The Whole Music Experience

The Practice The Art of Choosing Background Sounds & Vibrations I had several conversations with an owner of a natural grocery store and the problems he ran into with choices of background music for the store.   Customers have complained about different types of music.   And from his assessment, the store owner came up with a list of types of music that annoy the customers--not something to take lightly in this competitive economy.   Latin music disturbed customers, and ditto for Southeast Asian music (no ragas please), high-pitched anything, guitars or trumpets received complaints, and the usual nostalgic rock/pop that plays in stores bothers me.   Who wants to listen to lyrical stories while shopping for groceries or trying to hold a conversation with someone they encounter while shopping?  I joined a new and fascinating LinkedIn Group on Music and Emotion around the same time I had the conversations with the grocery store owner.   An...

Jazz Ibrahim Maalouf Wind Harmonia Mundi The first thing you notice about trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf’s Wind is the packaging.   You’ll find the CD housed in a lacquered box with gray and brown tones emphasized.   When you open the box you find a booklet, not featuring much in the way of biographical notes, but the single titles of songs posted against the backdrop of abstract paintings by Jeanlou Joux.   The song titles too would give the impression that the music would lack passion or lean towards drab concrete gray-- Doubts, Suspicions and Issues . So a listener will feel greatly surprised that this “mood” music performed by Maalouf’s quintet echoes Miles Davis while also reflecting on how music shapes scenes in cinema.   Yes, this effort could be seen as arty or even philosophical despite the fact that Wind represents an instrumental album and the only words in sight are the song titles.   But even those song titles convey a sublimina...