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We have a new contender for the worst Christmas song rendition. Anuc has been screaming up the meme charts with his take on a variety of songs. In case you’re curious, yes, he is singing in English.

I remember clipping this video of a random busker playing some funky bari sax in New York subways about 10 or so years back. I wonder whatever happened to that guy?

There he is. Looks like Leo was recently at the Royal Albert Hall in London playing front man on the song Moanin’ at the BBC Proms.

The early internet had some absolute amazing creations. This is one of them. A fantastical mashup of Star Trek TNG and an ode to sausage by Friendly Rich. It’s been out for almost a decade, and only has about 300k views – which is a crime and shows people still lack quality taste even in the modern, post-truth internet era.

Hiromi Uehara, in my opinion, is one of the greatest largely unknown pianists of our time. She is part of the rising Japanese inflation with jazz that has become a growing centerpiece of modern Japanese culture. The thing that most makes her stand out (and makes has amazingly unique in the normal jazz scene) is her absolutely crystal clear technical ability and mind blowingly accurate control of her dynamics. It is like listening to a concert-pianist technical expert, one that has mastered every nuance of the piano’s tones and dynamics, and yet is playing what is usually a more ragged jazz genre.

Here’s a song of hers that I have been listening to and keep listening to again and again. The crystal clear runs without a hint of slur or slop along with dynamics are astounding. Each listen I’m more amazed at how there is not a single sloppy note or missed dynamic in the whole piece – and that each note plays perfectly into the mood and feel she is weaving:

It makes me believe the purported story by someone who attended a master class by house band member Tony Grey. Grey is a bass player who record and toured with Uehara. He told the class that every morning he and the other bandmates would wake up with a hand written note that detailed every single mistake they got wrong the night before.

Here’s another astounding piece that demonstrates an ever increasing progression of the most crystal clear jazz improvisation on top of a well known tune. She first imitates a harpsicord by putting metal rulers on the strings, but I think it really gets amazing starting around 3:04, 5:15, and 7:05.

The demonstration of technical perfection while progressing through every jazz style in the book blew my mind again and again. A modern Japanese artist performing a German composer’s music remixed in the jazz style from African Americans on an instrument invented in Italy. Amazing.

File this under something you don’t see every day – Gunhild Carling rocks a bagpipe in a way that no Scotsman ever experienced.