Music for Zen Meditation (and a follow-up called Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys).

This is very simple, uncluttered music with scant melodic tension. Scott's clarinet blends surprisingly well with bamboo flute and Japanese zither, creating a really heady sound.

Although the music on these albums isn't earth-shaking, I think it's cool that he was making records like this in the early 60s, before ambient music was an acceptable commodity, and before Zen was a household word in the West.

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