What’s Cooking?

Happy New Year!

I know it’s already four days into 2009 but I’m already a little behind.

I was very happy to see that in All About Jazz- New York my newest release “Imagination” with pianist Jacob Sacks was chosen as one of the best vocals releases and best tribute releases for 2008. Jacob and I were quite pleased when we received the news. Jacob and I are doing a residency at I-Beam Music in Gowanus, Brooklyn for the month of January and we are very excited to start venturing into new material as well as continuing to find new Joe Raposo tunes.

A happy new year to everyone!

Yesterday was a gross, rainy and windy day—the best kind of day to sit on a comfy couch (mine is not so comfy but whatever) and read a book. At 4:00pm yesterday I finished the final book of the Inkheart Trilogy called Inkdeath. I am a sucker for a good story and this trilogy did not disappoint me. The trilogy begins with a young girl named Meggie and her father Mortimer, or as Meggie calls him, “Mo”. Meggie discovers that she and her father have a magical gift that brings the characters in books to life when they read the books aloud. Unfortunately that gift has some disruptive consequences. Mo discovers his magical abilities when he unknowingly reads out—that is, brings into this world—some of the characters from his favourite book, “Inkheart,” but in the process loses his wife, who falls in the other direction into the book.

Already I feel like I’ve said too much. I just don’t know how much to say when writing a book review. I guess when I look back at the other reviews I see that I barely say anything except that I like it or didn’t like it. How do you explain a book without spoiling it? What I’d like to do is raise your curiosity so that you just have to read it. I can say that in each of these books the main characters change and evolve in ways that I find very satisfying. Meggie starts to grow up and finds out that the world is not always a beautiful, safe place (something we all learn as we grow older). Also, we see characters who have good hearts show a dark side (we all have a dark side). In each book, Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath, at least one character experiences loss and realizes things are not always what they seem. Even when there is a happy ending, hard lessons are learned and innocence is lost. If you like fantasy and magic, this is a book for you. It has darkness, hope, heroes, villains, love and hate—all the elements you need for a fun adventurous story.

Maybe I have to come to the acceptance that I can’t really write a good book review. I can only tell you to go out and read or don’t. Maybe I’ll get better at it and maybe I will just have to put in those spoilers. What can you do?

After coming down from the great high of Barack Obama being elected the 44th president of the United States of America, I finished the book from Pulitzer Prize writer of 2008, Junot Diaz, for his work The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

This book was not a typical read for me. I had no expectations nor did I know what the book was about before I started. I enjoyed the colloquial voice of the narrator and it made me feel more attached to the characters involved in the story. The story is about a Dominican boy named Oscar and his somewhat unusual life. It was sad and a bit uncomfortable to read at times but I felt very sympathetic towards the characters. I’m not even quite sure how to describe the book without giving it away. It talks about life in the U.S. and in the Dominican Republic. There are interesting footnotes throughout the book. Some of them I skipped (I must confess). Can’t say it was my favourite book but the writing was very good and effective. Still a recommended read. Judge for yourself.

The book previous to Oscar was a great little, quick read called Sway: The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behavior, by Ori and Rom Brafman. A fascinating book about how irrational humans can be in different situations. There are lots of crazy examples of people doing irrational things and making silly irrational decisions and how we are affected by our culture and state of mind. I know that there are a lot of books similar to this out there. It seems to be the new trendy thing to read and write about. Still with that being said, I found it to be very enjoyable and it certainly has made me realize just how crazy the most rational people can become. A very fast read (finished in a couple of hours). Check it out.

So it’s almost 3:00am and I have just returned from opening night of the movie, Twilight. I am one of the million readers who fell in love with the Twilight Saga.
I didn’t have very high expectations with the movie but I was deeply disappointed with what was put out.

Overall I felt that the script was weak, the direction cheesy and Kristen Stewart’s acting pretty sucky. I might be able to find a better word but sucky feels appropriate. The movie was choppy and had no flow or any character development whatsoever. This is suppose to be an amazing romance and I couldn’t find any romance, anywhere. No real sense of relationship was built between the main characters. There was no chemistry and it was just uninteresting. Each scene was broken up into little undeveloped chapters and everything was laid out in a way that was boring, stupidly obvious and the whole Bella narration was quite irritating.

