Welcome
to Tuesday! A day neatly sandwiched between the "excitement" of going
back to work Monday, and the "exuberance" of "hump day". And equally as
important...it's the day for Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!
The Notes is humbled by the response from last week's post. Last week was our first non-holiday 100 "hit" week. With that, Tuesday's Musical Notes surpassed over 5000 "hits" to the blog since its inception. To say we are thankful, is an understatement. Please know that as a reader of Tuesday's Musical Notes, you are being bathed in prayer to the One true God. For those who are followers of Jesus, our prayer for you is encouragement and boldness as you do the good works already planned for you. For those who have not chosen to follow Jesus, our prayer for you is safety for the day, and boldness by a follower to tell you of Jesus' love for you. We pray that you will have an open mind when you are told of His love and that you will examine Jesus in the marketplace of ideas. You can read of this dynamic love in the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible. (find the first here and then just keep reading: The Gospel Of Matthew New International Version/ The Message paraphrase parallel If you have questions, please feel free to email The Notes at rawacr@gmail.com. Finally, if you'd like to see an engaging film about belief, coming to theaters March 20 is:
Do You Believe trailer
Now back to The Notes
It's a bit of a smoother Tuesday here at The Notes as today's feature artist is a jazz legend, well at least a legend in our minds anyway. Wait, before you go back to facebook, don't tune out because we mentioned jazz. Granted, this musical genre is really one of the only ones where folks love it or leave it. Today's song is the exception to this rule as it went all the way to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in May of 1978. It became the ultimate crossover hit and was heard on top 40 radio stations all over the world. The album cut runs 9:43, but the single was cut down to 3:28 to make it more palatable for top 40 listening audiences. Get ready for a smile to come to your face as this song just makes you "Feel So Good"...
The Notes is humbled by the response from last week's post. Last week was our first non-holiday 100 "hit" week. With that, Tuesday's Musical Notes surpassed over 5000 "hits" to the blog since its inception. To say we are thankful, is an understatement. Please know that as a reader of Tuesday's Musical Notes, you are being bathed in prayer to the One true God. For those who are followers of Jesus, our prayer for you is encouragement and boldness as you do the good works already planned for you. For those who have not chosen to follow Jesus, our prayer for you is safety for the day, and boldness by a follower to tell you of Jesus' love for you. We pray that you will have an open mind when you are told of His love and that you will examine Jesus in the marketplace of ideas. You can read of this dynamic love in the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible. (find the first here and then just keep reading: The Gospel Of Matthew New International Version/ The Message paraphrase parallel If you have questions, please feel free to email The Notes at rawacr@gmail.com. Finally, if you'd like to see an engaging film about belief, coming to theaters March 20 is:
Do You Believe trailer
Now back to The Notes
It's a bit of a smoother Tuesday here at The Notes as today's feature artist is a jazz legend, well at least a legend in our minds anyway. Wait, before you go back to facebook, don't tune out because we mentioned jazz. Granted, this musical genre is really one of the only ones where folks love it or leave it. Today's song is the exception to this rule as it went all the way to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in May of 1978. It became the ultimate crossover hit and was heard on top 40 radio stations all over the world. The album cut runs 9:43, but the single was cut down to 3:28 to make it more palatable for top 40 listening audiences. Get ready for a smile to come to your face as this song just makes you "Feel So Good"...
In
case you were wondering, the instrument being played by Chuck Mangione
on "Feels So Good" is a flugelhorn. It looks like this.
It
was originally created as an instrument used for armies to make the
call to a flanking move for a battle. It has been played by Jazz
musicians since the 30's but came into more prominence with the Big Band
scene of the 50's. It's most famous use however, has been by Jazz
aficionado Chuck Mangione.
Longevity
in rock-n-roll has been a recurring theme through The Notes, as most of
the acts we profile had the apex of their careers in the late 70's
early 80's. Very few of these acts can claim being in the recording
industry for 55 years. That's right. Chuck Mangione, the Rochester,
New York native has been a recording musician since 1960. With his piano
playing brother Gap, Mangione initially recorded as The Jazz Brothers.
He would eventually migrate towards playing with jazz oriented quartets
or quintets until his popularity exploded in the late 70's. His "Chase
The Clouds Away" would be used at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Then
came the Grammy award for "Bellavia", the title track from the 1977
album, as Best Instrumental Composition of 1977. He released his most
commercially successful single, #1 smash "Feels So Good" that same
year. In 1978, he recorded and composed the music for the soundtrack of
the Anthony Quinn motion picture, The Children Of Sanchez, for
which he received the 1979 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental
Performance. Continuing his busy schedule in the 70's, Mangione would
utilize his dream team of musicians to record these works. The ensemble
would include, Chris Vadala on saxophones, Grant Geissman on guitars,
Charles Meeks on bass and James Bradley Jr. on drums. His success during
the late 70's would propel him to a 2nd Olympic invitation. "Give It
All You Got" would become the theme for the Winter Olympics in Lake
Placid in 1980. A second soundtrack composition, for 1981's Burt
Reynolds led The Cannonball Run, would be the last commercially high profile recording for Chuck Mangione.
Chuck Mangione's music is a great way for those who are interested in exploring Jazz to get initial exposure. He continued to record into the 2000's and can still be found touring internationally at the young age of 74. In 2009, Mangione donated artifacts from his career to the Smithsonian, which hosted a Donation Ceremony and On Stage Discussion with the Jazz legend. He was inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame with music icons Cab Calloway, and Gene Cornish among others in 2012.
Chuck Mangione's music is a great way for those who are interested in exploring Jazz to get initial exposure. He continued to record into the 2000's and can still be found touring internationally at the young age of 74. In 2009, Mangione donated artifacts from his career to the Smithsonian, which hosted a Donation Ceremony and On Stage Discussion with the Jazz legend. He was inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame with music icons Cab Calloway, and Gene Cornish among others in 2012.
We've
recently heard many reports regarding Christian persecution in the
Middle East. The Bible tells us of these times and that they are a part
of the life followers of Jesus choose. However, one thing that you
will rarely, if ever, hear reports about is the joy of life that
followers of Jesus experience. To use today's song...it just feels so
good to have the assurances of destiny and know that provisions for this
life will be provided by the One who began the creation of the world
process with "Let there be light". Far too many times, good intentioned
preachers will tell tales of woe about the Christian life and miss what
God promised us in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." You
might notice in this passage, that the future is the very last thing
that God speaks to Jeremiah about. The Jesus follower life should be
one of expectation of the future yes, but it should also be one of great joy as we GET to experience our lives while on earth. There are times that call for great joy in fact. The return of the Ark of the Covenant
(cue Indiana Jones music) to Jerusalem was one such event. David was so overjoyed at the sight of the Ark's return that he danced. Some posit that he danced right out of his clothes. (2 Samuel 6:1-15 New International Version/ The Message paraphrase parallel) Another event for joy occurred at a garden tomb, three days following a horrible crucifixion. (Matthew 28:1-10 New International Version/The Message paraphrase parallel)
This kind of joy is there for us as we live our lives, if we will only take the opportunities to experience them as they are afforded us. We should feel so good and be so joyful as we follow Jesus that it exudes contagiously from us. This might be the impetus others need to explore what being a follower of Jesus entails. You never can tell, your joy in following Jesus may cause others to someday exclaim...this feels so good!!!
"Joy" from the 2014 album by Rend Collective, The Art Of Celebration
"Joy" from the 2014 album by Rend Collective, The Art Of Celebration
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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