US education system

I guess most people won't take a close look or try understanding the education system until they have kids (unless they study education at college?) I was told the charter movement was a good thing years ago but then I've also heard some skeptical opinions. Anyway, none of our kids ended up going to charter schools. Just came across a post on Slashdot about it. It links to a few articles, including one that criticize it heavily. There are always 2 sides on every coin: new form of schools brings new way to educate kids. Sometimes things could get out of control though. For example, one of the operators mentioned in the article use computer-aided classes heavily to reduce the cost of hiring teachers. It's a good thing to bring down the cost but you can't sacrifice the human touch too much. Another example is about teacher's union disallowed at those schools. We all know what powerful teacher's union could do. It's always difficult to strike the balance.

Jazz playlist

There are quite a few interesting jazz albums released this year. I put together this play list:

• Charnett Moffett: The Bridge
• Ron Carter Golden Striker Trio: San Sebastian
• Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo: Melody Magic
• Lage Lund: Foolhardy
• Jim Hall: Fame and Fortune

And there are quite a few common themes among these albums:
1) guitar/bass centric: there are albums for fans of guitar and bass (like me :) Charnett Moffett and Ron Carter are among the biggest names in jazz bass. Bass lovers certainly won't be disappointed with the amount of bass solo. All 5 albums features guitarists except the first one (solo bass!) And as a bonus for fans of violin, guest violinist Zack Brock played on 4 tracks on Melody Magic.  
2) small groups: there were solo, duo, trio and quartets. That's all. Very intimate. You could clearly hear the on-going (musical) conversations.
3) If you are a fan of Beatles, you would enjoy the covers on both "The Bridge" and "Melody Magic"
And if you are a fan of Jacques Loussier, THE master of arranging Bach's work into jazz piano trio format, "Melody Magic" has that kind of magic. You will find the classical melodies very familiar yet refreshing with the new arrangements.

Finally, the world of jazz guitar has lost one of the icon: Jim Hall, in 2013. This Fame and Fortune album seems to be a compilation by the "mysterious" Jazz2Jazz label (aka JEI records) from earlier releases featuring Jim Hall playing with different pianists. Too bad there's very few info about the label (and the album!)

She Rocks

That's the name of an award ceremony. Gotta admit it sounds kinda cheesy but I dig the idea: paying tribute to women in the music industry. Many female rock musicians are household names. However, it's interesting to learn about the ones "behind the scene", like Dinah Gretsch (CFO of Gretsch guitar) and Maricela "MJ" Juarez (pickup expert at Seymour Duncan) Yes, they rock!