Getting into more trivial details, the make-up used for the vampire’s pale skin was very amateur. You could see the make-up lines on the faces of most of the characters. It was laughable and kind of embarrassing. Even Edward Cullen’s fashions were sad. Here you have this very attractive young man and all you can do is dress him up in some boring, dull, gray peacoat and jeans?! Where was the amazing leather jacket he was suppose to lend to Bella after bringing her home from the restaurant, not to mention the the turtleneck he was suppose to be wearing in the restaurant scene? Where was the dashing rain coat he wears when he first picks Bella up for school? Edward Cullen is constantly described as a beautiful model-like young man with impeccable fashion sense and there was nothing outstanding with his fashion. Considering all the bad things about the movie, I felt that Robert Pattinson did the best he could with what he was given. He fared best in regards to the acting (it was a tough job) and he was definitely stunning and that was entertaining but it couldn’t hold up the entire movie.

Only one moment in the movie I found satisfying and that was the first kiss scene. Pattinson did a good job with the struggle and feelings of desire and I was somewhat impressed with that. But unfortunately a two minute scene is not going to satisfy me or make me pleased with the $12.50 I just gave up for this movie.

If you haven’t read the books try them. They are really fun and I couldn’t put them down. I always knew the movie version could not live up to the book but the movie made the Twilight story sound BLAH and it isn’t.

I am in awe and so excited for the US right now. African-American, Illinois senator, Barack Obama is now the 44th president of the United States of America. I can’t believe that I witnessed this incredible event. Right now at 12:30am I hear fireworks, cheering, music and lots of celebrating going on outside my Brooklyn apartment and it’s wonderful.
I have been living in New York for over eight years and having Obama as president just gives me so much hope and brings back the faith that I lost when Bush was elected TWICE!!!
When I was in Canada almost a year ago, I was listening to the radio and the question was “Is America ready for a female or black president?” Most of the Canadian callers said “NO!” I confess that I agreed with them. I wanted to believe that it could really happen but I felt like the American people weren’t ready for it. But I am happily mistaken.
I am elated by this news and I hope that president Obama will bring hope and inspiration back into the American people.

Congratulations America on your new president!!!

This Wednesday, October 22 at 6:00pm, pianist Jacob Sacks and I will be on WKCR 89.9FM on the Jazz Alternatives: Musician’s Show. We will be playing some selections of our music and music that has influenced us over the years. You can listen to this broadcast on the web or on your radio. So all you Canadians can tune in via internet!

Tonight I will be at The Cornelia Street Cafe to help celebrate the Vinnie Sperrazza and Matt Blostein group’s debut CD “Ursa Minor” on Envoi Recordings. I have known Vinnie Sperrazza and have had the pleasure to play music with him for over six years and in that time I have witnessed an artist who is truly finding his own identity as well as being one of the best young drummers working today.

Ursa Minor is a recording that displays a lovely collaboration of two wonderfully talented artists. Each musician contributes their own compositions which are lyrical and memorable.

Tonight’s performance Vinnie and Matt will be joined by Jacob Sacks on piano, David Ambrosio on bass and Mike McGinnis on woodwinds.

This is a performance definitely worth checking out.

Who: Vinnie Sperrazza and Matt Blostein Group
When: Monday, October 20th at 8:30pm and 10:00pm
Where: Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., NYC)

Over the past two months I have finished reading an interesting range of books. The most recent book that I’ve read is The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson (a Canadian!) It’s about a man who suffers horrible burns from a car accident. While in the burn unit at the hospital he meets a woman who claims that they were lovers 700 years before. The book goes back and forth from present time to the 12th century and Davidson also writes great folklore-like love stories in between. I don’t know if these stories are actual folk stories or legends from other countries but Davidson creates something convincing enough for me to believe that these stories might be.

I enjoyed this book overall. The writing is good and I liked the story idea. It was romantic, sometimes funny (I liked the voice of the narrator), and at times horrific (reading about the recovery of a burn victim is unbelievable). I do recommend giving this book a try.

A non-stop plot driven book is The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas. This book hits the ground running and pretty much doesn’t stop till the end. I understand why it’s considered a classic reading assignment in school. It’s a fun book although rather long (the print was so small that it would take forever to read a chapter). There are great villains, the cardinal and the evil Milady and of course our wonderful heroes D’Artagnon, Aramis, Athos and Porthos. I am a person who loves plot and this book does not disappoint. The writing is great and its just pure entertainment. I recommend you take a crack at it.

The last book was Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived, by Ralph Helfer. If you’re an animal lover then you might enjoy this book. It’s hard for me to believe that this is a true depiction of Modoc but it was nice to read. It’s a bit romantic and sometimes unbelievable but it still affected me none the less. It’s a sweet book.

That’s it for now.

