I’ve created a website that allows easy discovery of interesting Youtube videos. It’s at FindInteresting.com.

Videos are shown in a collage of thumbnails as in the screenshot at right. It starts off with your favorite videos or a search term. Then if you click a video it will load more thumbnails on your screen, in particular: the favorite videos of the person who created that video.

To start, enter your youtube channel name to show your favorites, or enter a search term like “jazz”. Then click videos to load more thumbnails. You can hover your mouse over a video to read its title. Double click a video to load it in a popup player.

Once the player is open, you can click the link in the top right corner to watch the video on Youtube instead, where you can write comments below the video, “like” it, or add it to your favorites.

Here is a video where I explain how to use the site:

Why is this cool? For a number of reasons I think:

• Showing only thumbnails and no text allows the eye to quickly scan over hundreds, or even thousands of videos to pick out the ones that might be interesting to watch. We have a much better visual ability to pick out patterns and process large amounts of information from images rather than text. Also the fact that no text is used breaks down language barriers, especially for music videos.
• The Pop up player makes watching the first 5 seconds of a video really easy (the user can click away from the player and it will disappear, or click the X button in the popup to close it). This allows you to check out a video to determine if it is worth watching, and easily dismiss it, if it isn’t what you expect.
• When clicking a video, the favorites of the video’s creator are loaded below as thumbnails. This works really quickly to discover videos that will be interesting to you, on the principle that if you like a video, you’ll enjoy watching the videos that its creator likes too.

Since creating this site, I have spent many enjoyable leisure hours watching lots of videos and discovering some wonderful music from around the world. I really recommend trying it out, and please let me know what you think.

The site can be accessed for free at FindInteresting.com. Be sure to send comments or questions to geoff@gpeters.com – thanks!

One thing I really love about digital media, and media in general, is the power to repeat.

Jazz musicians learn the language of jazz by repeated listening and transcribing of recordings. Writers learn from closely re-reading books, poems, or articles. Video editors and filmmakers learn from closely analyzing and re-watching TV commercials, short films, or movie scenes.

With basic TV, you can’t repeat – you have to blindly accept all the images that are being force-fed into your mind. Digital TV has given control to “Pause” live TV, and to some degree repeat.

Youtube is awesome because there is no limit to how many times you can repeat a video – just click the play button again.

Streaming radio annoys me because I find I really only enjoy a song once I have heard it 5 times.

Live concerts sometimes frustrate me – I find I don’t have the brainpower to remember or perceive all the complexities of a live concert, but if I had a video recording or even an audio recording I could absorb everything the artist is trying to convey.

Of course I love live music for the spontaneity and feeling the presence of the performers.

Without the ability to repeat I feel helpless. With it, I can master my role as an audience member in perceiving art and media, and truly improve my own ability to create.

A couple weeks ago I made a video of myself performing the jazz standard An Afternoon in Paris by John Lewis.

I performed solo piano on my upright acoustic Petrof piano. It’s available below or on Youtube.

Hope you enjoy it!

other links:

• Listen to different versions of this song at Grooveshark. I especially like the renditions by Sonny Rollins and Cedar Walton.
• My jazz band in Vancouver, the Geoff Peters Trio, has a new CD which is available for free listening on our website.

Last night I made a video recording of myself performing an original jazz bebop tune on the piano. It’s called Ocean Apart and I wrote it last summer while taking a composition class with New York jazz pianist Misha Piatigorsky.

You can view the video on Youtube, Blip.tv, or use the player below.

The MP3 recording of this performance is available for free here.

I played piano at a wedding with my friend Julian N., a saxophonist and composer. Julian is a student at Humber College in Toronto. You can view his myspace page by clicking here.

Here is a track listing with links to the individual videos:

• Stella by Starlight (Victor Young)
• Blue Bossa (Kenny Dorham)
• Out of Nowhere (Johnny Green)
• Recordame by Joe Henderson
• Donna Lee (Charlie Parker)
• Blues in Bb
• Summertime (George Gershwin)
• It Could Happen To You (Jimmy Van Heusen)
• Footprints (Wayne Shorter)

If you’d like to download MP3′s of the concert (free) you can get them from here.

With Julian’s permission I used my minidisc unit to record the audio from our performance. There is quite a bit of background noise from the wedding guests’ conversation, but in the recordings you can hear both of us quite clearly.

