a jazz post

I was browsing the web this morning and I rediscovered an old obsession of mine called Audioscrobbler (now rebranded and greatly improved). It's called last.fm and it allows you not only to find artists similar to the ones you like by a simple search, it now allows you to stream music based on your taste. how does it know your taste in music?

well, it uses a tagging/recognition system where you run a program that tells its server what you've been playing in your media player (Windows Media Player, MusicMatch Jukebox, iTunes, etc.) and it compiles information on you. it then works out these charts for you. it works best once you've been using the system for a while so it can tell what you're more into and what you are less into.

so the reason for this post is that I launched a customized radio station this morning with some special last.fm software that was very easy to download and make work on my mac that played music that was very much in tune with my interests. it led me to not only discover a few artists who I really dug but it played some really good stuff that I hadn't heard by artists who I am familiar with. for example:

Lunz - Remembering
Joe Henderson - What's New (off of Mirror Mirror)
Don Cherry - forget the name of the song and the album
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Bright Moments (off of Bright Moments)
Pharoah Sanders - Midnight in Berkeley Square (forget the name of the album)
much much more.....

Check it out. I am off to DC. Not sure if I will remember to post but keep tuned for more music stuff. Oh, there is a chance that the Vandermark 5 will make a Pittsburgh appearance in the beginning of February 2006 if I have anything to say about it.

Now Listening to: Chris Potter - Live in London