A Train and a Hawk
June 21, 2018
For my birthday, my friend Curt got me a few records that I have really enjoyed. The one I’ve listened to most is called Night Train, by The Oscar Peterson Trio:
Listening to it on YouTube, it sounds… okay. But on vinyl (and through better speakers than my laptop’s), it sounds amazing (am I an audio snob now? not yet, but working on it…). I like to play it while I’m working, and even if I’m doing something extremely boring and tedious, it makes me feel like I’m being super cool.
Somehow, that led me to this album of jazz saxaphone ballads, The Hawk Relaxes, by Coleman Hawkins:
When I was younger, I devoted a lot more time to deconstructing music, reading lyrics and liner notes, and really getting to know certain artists and albums. I have less time to devote to that now, and if I want music in my day, it is often as a background to the rest of life. These albums both fit that bill well.