On Thursday, October 23rd, Jacob Sacks and I will be celebrating the release of our latest recording, Imagination, by performing music from the recording at the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall, 7:00pm at Hunter College, New York City.

I am really excited about this performance because it will be the first time performing this music since our release in July and it will also be our first performance as a duo in over nine months. The performance is free and I hope you can all come and celebrate our new CD with us.

Over the past few weeks I have completed two books by the young author Mark Zusak.

The Book Thief
This was a marvelous book. The story occurs in the 1940’s during WWII in Germany. A young girl named Liesel becomes a book thief. I don’t want to say much because it’s a wonderful story. It has a lot of hardship and pain but also great emotional beauty and depth. I was so moved by The Book Thief that I decided to read Zusak’s other novel I Am The Messenger.

This book is based in Australia in the present (I think). A young man, Ed Kennedy, is a cab driver and has a pretty ordinary life until one day he sort of stops a bank robbery. After that, his life becomes very interesting.

Zusak has a particular style of writing that I enjoyed and he kept me intrigued after every chapter. Both emotionally moving books. These books are considered “young adult” but I highly recommend them for any age.

Well today I gathered some of my good friends and set them to work. I made over 200 mandoo today and now I have a freezer full of delicious Korean dumplings.
Stuffed dumplings are labour intensive. You need to squeeze out all the water from the tofu, bean sprouts and then chop all the vegetables, mix all the ingredients and season the stuffing and then finally stuff them into dough wrappers. Overall with about four to five friends you can stuff over 200 mandoo in about 2.5 hours (yikes). Of course there was a lot of eating involved too (you need to do some taste testing to make sure the stuffing is seasoned well).
If anyone wants to try to make Korean meat dumplings here is a basic recipe I like to use.
(Just for the record, I never write out recipes. For one thing, I don’t measure. All of this is purely guess).
Good luck!

Mandoo (100 dumplings)

1lb of ground beef or pork or both
1 medium onion (yellow or white) chopped fine
3-4 scallions chopped fine
1-2 tbl sp finely chopped ginger
3-5 cloves of chopped garlic
1 package of firm tofu
2 cups of mung bean sprouts
2-3 tsp of toasted sesame oil
1 tsp of white pepper
1 tsp of black pepper
2 egg
salt to taste

100 dumpling wrappers (you can buy this at a Korean grocery store or possibly an Asian grocery market)

-boil water and cook mung bean sprouts for about 2 minutes and then strain them and rinse them in cold water
-squeeze as much water out of the bean sprouts with your hands
-chop up the bean sprouts and put into a large mixing bowl
-drain the tofu from the package and then use some paper towels and soak up the water. Squeeze as much water out of the tofu (don’t worry about it crumbling you want that to happen) add it to the bean sprouts
-add sesame oil, white and black pepper, salt, onions, garlic, scallions, 1 egg and meat into bowl then mix thoroughly.
-in a separate bowl crack and whip an egg
-take a dumpling wrapper and using your finger, rub egg on the edge of half the wrapper (like the letter C), put in about a small spoonful of filling in the center of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half and squeeze the sides closed.
-sprinkle some flour on the dumpling so that they don’t stick to each other.

-boil water and drop in the mandoo and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Then heat up some oil in a frying pan and pan fry the cooked mandoo (this part is optional)
-you can make an easy dipping sauce by using soy sauce, vinegar and a little bit of sugar.

Enjoy!

So I have made a wonderful discovery: the library! I know that sounds absurd, and it kind of is, but over the past six months I have become a regular visitor and I have been reading a ton. So what am I reading? Well, I must confess that some of the stuff is pretty girlie, not too sophisticated, and with lots of plot driven excitement. To go through all the books in detail would be ridiculous but here’s a list that highlights a few things I liked about them.

Reading List

The Twilight Saga which includes: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
I really enjoyed this entire series. My favourite was Twilight. I won’t go into too much detail but the saga is a story about a young lady named Bella Swan who falls in love with a teenage vampire named Edward Cullen. Lots of danger, hugging and teenage angst. I was impressed by how Meyer described the experience of Bella kissing Edward in the forest. My stomach was full of butterflies and my heart was racing. That NEVER happens to me when I’m reading. Anyone who likes fantasy and love stories should check it out, it’s worth reading.

