PRR/Conrail Juniata Division Engineering Report

[sirenwerks]

They might not even get 867-5309.  The again, I get befuddled when I am given a text-based phone number that I need to dial with my cell.  When will people realize those are dead?

[eric220]

They might not even get 867-5309.  The again, I get befuddled when I am given a text-based phone number that I need to dial with my cell.  When will people realize those are dead?

Fun fact: if you're ever traveling and find yourself in need of a phone number for the local hardware/grocery/etc. store's discount card, chances are very good that some joker set up a rewards account with that number and the local area code. Instant discounts.

[Missaberoad]

Fun fact: if you're ever traveling and find yourself in need of a phone number for the local hardware/grocery/etc. store's discount card, chances are very good that some joker set up a rewards account with that number and the local area code. Instant discounts.

Only problem I'd have is I'm not sure I'd be able to say it without the Niniiiiine... 

[chicken45]

Lee, I got it, but again we are from a different era so for us, Pennsylvania 6-5000 makes more sense  The younger crowd would not understand that PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is 736-5000, like you mentioned it's the phone number of the Penn Hotel. Just like my old phone number would have been UNion 9-5821.  In the US, the demand for telephone service outpaced the alphanumeric system, which lead to the area codes and the 10 digit number system we have today.

No. The actual problem is that, a lot of people HATE jazz from that era because of what it represents. It lost its soul when the record companies wanted to cash in on it.  It's the Starbucks of jazz. That's how and why Bop happened. The musicians wanted to take solos and express themselves, and the idiot public didn't like it because the solos they played live "weren't like what was on the record." The players got pissed and frustrated so they made complex and technical music that could. It could not be easily "canned and sold."
Me? Sure. Who doesn't love "In the Mood" but BAH GAWD his other syrupy stuff makes me want to hurl. Give me Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, or Nelson Riddle any day!

[nickelplate759]

Fun fact: if you're ever traveling and find yourself in need of a phone number for the local hardware/grocery/etc. store's discount card, chances are very good that some joker set up a rewards account with that number and the local area code. Instant discounts.

What if the clerk doesn't think you could pass for Jenny?

[chicken45]

What if the clerk doesn't think you could pass for Jenny?

[davefoxx]

"Jenny, Jenny, you're the car for me . . ."

[chicken45]

"Jenny, Jenny, you're the car for me . . ."

For some reason 15555 just wasn't a catchy song title...or even a real phone number!

[Blazeman]

Beechwood 4 5 7 8 9...any old time.

[Rich_S]

No. The actual problem is that, a lot of people HATE jazz from that era because of what it represents. It lost its soul when the record companies wanted to cash in on it.  It's the Starbucks of jazz. That's how and why Bop happened. The musicians wanted to take solos and express themselves, and the idiot public didn't like it because the solos they played live "weren't like what was on the record." The players got pissed and frustrated so they made complex and technical music that could. It could not be easily "canned and sold."
Me? Sure. Who doesn't love "In the Mood" but BAH GAWD his other syrupy stuff makes me want to hurl. Give me Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, or Nelson Riddle any day!

Josh, Maybe a lot of people from your generation, but my father who grew up listing to Glenn Miller on the radio in the 1940's happens to like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey, to name a few. Also most people from that era would classify the Big Bands as Swing not Jazz. Now if you want to talk about Jazz, you're talking about Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.   

[chicken45]

Josh, Maybe a lot of people from your generation, but my father who grew up listing to Glenn Miller on the radio in the 1940's happens to like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey, to name a few. Also most people from that era would classify the Big Bands as Swing not Jazz. Now if you want to talk about Jazz, you're talking about Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.

This can get real deep real quick. I will say my initial comment was a bit tongue in cheek to harass Lee, while touching on deeper historical meaning.

I'm 32. I'm a millennial. I came of age during the swing revival of the late 90's/early 2000's. I'm also an amateur trombonist. I've played in a local jazz band back home with band directors, and in college, I was in the intermediate jazz band at Penn State (Inner Dimensions). I also took a semester of jazz studies. I'm also a member of the "Tom Mann and his Menn " jazz trombone trio.  I am not bringing all this up to toot my own horn (get it?), but to establish credibility to talk on the subject.

Jazz is commonly defined as a performance containing improvisation that conveys a jazz swing feeling. There are several definitions of jazz, but I'll get to that later.

Most jazz from the 30's and 40's is called swing music, and that time in history is known as the swing era, and the big band era. Swing music contains elements of improvisation and has that swing rhythmic lilt so, swing is jazz, unequivocally.  Basie and Ellington are most associated with swing, and Dizzy was bebop.

Swing and hard bop are probably my two favorite jazz styles, but...there is a level of cheese in some of the music in that era. It became about the money instead of the art. The ignorant public made it worse in that they wanted the live band to sound like it did on the record...meaning...NO IMPROVISATION. People complained during the live performances that the solos were not the same as the record. When improv was taken out, the music lost its soul and it became a vehicle to solely make money.

So...during the swing era, journalists and musicians distinguished bands who used jazz improv from those that didn't. This is where Glenn Miller comes in. His band emphasized "pretty" arrangements and vocals more than improvised jazz solos. If you go back to what defines jazz...in the strictest sense, despite having the swing element, the improve element is still required to qualify as jazz.
This is how the Miller band was different from Basie and Ellington.

So, all that stuff aside... like all music, listen to what you like! It's also okay to love Billy Joel, despite what critics say. It's okay to love Glenn Miller, too.

My opinion on the Miller band? I like him in small doses. The "Glenn Miller Sound" is why. When I talk about "sticky, syrupy, stuffy" sounds, I think of this:

To me, listening to a Glenn Miller album is akin to squirting an entire bottle of maple syrup in to my mouth at once.
I like maple syrup on my pancakes...in limited amounts. Again, to me, that sound is very dated...but that's also generational.

Going back to the elements of jazz...give some "free jazz" a listen:

~fin~
 
 
 
 

[Dave V]

Here's a picture of some trains... 

[chicken45]

I wanted to go to bed an hour ago! 

[tom mann]

Would you say Glenn Miller is easy listening? 

[muktown128]

Here's a picture of some trains... 

Thanks for trying to get us back on track. 

Josh - thanks for the explanation of jazz, swing and bop.  Just another example of the variety of things that can be learned on TRW.

Scott