I also set up my Sony Camcorder in the corner and video-taped our performance too. There was very low light, so you can barely make us out in the video, but it gives more context to the audio to be able to see us perform too.

At this wedding, we performed a selection of mainstream jazz standards in a duo style. Probably my biggest inspiration for the saxophone-piano duo format is the legendary combination of Stan Getz (saxophone) and Kenny Barron (piano). Another inspiration for rhythmic ideas has been the mighty pianist Chick Corea and his duets with the one and only voice artist Bobby Mcferrin (such as their killer performance of Autumn Leaves).

So without further ado, here’s our complete performance (except for the last song we played, Confirmation by Charlie Parker, where we got interrupted by some DJ music).

Hope you enjoy! I hope that these performances will give you some ideas or inspiration for your own journeys in jazz and music in general.

Further listening: I performed one of Julian’s original compositions with the college band at the Phil Dwyer Academy of Music and Culinary Arts (PDAMCA) last August.

I am currently writing a short film (under 10 minutes). Meet Robo Robert. He’s an eccentric fellow who loves a good chip and defrag. Suprisingly well connected, RR plays chess, goes for walks, and even takes care of the mouse. Robo’s life is simple, but something is missing. Something electric. One day, RR goes to a park for a chat with Lindy. Their exchange will change his outlook forever.

(Actors and helpers needed – inquire within)

My friend Marcus and I created an ear training video on identifying chords. It’s available at EarPractice, on Youtube, or by using the player below.

In the video I play a series of chords on the piano and after each one, pause for the viewer to identify the kind of chord (such as Major, minor, dominant-seventh) and the key (such as C, A, etc), before revealing the answer. This is a useful exercise and is something you can do with a friend too, once you get the idea.

Mad TV is one of my favorite comedy TV shows. They are not afraid to explore touchy subjects such as racism, politics, class divisions, and commercialism, and they do it in an hilarious and smart way.

Here is a sketch where Apple’s Steve Jobs introduces their latest product, the iRack. It is a funny and astute commentary on the Iraq war, at the same time poking fun at the consumer culture and hype surrounding Apple.

This sketch is from MADtv Season 12, Episode 16.

The actors are:
Steve Jobs (Michael McDonald)
Announcer (Nicole Parker)
Audience members (Crista Flanagan, Jordan Peele, and Keegan-Michael Key)

pegEsus Quintet Live at Hermann's Jazz Club (poster by Oliver Brooks)

Back in August I performed a show with the pegEsus Quintet at Hermann’s Jazz Club in Victoria.

pegEsus is led by vocalist Peggy Hogan, who is currently studying music and literature at Concordia University.

The pegEsus Quintet is: Peggy Hogan voice, Geoff Peters piano, Ben Fast bass, Nick Houghton drums, and Amanda Paterson saxophone.

I recorded the show using my Minidisc recorder and camcorder, and put together the whole thing online as a series of Youtube videos.

• Watch entire show on Youtube
• Download the MP3′s of the concert (free)
• Check out Peggy’s myspace page.
• See my article on how use Minidiscs to record live music.

Here is a set list and links to the individual videos:

Set 1:

• Song For My Father by Horace Silver

• Your Mind is On Vacation by Mose Allison

• Close Enough for Love by Johnny Mandel, Paul Williams

• Bye Bye Blackbird by Ray Henderson

• Straight No Chaser by Thelonious Monk

• Georgia on My Mind by Hoagy Carmichael

• West Coast Blues by Wes Montgomery

Set 2:

• Softly as In A Morning Sunrise by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II

• A Timeless Place (The Peacocks) by Norma Winstone / Jimmy Rowles

• It Ain’t Necessarily So by George and Ira Gershwin

• Twisted by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

• God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr.

Last week I attended the Phil Dwyer Academy of Music and Culinary Arts (PDAMCA) in Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada. Check out Phil Dwyer’s web site for more info about the camp. It was an amazing experience, with world class faculty and very talented students.

Here are some videos from our final concert. I was playing in a combo ensemble directed by Ingrid Jensen. Feel free to use the players or the links below.

“Tristan Paxton” – a composition by James Colwell
Watch: Youtube
Listen: Mp3

“Pass The Baton” – a composition by Julian Nalli
Watch: Youtube
Listen: Mp3

Mark Adam Drum – by Joel Miller
Watch – Youtube
Listen – Mp3