Multi-task to Music: Listen to Fabulous Jazz and Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month

NU Libraries subscribes to wonderful online music services, easily accessed from our Video and Sound page. Here are some “hot off the press” destinations for your wandering mind: Jazz Music Library Update: Alexander Street Press just added 850 Blue Note label recordings to their Jazz Music Library. Blue Note, founded in 1939 and sold to EMI in 2006, includes diverse styles associated with “hard bop” jazz. To access these recordings and musician biographies, go to the Jazz Music Library. You can search by Blue Note. The new content includes releases by Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Cassandra Wilson, Wynton Marsalis, Louis Prima, Nigel Kennedy, Bernadette Peters, and more. Great recordings include: * Duke Ellington Live at the Blue Note * The Complete Imperial Sessions: Sonny Criss * The Rudy van Gelder Edition CDs of Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Walter Davis Jr, Andrew Hill, Dexter Gordon, and more * Benny Green Live at the Village Vanguard * David Axelrod at Capitol Records (1966-1970) * The Complete Capitol Recordings of Art Tatum * The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Herbie Nichols * Kenny Burrell 75th Birthday Bash Live All of the new tracks run at both 192kbps and 320kbps bitrates. Smithsonian Global Sound Update: New Free Download! Smithsonian Global Sound, another marvelous listening service, features music from around the world. As part of a new bi-weekly tradition, Alexander Street and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings offer a free music download. September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. Join in the celebration with a free download of “Paraguarí” performed by harp master Marcelo Rojas from the 2009 Smithsonian Folkways album Maiteí América: Harps of Paraguay. “Paraguarí” from Maiteí América: Harps of Paraguay (SFW40578) This track is owned by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and is available, free of charge, for a limited time only. Be sure to join their mailing list for regular email updates every time a new track becomes available. Stay tuned for more music updates!

Class of 2015: View Library Tips from an Upperclassman

With the first full week of Fall classes complete, I would like to welcome the Freshman class of 2015. If they haven’t already, they will shortly find Snell Library to be their second home, literally. Let’s all put aside the fact that this class is spoiled by having the new 24/7 policy of the Library that we all fought for. It will help them adjust to those long nights spent doing projects last minute. (Do the rest of you Upperclassmen remember when we could get away with that?) So come on in, put the cell phone on mute, and plug those headphones in, because it will be a year of hard work with plenty of fun in between. I have listed below a few resources/events that may help those last minute panics. NUCAT is your resource to find any type of print/media that is in Northeastern’s libraries. Here is a list of upcoming news and events. Come check out the Meet The Author talks listed here. Need to find a peer-reviewed article by 8 AM and “Googling” isn’t accepted by your Prof.? The Library has you covered. Welcome new faces and be sure to check out all the Library has to offer. Feel free to ask any Library staff or students around you if you are confused about anything. My best advice to you is to explore the opportunities you have here at Northeastern and get involved. The Library is always looking for new ideas and new writers (so comment away right here)!.

Blue Note Sounds a New Note

The Jazz Music Library from Alexander Street Press now includes recordings from Blue Note records, the recording label known for high-quality albums from the beginning of the jazz age through the 1960s and beyond. With these new online recordings now available to the NU community, you can listen to Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Dexter Gorden, Art Blakey and more!  These are for the most part digital remasters, so for the true aficionados out there, you may need to come to the library and seek out the Solomon Jazz collection on vinyl, but for your classes or for listening pleasure, these are convenient gems of a true American classical art form.  Enjoy!

Friday Five: Animal Planet

For some reason, or maybe because I’m just more attuned to it for some reason, a lot of science news this week had to do with the animal world. 1. Compared to animals, humans don’t actually travel around much.  A team of NU researchers is finding that human movement is highly predictable and pretty restricted.  Their results, which were based on cell phone gps data (they swear it’s anonymized) were published this week in Nature Physics and a summary is available on the NU News site. 2. Jonathan Franzen’s acclaimed new book “Freedom” has arrived at Snell. A realist novel in the spirit of Tom Wolfe, it is the story of a dysfunctional family trying to navigate the shoals of 21st century America.  One of the protagonists is an environmental lawyer and much of it is set in and around the environmental movement.  Oprah’s just chosen it for her book club (despite the fact that Franzen has dissed her book club taste in the past!). 3. This week PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology reports on the demise of the tiger and a way to ensure its survival through the protection of its breeding grounds. 4. When it comes to eating animal products, the Annals of Internal Medicine reports that there’s a big difference between low-carb diets high in animal products and those low in animal products.  Those low in animal products resulted in lower mortality from all causes. 5. Science News reports that an ancestor of the virus that causes AIDS has been present in monkeys for 32,000 years!

New Directions

      We have a number of new students blogging for Snell Snippets now; among them are Rachel Holt, Michelle Beiter and Joe Bober, all recent hires in the Advancement office. Brendan Ratner, also work study, will continue to blog, and who knows who else will come on board. As long as everybody makes sure to keep us updated on Library news and events, in particular the Meet the Author Series, we should be good.          I am glad to be introducing these new contributors and sad to say that this day (Friday, the 17th) is my last day and that this will be my last post on this blog. All questions about the blog should from now on be directed to Karen Merguerian (g.merguerian@neu.edu) or Maria Carpenter (m.carpenter@neu.edu). Thanks everybody who has contributed throughout my time here, and keep posting. –Damon G