I'm sure there will be millions of people commenting on what a class act Lou Rawls was. He was a great entertainer and a completely courteous personality. I saw him last summer at a rainy outdoor concert. His appreciation of the remaining crowd felt sincere and warm. We hardly noticed the rain as we enjoyed the manner of a first class entertainer as much as his music.
Lou Rawls - Soulful Blues and Jazz
Friday, January 06, 2006
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Jaco Lives!
Pushing my cart past the magazine shelf at Krogers, the cover of BassGuitar caught my eye. Jaco Lives! A tribute to the baddest bassman ever!
Ok it's at first glance another exploitation of Jaco Pastorius focusing on his punked out persona and comparing him to Hendrix. But I ended up enjoying the 2 focused articles; one biographical and one focused on his pioneering techniques.
I was a big fan of Jaco in the 70's. He was the rebel in Weather Report; the ultimate contrapuntal sideman in Joni Mitchell's Hejira; and funkmaster on Come on, Come over from his first solo album. He coaxed swells and false harmonics from his fretless electric bass or flew into crazy speeding punk jazz funk with complicated burping note damping technique and rhythm that had never been heard before. Peter Erskine at an Ohio State percussion workshop I attended described his rhythmic relationship with Jaco as feeling spiritual, unspoken. A train ride with Jaco was like going to church. He had a driven personality and ego that seemed to keep him distant from others. Seeing him with Weather Report he played far left stage and to the front, often looking annoyed with the bands sound, leaning way back on his stool in a defiant stance. Other times he played with unending intensity, sometimes literally screaming with the effort.
When he was killed outside a bar it was one of those "Aw man!!!" days. I very selfishly feel cheated when a unique artist is taken away in his prime. Why can't they all be like Clapton and clean up, enjoy life and keep playing? The balance of intensity and sensibility seems particularly difficult for artists.
Ok it's at first glance another exploitation of Jaco Pastorius focusing on his punked out persona and comparing him to Hendrix. But I ended up enjoying the 2 focused articles; one biographical and one focused on his pioneering techniques.
I was a big fan of Jaco in the 70's. He was the rebel in Weather Report; the ultimate contrapuntal sideman in Joni Mitchell's Hejira; and funkmaster on Come on, Come over from his first solo album. He coaxed swells and false harmonics from his fretless electric bass or flew into crazy speeding punk jazz funk with complicated burping note damping technique and rhythm that had never been heard before. Peter Erskine at an Ohio State percussion workshop I attended described his rhythmic relationship with Jaco as feeling spiritual, unspoken. A train ride with Jaco was like going to church. He had a driven personality and ego that seemed to keep him distant from others. Seeing him with Weather Report he played far left stage and to the front, often looking annoyed with the bands sound, leaning way back on his stool in a defiant stance. Other times he played with unending intensity, sometimes literally screaming with the effort.
When he was killed outside a bar it was one of those "Aw man!!!" days. I very selfishly feel cheated when a unique artist is taken away in his prime. Why can't they all be like Clapton and clean up, enjoy life and keep playing? The balance of intensity and sensibility seems particularly difficult for artists.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Practice away from the Instrument
Okay, I don't perform with anywhere near the frequency I used to. But the musical mind never stops! :) I'll hear an intersting bit on the radio and visualize myself playing the part on the keyboard or guitar...or drums. (Ok it's usually a melody that hooks me) Sometimes I'll develop the musical phrase, basline, drumfill, whatever into something different, mentally improvising on a theme, somtimes hearing whole new arrangements. It's not work like practice is. Frankly I suck at practicing the rudiments of an instrument, but I love to jam and figure things out. So it is with my mental practice. It's a type of daydreaming about playing that absorbs my attention. Lets just say I don't mind driving long distances.
With all this practice away from the instrument, I am still surprised when after a hiatus I sit down to play and new ideas and even skills come pouring out. When did I learn to do this?! This is coupled with the remembering ..."Hey! I forgot I could play the keyboard...this is cool!"
Of course I would be more of journeyman musician if I played everyday still, but its nice to know that as I mature as a musician I can't help but improve. It's ingrained in my way of thinking. It's impossible for me to not learn from listening or thinking about music.
Life is good!
With all this practice away from the instrument, I am still surprised when after a hiatus I sit down to play and new ideas and even skills come pouring out. When did I learn to do this?! This is coupled with the remembering ..."Hey! I forgot I could play the keyboard...this is cool!"
Of course I would be more of journeyman musician if I played everyday still, but its nice to know that as I mature as a musician I can't help but improve. It's ingrained in my way of thinking. It's impossible for me to not learn from listening or thinking about music.
Life is good!
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
The Sports Center of the Universe
The theory of sports fan relativity states that: The less a sports fan is in motion, the more the sports universe appears to rotate around his team.
Packing and loading my equipment I would hear arguments about the coaches and players and optimism over the local teams chances. Arriving a few hundred miles away and setting up I would hear a different group of bar patrons having nearly identical conversations about a different team. In my traveling days it seemed only the other road warriors, salesmen, truckers, etc had a view of teams in a real world context. This has probably changed some with all the sports channels creating wormholes through the sport universe.
But to listen to those locals talk you would think they became fans based on independent criteria. It is mere coincidence that greater numbers of a teams fans tend to group in nearby geographic locations.
When the talk is even more locally focused on local prep schools, the sports universe can get even more tightly centered. It's great that they are fans, especially when supporting children, and family members. Rooting for the home team and making every game a positive event is good for the community. But in the bar world it seems there are always a couple guys who think their local team is better, more important, and and the best tool for boasting imaginable. I think it would be best if I could pluck those 2 guys from every town and put them somewhere with a keg of beer so they can settle it once and for all.
But this would be very dangerous. Putting all these gravitational centers near one another could create a black hole that would suck all the sports bars into it and compressing it till it reached critical mass. The resulting explosion would leave the tri-state area covered in chicken wings.
BTW my nephews football team is the real sports center of the universe.
Packing and loading my equipment I would hear arguments about the coaches and players and optimism over the local teams chances. Arriving a few hundred miles away and setting up I would hear a different group of bar patrons having nearly identical conversations about a different team. In my traveling days it seemed only the other road warriors, salesmen, truckers, etc had a view of teams in a real world context. This has probably changed some with all the sports channels creating wormholes through the sport universe.
But to listen to those locals talk you would think they became fans based on independent criteria. It is mere coincidence that greater numbers of a teams fans tend to group in nearby geographic locations.
When the talk is even more locally focused on local prep schools, the sports universe can get even more tightly centered. It's great that they are fans, especially when supporting children, and family members. Rooting for the home team and making every game a positive event is good for the community. But in the bar world it seems there are always a couple guys who think their local team is better, more important, and and the best tool for boasting imaginable. I think it would be best if I could pluck those 2 guys from every town and put them somewhere with a keg of beer so they can settle it once and for all.
But this would be very dangerous. Putting all these gravitational centers near one another could create a black hole that would suck all the sports bars into it and compressing it till it reached critical mass. The resulting explosion would leave the tri-state area covered in chicken wings.
BTW my nephews football team is the real sports center of the universe.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
I have so many stories from my years of traveling and playing in bars I suppose it was only a matter of time before I started blogging about it. Probably half my entries will begin with "Once when I was playing at this bar in (insert town here)..."
Maybe other musicians will have tales of the road to tell.
Maybe other musicians will have tales of the road to tell.
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