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy which includes: A Great And Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.
This is a plot-driven story about a teenage girl in the late 1800’s in England who discovers that she has a magical gift to move into another world called the realms. Sounds cheesy when I say but it was quite fun to read. Action packed and sometimes quite emotional.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I loved this book. It was beautiful and sad and it made my heart ache when it was over. This is Niffenegger’s first novel and she really pulls off a great concept. The story is about a man who involuntarily time travels, but during his travels he meets a girl named Clare who becomes the most important person in his life. I can’t go any further - you just need to read it.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
I know that this book is a classic. Bronte’s writing is good but it was a hard read. The language wasn’t difficult but I really found all the characters of this book unlikeable. Perhaps that was on purpose but it made it difficult to enjoy the book. Still, with that said, it’s good writing and worth reading.

The Uglies Saga which include: Uglies, Pretties, Specials by Scott Westerfeld and Extras by Scott Westerfeld and Rodrigo Corral
This is a sci-fi saga about earth 300 years in the future. It’s action packed and fun.

Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar
I have luke-warm feelings about this book. I read it because I had just finished Eclipse and was in the vampire/werewolf frame of mind. It’s about a young werewolf named Kalix living in London, England who is a drug addict and sort of a sad character. Not my favourite book.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
This was my first graphic novel and it was a sad one. It was actually a memoir of Alison Bechdel’s relationship with her father who she finds out is gay. It was a quick read and engaging. I recommend this one.

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding: audio book radio show by the BBC
I highly recommend this particular recording. The BBC did an adaption of Tom Jones and it was delightful. It’s full of humourous sexual escapades and a lovely happy ending. The actors are great and it was a pile of fun. Check it out.

The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy which include: The Looking Glass Wars and Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor
This is a dark version of a childhood classic. Alyss Heart is the queen to be of Wonderland until her aunt Redd starts a war and all hell breaks loose. Alyss escapes to our dimension and the rest you’ll have to read to find out. Actually I’ve never read Alice In Wonderland (although that’s on my list now) but these books are for an older audience or at least readers in the teenage years and up. I have been enjoying this series and I look forward to reading the last book once it’s released.

Blood And Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
I really didn’t like this book. It was very popular and they even made it into a movie (who knows why). Disappointing and not worth reading.

Forever by Pete Hamill
This was an interesting read. I was disappointed with the ending but very impressed by Hamill’s detailed knowledge of New York City and it’s history. The story is about a young man (17 years old) and he ends up in New York City in 1741 (I think) and becomes immortal (you need to read it to know why) and stays immortal only if he remains in Manhattan. I quite enjoyed the book even with the ending. It’s worth checking out.

Well that’s it for now. I am currently readingThe Book Thief by Markus Zusak and so far its good.

Although I have linked all the book titles to Amazon, I have borrowed all these books from the library. I never took advantage of the library in the past and I keep kicking myself for waiting so long to do it. I was a really late bloomer in the book reading thing and I have so much to catch up on. I have been discovering what kind of books I like to read and its been an adventure. If anyone out there has any great recommendations I would love to hear about them and I love reserving the books on the library website (ah the small pleasures in life). I have a huge list to get through and I have at least eight books at home to read (more on them later).

Happy reading everyone!

Well I finally did it. I have always dreamed of doing a pop/rock show and now I’ve gone and hooked it up. This Saturday, June 21st is Make Music New York and I will be performing with my rock band, 5 Feet in front of a church at Church Ave and Flatbush Ave at 3:00pm in Brooklyn. We will be playing some original songs from each band member. It’s going to be super fun. I have been loving the sessions we’ve been playing and I can’t wait to perform the music. I hope you can come.

5 Feet

Yoon Sun Choi - keyboards, vocals
Geoff Kraly - bass, vocals
Jesse Stacken - keyboards
Vinnie Sperrazza - drums

Saturday, June 21
3:10pm-4:00pm
(corner of) Church Ave and Flatbush Ave
Q train to Church Ave

Free

I have a show this Friday at the Brooklyn space, I-Beam. I will be performing with Jacob Sacks and Vinnie Sperrazza. It’s been a while since Vin, Jacob and I played trio so I’m totally psyched. Come on down to Brooklyn and come see the show!

Friday, May 30
9:00pm
I-Beam Music
178 7th Street (between 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn

I am happy to welcome New York drummer Vinnie Sperrazza and alto saxophonist Matt Blostein’s newest cd Ursa Minor to the Yeah Yeah Records catalog. Vinnie is an amazing drummer who I often play with in my own projects. Matt Blostein is a horn player who plays beautiful, fluid lines and writes tasteful music. Both Vinnie and Matt contribute original compositions to this wonderful recording. Go and check it out on Yeah Yeah Records.

Tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival is the premiere of my friends, Adriane Geibel (line producer) and John Walter’s (director) documentary Theater Of War. This is a wonderful documentary about Bertolt Brecht’s play Mother Courage that stars Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline and is adapted by Tony Kushner. I had the honour of viewing the film while it was still in it’s preliminary stages and I am very excited to see it in it’s finished form tonight.

Anyone who is free tonight in New York should come and check this film out (if there are tickets left). John is a great film maker with vision and real artistic integrity. Check out his documentary How To Draw A Bunny (a doc about the artist, Ray Johnson) at MOMA next month. MOMA is featuring films with jazz scores and How To Draw A Bunny is scored by the late Max Roach. This was (I think) Max’s final work before he passed away. It’s great and you should all go!

This Sunday at Barbes my voice will be on a multimedia performance that will include live improvised music, film and lighting. The film is by Ana Isabel Ordonez and the musicians will be Herb Robertson, Dave Ballou and Matt Darriau. I recorded my voice a few months ago and I have no idea what the final product is. I’ve never attended a show where I’m in the audience and I’m listening to my own voice. Should be interesting for me… If anyone is free, come on down to good ole’ Brooklyn and check it out. Flim noir is so great. Anyone ever checked out Gilda? Too cool.

So I’ve decided to write about shows that I intend to see and/or if I can’t make them, I highly recommend you checking them out.

Monday, April 14th
Eivind Opsvik
Overseas with Tony Malaby, Jacob Sacks, Kenny Wolleson
at Knitting Factory Tap Bar 8 pm $13

If you haven’t checked this band out, you should really go. Eivind’s compositions are beautiful and memorable. All the members of the band are incredible improvisers and spectacular performers. I love this band!

Tuesday to Sunday, April 15th-20th
Bill Frisell 858 Quartet with Jenny Scheinman, Eyvind Kang, Hank Roberts
at Village Vanguard 9, 11 pm $30

If you have the coin to see Bill Frisell, go and check him out. I haven’t heard this particular ensemble but I usually like anything that Bill Frisell does.

Friday and Saturday, April 18th and 19th
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
with Erica vonKleist, Ben Kono, Dan Willis, Mike McGinnis, Josh Sinton, Ingrid Jensen, Seneca Black, Tom Goehring, Ryan Keberle, Mike Fahie,
James Hirschfeld, Jen Wharton, Sebastian Noelle, Mike Holober,
Matt Clohesy, Jon Wikan
at the Jazz Gallery 9, 10:30 pm $15

Normally I’m not the biggest fan of big band but Darcy has a cool thing going on and it’s worth checking out. His compositions are modern and relative to the times (if that makes any sense). I admire what Darcy does and his blog is great too. He is as articulate with his words as he is expressive with his music. You won’t regret going to hear his band.

Well that’s what I am going to try and check out this week. I hope to see you there.

Today is the official announcement of the Yoon Sun Choi/Jacob Sacks Duo’s upcoming release of Imagination. After almost two years of work this recording is finally going to be made public. This was a labor of love and I can’t wait to share it with everyone.

The music on this CD is from the composer Joe Raposo. Most of you may not be familiar with his name but you all know his music. Raposo wrote for the great children’s television shows like Sesame Street, The Muppets and The Electric Company. He also wrote musicals, movie scores and much more.

It was a difficult process trying to find which songs to record. We love the famous works like Bein’ Green and Sing. But we loved the songs that were not as well known like Not Much Of A Dog and Blue. We love every track and Jacob and I hope that when you get your hands on this CD you’ll love them too.

Remember that date: July 1st, 2008
Buy the CD!

It is finally here! Our record label Yeah Yeah Records is now up and running. Below is an excerpt from our mission statement and business plan. If you want to read the full scoop, please visit the website.

We want to build a place that jazz fans, new or old, can come to in order to browse, listen and discuss the kind of music we love to play. We figure that if you find our links section useful, you might come back. And if you find our forum interesting, you might come back for that. You’ll come back, we hope, if the blog on the front page turns out to have useful and interesting posts. And if our catalog turns out to be a handy place to do comparison shopping and get information and ideas about new artists of potential interest to you, then perhaps you’ll just give in and hang out here all the time. So this is how we’re trying to get your attention: By making it worth your while to stick around.

Chris has put so much into the site and helped build the concept of our label. Jacob Sacks and I are so excited about this. We know that record labels are sort of a thing from the past. This is an idealistic, and optimistic approach to gathering our musical community together and making it stronger. We hope you like it cause we love it!