Picto Diary - 01 to 11 February 2022 - Big Band Jazz
Above: Powder Mountain Ski Resort. Weber/Cache Counties, UT. 01 February 2022.
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Continuing in my quest in skiing at first time venues. Triggered by Daggett to join him. Largest ski resort in North America as measured by skiable acres. Two to three mile long green/blue runs. Very interesting ski experience. Grooming is extensive. I'd like to understand their grooming strategy and labor/capital commitment. The resort has attracted avant-garde housing development. Sadly, missed getting an image of some of the modernistic homes along the ski runs. Year to date resorts skied: Deer Valley, Brian Head, Lee Canyon, Powder Mountain.
Above: Dog in the Desert. Ivins, UT. 01 February 2022.
Image by TIMDT.
Above: Drums at shooting practice. Park City Gun Club, Park City, UT. 04 February 2022.
Sig Sauer P365, HK 45 semi-automatic pistol.
Above: Freddie and Granny walking in the desert. Ivins, UT. 04 February 2022
Above: Lot 1. Snow Park Lodge. Deer Valley, UT. 06 February 2022.
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Image taken from Navigator, 5x. Samsung smart phone.
Above: Coffee with whole milk. First Trax Coffee Bar. Stein Eriksen Lodge, Deer Valley, UT. 07 February 2022.
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Marky Mark (don't get in my way!)
Small coffee with whole cow's milk, please. As opposed to cream, half and half, 2%, skim, almond milk yada... the other options among which I was asked to choose.
Cold, hard, slick snow. Catch 22: You have to speed up if you want to avoid being upended by the slick. New snow (none in sight) will alleviate this problem.
Above: Stockli Laser SC World Cup skis. Stein Eriksen Lodge, Deer Valley, UT. 08 February 2022.
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1st time I use my new Stockli Laser SCs.
After one day of using these skis, I am incredulous. Much better edge on the groomed hard snow surface. Why? I'm guessing that there are two reasons. 1. The SCs are eight millimeters narrower than the Stockli Laser AXs I've been skiing on year to date. The narrower ski changes the physics. When I angulate on the turns, the edge on the narrower ski is going to bite at a sharper angle to the slope. 2. (And probably most important) It has been some time since the AXs have been tuned. Likely the edge was not that sharp giving rise to a lot of the slip sliding that has discombobulated me in the cold, hard snow this year. I'll get the AXs tuned and see if that makes a difference. Meanwhile, seeing that the SCs gripped the way they did, my confidence levels on hard, skied off snow turns, has made a great leap forward!
Above: Platinum Sound Studios. Bountiful, UT. 09 February 2022.
We are Arts Patrons for the recording of nine, big band jazz numbers, eight of which are composed by Utah composer, Jay Lawrence. Lawrence arranged all of the tunes, one of which is a Brazilian standard
In a pure, market oriented world, customer and listener dollars dictate what music succeeds and what music doesn't. Fortunately, ours is not a pure, market oriented world when it comes to music production. Arts patronage supports much of the music we enjoy, which would not otherwise be available in high quality produced recordings or live performance.
In the market world of music, rapper Snoop Dog makes millions of dollars. The Utah Symphony and Opera, on the other hand, derives only a third of its budgeted expenses from market ticket sales or recordings. The rest of the ensemble's budget must be obtained from donations... or arts patronage. Thousands of musicians could never survive if their livelihood depended on the market alone. Arts Patrons, for which serious musicians as far back as Bach have been indebted, are required to support many highly talented musicians who perform in selective or traditional music genres... big band jazz, classical etc.
We believe in promoting musical excellence in jazz and big band jazz in Utah, which couldn't exist if dependent on market forces alone. This is the second time we've helped, as Arts Patrons, Utah based Jay Lawrence complete a musical production. The first was in 2016 when I was Executive Producer of Jay's album, "Sonic Paragon," recorded in Brooklyn, NY. Jay brought in some of the top musicians in the world to help him with his jazz combo Brooklyn recordings. These included such top-notch musicians as saxophonist Harry Allen and bassist John Patitucci.
The current effort is a big band production which will include such world-renowned artists as flutist, Nestor Torres. That world class musicians will join Jay to make his music is testimony to Jay's compositional talent. In the image, the pianist, seen through the glass into the soundproof recording studio, is Kurt Reeder, currently based in Champaign-Urbana, IL. There are nine numbers to be recorded. Jay arranged all of them. Eight of the numbers are original Jay Lawrence compositions as well. One of the numbers is a Brazilian standard. In the image, world class sound engineer Michael Gibbons sits at the sound mixing board. Composer Jay Lawrence is at right. Jay has secured the collaboration of Dee Daniels and Clarice Assad (both on You Tube) for the two vocals on the album.
A full, big band orchestration of the nine tunes will take place in Platinum Sound Studios, Bountiful, UT, through end March of 2022, with none of the twenty or so big band instrumentalists ever playing together. Each instrumentalist will record his own part from the soundproof recording room while listening to the work in progress mixed recording of all the instrumentalists who have preceded him. An instrumentalist might record four or five versions of any given eight bar segment. As the recording is being made, the instrumentalist, the composer and the sound engineer will banter back and forth about which of this or that version sounds better. You'll hear jargon like this: "I'll roll bar 64 and get 65. That was a perfect transition." When the recording is done, the sound engineer will insert that recorded segment which they (sound engineer composer, and instrumentalist) liked best into the full recording.
The mixing software used by Michael Gibbons, the sound engineer at Platinum Sound Studios, is Pro Tools produced by Avid.
Above: Selfie (see me?) in Sprinter post skiing. Deer Valley, UT. 10 February 2022.
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Warmer temps, softer snow. Epic on Peeler and Orion.
Above: Freddie and friends. Park City Dog Park, Quinn's Junction, Park City, UT. 10 February 2022.
Above: Futsal. Timpanogas Jr. High School, Heber City, UT. 10 February 2022.
Above: FeeBee and TIMDT at Futsal. Timpanogas Middle School, Heber City, UT. 10 February 2022.
Above: Selfie. Keetley Run above Mountaineer Lift. Deer Valley, UT. 11 February 2022.
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Addendum:
Steve,
That...to steal a phrase from the young folks...is gnarly. Also, I wasn't totally clear on who has the Newfoundland dog, but we've had three and they are amazing animals.
Take care out there! And heal quickly.
Best Wishes,
Patrick,
Seattle, WA
Steve,
As an FYI, for both you and Mr. Z3, you can have stone crab claws overnighted from Joe's. I've done it several times, but now actually order from an outfit called George's. Same quality, but about 20% cheaper.
Tal,
Atlanta, GA
Sorry to see you're injured Steve. I'm confident you will bounce back - stronger than ever!
Best regards,
Biker Jewelry,
Albuquerque, NM
Don't take me down Lucky Bill. Not a chance. See you in a couple of weeks.
Johan Palmstruch,
Atlanta, GA
Dear Steve,
Sorry to see your injury. Looks like the cut was pretty deep. Was it form a skiing fall or from your motorcycle?
Beautiful pictures of your favourite ski runs etc.!
Chris,
Geneva, Switzerland
Oh dear. Please take care Steve.
Mohan,
New Delhi, India
Love the gash on your arm! Hope you’re okay!!
Golf,
Park City, UT