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About a week ago this midnight, the Rolling Stones had just finished up their second show at Boston's Fenway Park. Rather than going out on the Internet to weep over a setlist that I didn't get a chance to witness, I took a trip through this quite interesting jazz-oriented Stones tribute recording. Sometimes It just feels right dragging my pencil across some crisp, white paper (and nearly always preferable to pointing, clicking and clacking away at a keyboard).Ahem...
In the jazz world, the swingification of popular music is very common. Sometimes the results are so great that a well-known pop standard is transformed into a jazz standard. One of the best examples of this is Coltrane's take on "My Favorite Things". A melodious mega-hit from The Sound Of Music reimagined as a soaring fit of passion.
More recent pop and rock music seems somehow less malleable. Maybe it's the simpler song forms. It's tough to say. When the transformation does work, the source material is usually stretched completely out of shape (Bill Frisell's deconstruction/obliteration of Madonna's "Live To Tell" comes to mind). Parodies seem to work given a devious enough intent (Hayseed Dixie and Dread Zeppelin). Shifts into related genres can be fun too. The Reggae spins of pop hits on Brand New Second Hand were fantastic: you've probably heard Toots & the Maytals do "Take Me Home Country Roads" from that record.
Tim Ries' The Rolling Stones Project is a different animal. Instead of attempting to distort the music, Ries (with a little help from some friends) takes the gist of each song and amplifies it...off in a slightly different direction.
That approach makes a lot of sense when you learn that Ries has played (sax, keys, organ) with the Rolling Stones on both the No Security and 40 Licks tours. A jazz arrangement of "Moonlight Mile" on his own recording Alternate Side gave him the idea that the Stones' music had further jazz potential.
Part of what makes this tribute unique is that the Stones, after hearing a few demos, became part of the project. So Charlie, Keith and Ronnie (who also provided the cover artwork) were added to the already stellar cast of Larry Goldings, John Patitucci, John Scofield, Darryl Jones, Brian Blade, Ben Monder, Bill Frisell and Norah Jones.
So what do jazz instrumental versions of these iconic tunes sound like? Well, that varies from song to song.
The snotty opening riff of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is turned on its side and made to preach the funk thanks to John Scofield's rippling guitar lines and Larry Goldings' organ.
"Honky Tonk Woman" as an organ trio (Ries, Goldings and Watts) works better than expected. I've heard Charlie Watts in a jazz context before ("From One Charlie" being the first) so it's not surprising to hear him anchoring the swing.
The melody of "Street Fighting Man" is zipped off at a quick pace in the middle of a Brazilian strut. The soloing here is inspired (hats off to Edward Simon on piano) and for a while you'll forget that this is a Stones classic...until that familiar melody pops back in.
There are a handful of tunes on this collection with vocals. Sheryl Crow joins Keith on swirling background vocals for "Slipping Away". Lisa Fischer shadows the melody line of "Gimme Shelter" and adds backing vocals with a "Great Gig In The Sky" feel. And, in what is both the least and most transformed song, Norah Jones and Bill Frisell anchor an ultra-sultry "Wild Horses". I tell ya, Frisell's guitar was made for that voice.
Speaking of Frisell, his atmospheric guitar is all over the pensive "Waiting On A Friend" and a gorgeous "Ruby Tuesday", the latter performed as a duet with Ries.
The possibilities inherent in Stones jazz arrangements are best illustrated by the expansive solos taken by Ben Monder (guitar) and Bill Charlap (piano) during "Paint It Black". As Brian Blade forces the rhythmic issue, those guys just take off.
The least jazzified tune on The Rolling Stones Project is the second version of "Honky Tonk Woman", labeled "(Keith's Version)". After a sexy vocal intro (thank you again Lisa Fischer), Keith's signature guitar raunch kicks in. From there the melody is handled by Ries and the chorus blooms with Fischer's vocals. Keith provides a blistering guitar solo. Bliss ensues. Fischer ends the tune with the vocal aside/come on "You better play boy..."
