junsjazz cool grooves: Tim Bowman

JUNSJAZZ e-FM Internet Radio

That's right folks! You can now listen to the coolest music in this blog thru JUNSJAZZ e-FM internet radio via SHOUTcast on your Winamp Media Player. If you don't have Winamp installed in your PC, you can download it here. It's probably the best media player around with tons of features and functionalities, and it's free!

Now the simple steps:
1. On the Media Library menu (left panel), click SHOUTtcast Radio.
2. On the "Enter Search Terms" box, type in JUNSJAZZ e-FM, on the "Genre" dropdown box choose smooth jazz, and on the nearby box choose All Bitrates. Click "Search".
3. When JUNSJAZZ e-FM crops up, just click "Tune In".

The good news, those without Winamp player which is compatible only with Windows OS, to the detriment of legions of Mac users, can also access and tune in to the station thru the SHOUTcast website. For a direct link to the station, click here.

This is not a commercial endeavor. I just had to find a way to personally share to the world the music I love and with the wonders of technology I am able to freely stream jazz music across the Internet. I'm broadcasting from my PC server at home and with my available bandwidth I could fit in 20 listeners simultaneously. I have made various playlists of the thousands of jazz MP3s in my 500 gig external hard disk and, of course, play them all for your listening pleasure. Aside from the obligatory sleep (for an insomniac like me that's just a few hours) and the times when I have to go outdoors to indulge my other passion which is photography, I will endeavor to keep the station up and running for most of the time.

So do tune in and enjoy the jazz experience! Thanks!

A Passion for Jazz

Two passions fill my free time: photography and jazz music. I maintain around seven blogs and sites relating to photography which I came to enjoy six years ago when I had my first digital camera. Jazz music, however, has been a personal fave and delight for more than half of my life, starting with my college days when I bought my first jazz album on cassette tape (CDs then cost like gold) - Dave Grusin's Mountain Dance. From that first, my cassette tape collection of jazz artists grew to 600 pieces, which I still keep and cherish until now. A separate collection of jazz CDs and MP3s amassed in recent years is another story. In short, this blog is an integral part of my passion for jazz where I get to collect online the tunes that I grew up with, listen again to the classics that were so hard to find then but are now just a "search" away, rediscover the artists whose creations have provided me years of musical enjoyment, and expose myself to the amazing new breed of jazz talents. Though I have learned to play just a note or two, I have however fully developed an appreciation and discernment of an ideal musical form which I humbly share with you through this blog. Be with me in this jazz journey.

How To Enjoy The Music In This Blog

Unless your PC is connected to your home theater system, as in my case, then you're missing out on fully enjoying the music in this blog. As some of you may know, the player you click to listen to the music (either blue or orange rectangular boxes below each artist's posted album image), is a compressed music code that churns out music at low fidelity, sometimes sampled only at 64kbps, as against the CD-quality of 128kbps and above. Assuming you have a stable and fast internet connection free of lags and crashes, you have to compensate in some other areas to enjoy a rich listening experience, and one of the crucial components are the speakers. My PC is wired to a Pioneer 5.1 receiver which is the nerve center of my HT system which powers 600 watts of surround sound. Without this kind of setup, it is wise to invest in a reliable and dependable PC speaker system which can faithfully reproduce music even in its less than pristine form. However, 6 speakers (5.1 system) may be too much of a clutter for most desktop lay-out and a decent 2.1 (left, right speakers, 1 sub) stereo system would be enough for many. But if your PC is also your media entertainment center and would like the whole surround sound shebang, then by all means go for it. Just remember that you would need a 5.1 analog output from your PC soundcard connected to the 5.1 inputs of your receiver to realize surround sound. Then again we're talking music listening here and the best for that is still the good ol' stereo with a sub unit to carry those low frequencies - the Hammond organ of James Taylor Quartet, the bass slaps of Stanley Clarke and those thunderous drums of Dave Weckl - well, you know what I mean. The carousel widget below shows some great new stuff from Amazon.com to help you in your choices.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Tim Bowman

Click above image to download album
Visit Tim Bowman's Official Website

Artist: Tim Bowman
Album Title: Smile
Release Date: October 2000
Genre: Smooth Jazz
Quality/Bitrate: Mp3/192kbps
Total Time: 53:39 min
Total Size: 70.2 MB

Tracks:
01. Heart & Soul
02. Smile
03. Happiness is
04. Wanda Patrice
05. Glory to Glory
06. Columbus, GA
07. Yes, No and Yes
08. Friends
09. Watchout
10. Flyin' Away
11. Just Another Day
12. My Prayer

Tim Bowman - Smile

Found at: FilesTube

Tim Bowman calls his disc Smile, and thus it follows naturally that the guitarist would create songs and moods that would provoke that response from the listener. Titles like "Happiness Is...," a bright, retro-soul charmer featuring Bowman's chipper electric lines and occasional wah-wah accents, tell the basic story; it's pleasant, uplifting music that only occasionally extends beyond simple cheery emotions with some well crafted improvisations. He toys with various acoustic tones on "Heart and Soul," sometimes bringing Peter White's lightheartedness to mind as synth strings waft through. The title track is in some ways the ultimate smooth jazz radio track — a snappy guitar melody offset by some rich harmonic undertones and a lush solo by saxman Dave McMurray. His liner notes reveal his Christian faith, and it's no surprise that the best tracks here have more of a gospel influence. He gives gospel singer Fred Hammond's "Glory To Glory" a likeable reading, which allows some stretching on electric, even if it's over a very synthesized groove. The church roots truly come alive on the buoyant and funky "Columbus GA," on which Bowman blends his own low electric tones with the muted trumpet musings of Jesse McGuire — all bouncing happily over the shimmering organ foundations of Bryan Bowman. The moody closer "My Prayer" isn't quite as inspired, but it's still a nice display of Bowman's rich and soulful sense of balladry.~From iTunes Preview