So, I’ll be honest. I haven’t been handling reaching my own 60th birthday very well (2 days from now). I’ve been in a real funk about it. Those of you who know me intimately have gotten an earful of my various infirmities and laments over getting old and the change in my once youthful appearance. I honestly dread people with a camera phone and intentions. Where is my hair going all of the sudden and why does what little I have look like straw? Why won’t these aches and pains go away? Blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid, tinnitus, an unbreakable weight barrier and unmovable gut? My nose? Since when do I…

At times, I get inspired to talk about two particular aspects of Jimmy Raney’s language often missed: rhythmic subtlety absorbed uniquely from Bird’s model, and the difference between “lick playing” and “non-lick playing”. I’ve blogged about it some but perhaps not enough. Part of the reason I don’t do talk about it more is that it’s a mental slog both for the reader and myself – an investment on both sides. It also might come across as overanalytical of that which, on it’s own terms, imparts the complexity directly without “libretto” so to speak. Nevertheless, not to talk about it, if the various forms of public commentary is at all…

Recently, I received a website email requesting I write about the details of the dark side of my brother’s life.  This person just launched into the letter without preamble, “Hey so why don’t you write about the dark stuff and what happened to his guitars… I’d like to hear it because… blah, blah, etc. “ So aside from tactless manner in which this person wrote to me, I’ve pondered the implication that my website presents an idealized and selective view of my famous jazz family and in particular, Doug. In all honesty, it’s possible.  This is one of the dangers of the social media age. Bill Maher refers to this…

Each year on the August 20th, I struggle a bit with what to say about Jimmy Raney that I or his most ardent fans haven’t said already. The music of course, speaks for itself and thank God for that. But there are some things I perhaps haven’t shared chiefly due to my pack rat tendencies. The Featured image above shows just some of the fun things I’ve found in the closet recently. I will be adding these and others gradually on other pages of the site. The small photo shown is likely from ~1952 taken from his apartment in Sheridan Square. It’s really a wonderful snapshot of him and the…

There is an unusual clarity we feel under duress. Like feeling death’s door is near, and the world flashes before you. I’m sure many of you are feeling it. I’m feeling it in my own conversations and instant messages, as well as in broadcast interviews and speeches. Certain people are putting on their game face and showing great compassion, sincerity and depth while others are talking out of both sides of their mouth and showing their true colors. (And it ain’t a pretty sight..) I’m also feeling the hair rising in my neck towards the language patterns of certain politicians, who struggle to say the same words over and over…

Hi Folks, Although this is technically a Raney Legacy blog, it would be ridiculous to ignore the elephant in the room, so at least to start, let me combine the themes. My immediate family has survived a lot over the years. I am perhaps the least tough of all the family members and have drawn inspiration from all of them: my daughter, my wife an her family, my brother, mother and father. There has always been an aspect of tragedy and triumph in the Raney family and the three remaining members have the challenge of their lives ahead of them. My family is wonderful, and I have great friends and…

I was reminded of Doug by good ol’ Google recently (I have a notification set up to inform me when Doug or Dad comes up in the news). There was this nice review of a recent posthumous release, There Will Never Be Another You of a live duo outing of Doug and Nicolai Gromin (who also died recently) from cafe Sabine in 1993. Here is a link to the article. This got me reflecting on Doug a bit during that time. As I mentioned in a previous blog, my brother and I led largely separate lives. When I was in high school, Doug was already out the door starting his…