The other night, kids are asleep (for a short time) and parents are downstairs on their respective laptops. Hopefully I can honestly say I was doing work and not idly reading blogs. I put some music on the stereo to work to (an actual physical Compact Disctm on a real stereo system!) and it was pointed out to me that I had chosen the same album to listen to maybe seven out of the last ten times. "Why do you always choose the same music?" I wondered why also. The album was "The Paul Motian Trio at The Village Vanguard" which was the first one by that band that I ever heard. Since then I've managed to collect (I believe) every commercial recording they have released. Although I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite recording of theirs, at least one of them would have to be on any desert island disc list I could compose. World-renowned drummer and mentor Dylan VanDerSchyff once encapsulated what they do (my paraphrase): "They take all the building blocks of music and dismantle them all to nothing, so that they can build them back up themselves." Likewise Brooklyn-based bassist and author Chris Tarry explained "their music doesn't go very wide, but it runs incredibly deep." (again, my paraphrase) Anyway, the point is, that trio has profoundly affected my view of music, both as an artist and as a listener. But that still didn't address why I listened to that album almost exclusively in the last few weeks. I'm not particularly unique in having a large music collection: mostly CD's, a few hundred vinyl, the rest in (compressed) digital form. Yet time and time again I find myself returning to the same few albums to listen to. If the music is strong enough, hearing those familiar sounds again can reaffirm the effect they had on my musicianship, and inspire me all over again.
What does all this have to do with ramen? Let's find out.
Ladies luuv it!
After many months (maybe years) of talking about it, I finally had a chance to revisit the ramen-ya that started the whole Vancouver ramen craze: Kintaro! How that chance presented itself is another long and sorted story involving the current Vancouver pizza craze (Pizzeria Farina, we shall meet... eventually) What do I order when we're seated at Kintaro? The usual! I think I've talked before about the strange yet delicious (and polygamous) marriage of cultures that is cheese ramen; well, Kintaro was my introduction to it, and now that G-Men is closed, it is my only remaining connection to it.
Eating cheese ramen at Kintaro after a long hiatus was like coming home again! Yum. Just like I remembered, a light (not too salty) yet rich (thanks to the cheese) miso broth, tender (always order the fatty cut) and flavourful charsiu, and thick chewy noodles. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. There's nothing wrong with revisiting music that you know is worth it, and there's nothing wrong with ordering another cheese ramen! Well, except maybe if you're on a diet, or lactose intolerant.
But this whole exercise reminded me that I have much more music at my disposal that I don't listen to, but is certainly worth studying and enjoying. Likewise there are many different bowls of ramen to consume! Yesterday I had another ramen opportunity, thanks to some schedule shuffling. Ramen Jinya (in the old Ezo-giku location near the library) apparently has some lineage in Japan via a robata restaurant in Ebisu. But the ramen component somehow arrived in Vancouver by way of Los Angeles, and is owned by the same people who run Ebi-ten down the street. Family tree aside, I tried their shio tonkotsu ramen, which is in the Southern Hakata (Fukuoka) style that places like Santouka do so well.
Almost forgot to take a pic before digging in!
I definitely enjoyed the fried onion topping which is not something I see often on ramen. The charsiu was ok but a little skimpy, and with the add-on shoyu tamago (egg), the whole bowl came to over $12, so for what it was it felt a little overpriced. It comes in a very deep bowl, so although it may contain a regular size serving, it appears to be a small portion when served. The noodles themselves were accurately made in the Hakata style: thin, straight and al dente.
Although I'll never put away my Paul Motian Trio records (among others), I've been making myself listen to both albums I own but rarely play and to new music I've not heard before. I'll list some of them with a few thoughts. In the former category:
- "Heartcore" Kurt Rosenwinkel. I thought that a jazz record produced by Q-Tip would have more of the flavour of the hip-hop legend. Instead it's just a good jazz record with really hard melodies and harmonies, and very rhythmically straight (stiff?) drum programs. I wish that someone could treat the drums in Rosenwinkel's band the way he approaches the guitar: the long sinewy melodies, the post-post-post harmonies. I don't know if that makes sense, but the closest I've heard so far is Eric Harland on "The Remedy" the live Rosenwinkel stuff.
- "Time Out Of Mind" Bob Dylan. I put this on again after reading Daniel Lanois' autobiography. Learning about the process was interesting, and attaching the sounds to the stories was fun. Reminds me of the "Advanced" theory which uses Dylan as a poster child.
- "Which Way is East" Charles Lloyd. A beautiful double CD of duets with Billy Higgins. I'd love to know the whole story about this album, I believe that it is one of Higgins' last recordings. They each play a huge assortment of instruments throughout, but there are enough sax/drum duets to keep my jazz side satisfied.
- "Notes From a Drummer" William Thomas Ensemble. One of my desert island discs is a live recording of Brad Turner playing trumpet with three Portland musicians (John Gross, Tom Wakeling and William Thomas) who came up to Vancouver for week of playing. That week was my first introduction to Thomas' drumming, and my only opportunity to see it in person. The recording really resonates with me, and Thomas has a unique, subtle and supportive approach to drumming that I would love to learn to emulate. When I discovered his own solo recording (via Seattle record label Origin) I jumped at the chance to hear him lead a larger ensemble. The album is a showcase for his interesting compositions much more so than his drumming, but I still really enjoy hearing someone play with such maturity and depth without an ounce or showiness (is that a word?)
Ok, I'll run out of time and energy for the latter category, but here are a couple of new purchases on the playlist:
- "Full Circle" Graham Haynes. As a lifelong Roy Haynes fan, I have to admit I took the efforts of his son on trumpet and cornet a bit for granted. As if it was somehow easier (and therefore didn't count as much) to play music when your father is a living legend of the genre. But this was the first time I felt like the younger Haynes sounded like he's developed his own strong voice. The album kind of reminds me of electric Miles, but with drum'n'bass beats. I think a few other projects have tried to manage that same mix to varying degrees of success, but this one works well. I especially liked the shameless synth bass assault (pure sine waves baby!) filling out the frequency spectrum.
- "Town Hall '62" Ornette Coleman. Kind of cheating since I'm already an Ornette freak, but I just discovered this recording of his trio (Charles Moffett on drums, David Izenzon on bass) which preceded the notable "Live at the Golden Circle" recordings by a few years. Interesting in that this is some of the first recordings since Ornette started adding trumpet and violin to his repertoire, and that he incorporates some strings into his pieces as well.
- "Transrapid" Alva Noto. Glitches and beeps, but I love it. Nothing comes close to those collaborations he did with Ryuichi Sakamoto though; those recordings are the bees knees.
Ok I gotta type less and listen more!
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