Hi, Everyone:

Here are a few new and recent items, each of which is set out in a little more detail just below my signature:

(1) - OSCAR PETERSON OFFERS A GENEROUS ENCORE!

(2) - A YOUNG ROBI BOTOS PLAYS "MILESTONES"

(3) - "MERCY" AT CHRISTMAS

(4) - FLUTIST, CLAIRE CHASE

(5) - SOME INTERESTING GIGS (...INCLUDING A RARE FLUTE & IMPROV CLINIC!....)

As always, please support live - as well as recorded - music,...whenever you can!...

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is." (Yogi Berra)

(1) - OSCAR PETERSON OFFERS A GENEROUS ENCORE!

This is a great clip of The Oscar Peterson Trio offering what is evidently a very generous encore, live and in concert in Denmark in 1964. It's a 9-minute version of C Jam Blues and is well worth watching, if only because the trio is so close together...It's a real "huddle"!...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTJhHn-TuDY

(2) - A YOUNG ROBI BOTOS PLAYS "MILESTONES"

The first item segues nicely into this next much shorter clip of a young Robi Botos in Hungary tearing up "Milestones" with a couple of his able, fellow countrymen. This is a stirring fragment of music and, even if you are already familiar with this particular clip, it warrants re-visiting! Here is the link for what is a 3-minute extract from Robi's piano solo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6CyNQIAIIE

(3) - "MERCY" AT CHRISTMAS

The last item also segues nicely into this one which is an idea for a "stocking stuffer" at Christmas; "Mercy" (which happens to feature Robi)...or you may want to substitute a CD by any other indie artist you care to favour and/or support!...

In any case, "Mercy" continues to garner quite good reviews, most recently, this one from Brent Black @criticaljazz. Here are both an extract and a link:

"I stumbled across Bill McBirnie while reviewing [a new] Four80East [album, Off Duty] which offered a rare find...for the more serious-minded musicians and fans alike...The Bill McBirnie Duo/Quartet and Mercy is...as technically proficient and artistically gifted as any flute recording to date...A hard-hitting swing combined with a stellar rhythm section takes this myriad of styles and bebop-infused genres to a totally different level...With a pristine sound and the skill and finesse of a surgeon,...you may have just found the best flute player to hit the scene in a quarter century." (Posted by Brent Black at 5:04 a..m., October 12, 2012 @criticaljazz) http://www.criticaljazz.com/2012/10/the-bill-mcbirnie-duoquartet-featuring.html 

Oh,...and you can find "Mercy" at CDBaby ( http://www.cdbaby.com/all/extremeflute  ) or you can download it at iTunes.

(4) - FLUTIST, CLAIRE CHASE

I recently learned that, of all things, a flutist was the recipient of a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Grant. I then learned that the flutist who received the grant was a certain, Claire Chase, of whom I had never heard before. So I went to her website to check out her work. Well, I recognized instantaneously that she is an absolute phenomenon on the instrument. She is unquestionably one of the best flute players I have ever heard in my life and, whatever I tend to look for in music, I hear in her work because she plays with such care, precision and spirit...Everyone should have a listen to her!...Here is the link to her website: http://clairechase.net 

(5) - SOME INTERESTING GIGS (...INCLUDING A RARE FLUTE & IMPROV CLINIC!...)

[ NOTE: You can always access a current/updated gig listing at this link: http://www.myspace.com/billmcbirnieextremeflute ]