Posts Tagged → music

Jam Pack Nostalgia

Stephen Hackett recently wrote a delightful article on Apple Jam Packs that made me smile. If you were using Apple gear during a certain decade, saving up for and buying Apple Jam Packs was one of the delights of the platform.

I remember slowly adding to my collection over a few years and the thrill of exploring all the loops, rhythms, and instruments with each new purchase. Folks that were there may disagree as to what the best Jam Pack was, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, so long as they acknowledge that, without a doubt, the World Music Jam Pack was the clear winner.

If you have the original first edition OmniFocus Field Guide, first, bless you, and, second, all the transition music in it was World Music Jam Pack loops.

A Great Day in Harlem

Every few years, this Art Kane image, “Harlem 1958” comes up (Wikipedia), and it always stops me in my tracks, looking at all these great musicians, many of whom were on the cusp of a career that would change the course of music. They are all luminaries, and only one of them is left, Sonny Rollins.

The New York Times did a great job with this interactive web page and it’s worth scrolling through just to learn a little bit of the history. Sonny Rollins looked cool in 1958 and he still looks cool in 2024. My favorite Sonny Rollins song, Strode Rode, where his solo absolutely shreds.

Thanks for the link, reader Tom.

The Yule Playlist

It’s that time of year again. If you haven’t already subscribed to my Yule Playlist, you should check it out. I’ve been curating it for over a decade, and it’s full of excellent holiday music, primarily in the jazz genre. Over the years, I’ve received messages from people using this playlist for their holiday parties, while decorating the tree, and otherwise being festive.

I hope you are among them.

HiFi Streaming

Spotify recently announced its HiFi streaming upgrade where users can, for a premium fee, get higher bitrate streaming music. I would be surprised if Apple doesn’t do something similar before the end of the year.

Apparently, there are some benefits to being over 50 and suffering from tinnitus. I took this test (found at 9to5 Mac) and I couldn’t tell any difference, even with my fanciest headphones. Hopefully, you do better.

The Yule Apple Music Playlist


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The holidays are here and I’ve been doing more work on my “Yule” playlist. I’ve made lots of new additions this year including this gem from Joey Alexander. If you’ve got an Apple Music subscription, go ahead and subscribe and enjoy. The playlist is very heavily jazz but with a few other delightful holiday songs from other artists, including this one where Jack Johnston takes Santa to task for the way they were treating Rudolph just because he has a red nose.

Anyway, here’s the link:

MacSparky’s Yule Playlist

Drummer Boy

I’ve never liked the Drummer Boy Christmas carol. I remember playing it as a kid and thinking about how much it made me sleepy. Last year I decided to do my own cover of Drummer Boy so I cooked this up with Garage Band on the iPad and my MIDI keyboard. Enjoy.

Air Turn for iPad Sheet Music

I’ve digitized all my sheet music and I display it on my iPad via forScore.  I only have two complaints. The music is a little smaller on the iPad so I have to pay a little bit closer attention when reading it. I recently purchased a pair of reading glasses (I know) and that seems to be solving this problem. The second complaint is turning pages. The app has an easy enough gesture to reach up and flip the page but because it is not tactile like sheet music and because computers aren’t perfect, sometimes it doesn’t go just right and I end up turning two pages.

Today Macworld did a video review of the Air Turn device that solves this problem with a Bluetooth foot pedal. Tap it with your foot, and the page turns. This seems like a no-brainer for a professional musician. Maybe it’s a Christmas list item for me.