Tag: jazz

Posted on

The end-of-January blues

What are the end-of-January blues, you ask?

Well, they actually start way back in the stress and busyness of the holiday season.

Here at Ananda, we catch our collective breath from Christmas only to immediately begin preparing to celebrate Yogananda’s birthday on January 5.

After which it’s time to pull together the music ministry’s report of what happened last year and plans for the new year for the annual Sangha Outreach Ministries presentations the third week of the month.

Come the end of January we’re shifting into high gear with rehearsals for our annual performance of Christ Lives: An Oratorio, plus Ramesha and I are booking tickets for our springtime trip to Switzerland to see his family.

I realize that by the time February arrives — with its full calendar of activities — I feel like I’ve been falling behind since October, with no hope of ever catching up.

And that’s why I’ve got those end-of-January blues… Oh yeah! 🎺🎶

Posted on

Thelonious on my mind

It’s been too long of a day and I’m too sleepy to get into the back story of why the great jazz pianist and composer, Thelonious Monk, has been on my mind today.

It’s something really cool (to me, at least), but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meantime, I started re-listening to some of his recordings and thought I’d share this one with the legendary jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane. Exquisitely beautiful.

Posted on

What my soul was needing

I had no idea what Disney Plus was until I read a review for the new Pixar movie, “Soul,” and learned that Disney Plus was the only way to see it.

After a quick Google search to educate myself, I decided that it would be well worth signing up for the streaming platform just for that one movie alone. Then we got busy and “Soul” slipped off my radar…until tonight.

Which is an example of divine timing, because it was the absolute perfect ending to a challenging week, being literally what my soul needed.

What can I say? It’s not just that it’s all so extremely well done. It’s also that virtually every aspect of the story held a deep resonance for me — from band class and jazz clubs to metaphysics and family relationships — it all rang true.

And when it was over, I felt drained in that special way that happens when a movie really takes you on a journey, and you come back having had an experience that changed you from the inside out.

Please see it.