The problem with music geeks (and yes, I am speaking as one) is that we tend to formulate these hard, fast rules about what makes a good artist or band. Many times, these rules hold up. There’s so much music out there, you have to be discriminating and if you’ve been around it long enough, you learn that often times you can judge a book (or record) by its cover.

One rule that most music lovers would probably agree on is that a good band should be good on recording AND in a live setting. Many times, even better in a live setting. Normally, I would also adhere to this belief. I have seen shows that made me an even bigger fan of a band I already liked. And I have seen shows on more than one occasion that actually diminished my affinity for an artist because they were so lackluster live. You get all excited to see a band whose record you’ve been loving, and then they come to town and stink up the place.

I’ll go ahead and say it: Ulrich Schnauss is TERRIBLE live. One man. One laptop. That’s it. The joke about live electronic acts who look like they’re checking their email onstage was probably originated by someone after seeing an Ulrich Schnauss show. But… the man makes INCREDIBLE records.

I held off on reviewing this newest record, Goodbye, until I’d really had a chance to give it the proper time it deserves. I’m glad I did, because it more than lives up to my expectations. I first fell in love with Schnauss’s music on his 2003 album, A Strangely Isolated Place. I couldn’t get enough of that record. It’s a truly beautiful piece of music. Of course, I got excited to see him live when I saw that he was coming to The Knitting Factory. I went, even though KCRW presented the show (always the earmark of bad things to come), and left halfway through because I was bored to tears. Normally, this would’ve ended my love affair with a record. But Ulrich’s music is that good… it drew me right back in.

Goodbye, Schnauss’s newest release, is headphone music at its finest. If somebody walks into the room while you’re halfway into this album, they will startle the bejeezus out of you, because you will have just been deep in a distant place. Goodbye picks up right where Ulrich left off in 2003, which was a continuum of the sound established on 2001’s Far Away Trains Passing By. This is to be the last in a “trilogy” of sorts, so it’s perfect that the songs on Goodbye are a bit more epic and rushing. These songs are vast and they will fill your imagination completely. Put on your best headphones and close your eyes…

…and Mr. Schnauss: Please find a band when you play the Troubadour on Oct. 5. Thank you.

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If you’re one of those people who believes that celebrities die in threes, then I guess your trifecta is complete. Tony Wilson, Merv Griffin, and as of Thursday, Mr. Max Roach. Possibly one of the most renown drummers in jazz, or any genre, Roach passed away at the age of 83 and left behind an enormously prolific body of work.

I bought Money Jungle when I worked in a record store several years back. Originally released on Blue Note in 1962, I picked it up because it featured Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus. But as good as those two were, the trio wouldn’t have been the utter perfection it was without Max Roach on drums. After discovering this record, I soon found that he’d played with every notable great in the jazz world: Duke, Dizzy, Miles, Charlie Parker, you name ‘em. Roach defined and redefined what a drummer could be, in jazz or any musical form for that matter. He was a bandleader, a writer, an activist, and the very epitome of what a musician can be. May he always swing… forever.

Go to the original post for J-C mp3s by Schnauss and Roach.

If you enjoy these tunes, tune into my radio show on kxlu 88.9fm 10a-2p every monday. we’re also streaming live at www.kxlu.com.