Saxophone « Charley Socci

More Thoughts On Religion

I’ve said quite a bit about my agnosticism in regard to religion or the supernatural. I’ve pointed out what I believe is irrefutable evidence that, throughout history, organized religion has been responsible for some of the largest offenses to humanity .

Yet, on a personal level I have seen many examples where religion has helped people. [...]

Religulous – I’m giving Bill Maher’s Movie an F

Kristin loaded the DVD, which arrived from Netflix after much anxious anticipation… An intelligent and satirical look at fundamentalist religion… A focus on the politics of religion… What could be better?

Since this is MY blog – and I reserve the right to say whatever I want – I’ll tell you, briefly, what my own feelings [...]

Like Money In The Bank, Or Sowing And Reaping

Comparing life to a mortgage….

We are born with nothing. We have no clothes. We rely on our parents or guardians to provide for us. When we become adults, many of us will purchase a home. We start careers or businesses. Most will need to rely on a mortgage – and know that if we live [...]

Not With the Band

There was a physical therapist I met a few years ago when I was in the hospital. She was a very nice older middle-aged woman and we got along well from the start.

We got talking about our lives and it turned out she had been a dancer many years before. While she [...]

Thinking About Music and The Ghosts of Past, Present and Future

I’ve been thinking about music a lot lately—playing music. If you’ve seen my main site, www.socci.com then you probably know I started out my adult life as a musician. Indeed from the time I was eleven or twelve years old it became my life’s main mission.

Somewhere along the way I got lost. I lost faith. [...]

Cruise Ship Gigs and an Egyptian Incident

The first steady music gig I got out of school was as the saxophone/flute/clarinetist on a cruise ship. The ship sailed out of LA on three and four day cruises down to Mexico, Catalina, and San Diego. My friend from school Alex, a really fine pianist, got me on the gig through an agent who [...]

Around the World

I saw this cool thing this afternoon while surfing Flickr. You check off all the countries you’ve ever been to and it generates this map. There is one for U.S. States as well; but I’ve been to all of them except Utah and Nevada and it would’ve looked like I might be *gasp* *wheeze* *cough* [...]

Picking Up The Alto Again

Today I picked up my alto again. I won’t say how long its been. I more or less turned my back on music in the late 90’s. It wasn’t a difficult decision at the time. I had two young children with my partner, was still living at home with my mother, and [...]

Jackie McLean Interview on NPR

I came across this interview from 2001 with Jackie McLean. In addition to musical clips, He gives a synopsis of his life from following Charlie Parker around New York “like a puppy dog”, through playing with Miles, Mingus and Art Blakey to founding the jazz music program at the University of Hartford.

Remembering Jackie McLean

Jackie McLean died March 31, 2006. He was 74.

I met Jackie in 1982 when I was 16 years old. I was seriously into being a jazz saxophonist by that time and it was a friend of mine from high school who brought me to a concert of Jackie’s students at the Hartt School.

I still remember [...]