The Rolling Stones Project ends appropriately with the Ries original "Belleli". It's his tribute to the Stones' lyrical side and is dedicated to his twin girls, born during the 40 Licks tour.
Rest assured, this record is no Stones-at-the-grocery-store-on-Musak kind of thing. It is instead a successful experiment by an inventive jazz mind. In some ways, it was quite a risk taking on such famous source material...but hey, if it was good enough for Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie, then it's good enough for me.
This morning's Very Special Friday Morning Listen comes straight to you from the kitchen of Chez Cranky. An impromtu vacation day has been taken to deal with a lovely problem encountered earlier this week. Here's the short and sad story.Stepson #1 has been doing some work around the house for me. There's been a problem with the screen porch that I've been meaning to get to. A few of the boards along the bottom of the porch have some rot issues. Stepson #1 removes said boards to reveal some ugly damage caused by some not so great weekend carpentry. From what I can tell, the porched used to be a plain old deck. At some point somebody had the (good!!) idea to turn the thing into a screened in porch complete with roof. I can't really complain about that. It was definitely one of the selling points of the house.
But...the execution was less than great. I would have expected that the supporting corner beams would have been connected to the floor joists. Or maybe they'd go straight through to the footings. Heck, I would have settled for them resting right on the subfloor decking (except that there isn't any subfloor decking). Nah, Mr. Weekend Carpenter puts load-bearing 4x4's right on top of the hardwood flooring. Nice. I suppose if the outside finish work had been done in such a way as to deal with your typical New England moisture problems (snow, rain, damp) then we wouldn't be in this here mess. What instead has happened is that years of rain and spring snowmelt has caused water to get behind the finish skirting, rotting the exterior wood and the ends of much of the decking. So we've got the nice corner beam (which supports the weight of the roof and other stuff) resting on a half inch of rotted something or other. Very nice. It's a collapse waiting to happen. Funny, a house built in 1825 and the newest part of it is ready to fall over.
So bring on the temporary jack, the reciprocating saw, some pressure-treated wood, some plastic composite 'wood' and a few prayers to the carpentry gods. We'll start the weekend off right, with a listen to The Dead's American Beauty. "Brokedown Palace". Right. Wish us luck.
And...I'm enjoying it quite a lot.
Hey, wipe that smirk offa yer face!
On the drive home last night, I listened to a Fresh Air interview with Dr. Jerald Winakur. The topic was how to deal with an aging parent who is entering that time of the slow downward spiral years of dementia and so on. Dr. Winakur has apparently struck a chord with the recent publication of an article entitled What Are We Going To Do With Dad?At one point the discussion circled around to the fact that all of us tend to deny and/or avoid thoughts of our own inevitable demise.
Sure enough, I avoided those thoughts myself as I took one of those amazing descending mental journeys. You know the ones. In the span of less than a second you can travel back in time, take a few side-trips and draw back to the present. The speed and detail are oftentimes breathtaking.
In my case the visit went back to my first 'real' girlfriend in high school. How amazing she looked when I first saw her walk into morning English class, a whirlwind of blond hair, puffy yellow blouse and arresting smile. It was a couple of years before we actually got together. How would my life have been different if we'd stayed together beyond those years? Would I have still met my first wife? I sure hope so...I met my current wife through her. Would she have then avoided her current abusive marriage? (I learned of that at my 20th high school reunion a few years back). I wonder if she still listens to Bad Company (earlier in the day yesterday I'd watched a bit of video of Queen and Paul Rodgers...and decided that that odd pairing was far more exciting than I could have imagined). We listened to Straight Shooter one time when we were getting...uhm....naughty. She loved The Dead....but dismissed Shakedown Street as "disco Dead". The way she wrinkled her nose at it made me not care about our disagreement.
And right there I ascended back to the present...on the one hand thinking about the unpleasant ever after, and on the other there's Sherry from Maine and that Dead record we could not agree on.
I hope that as I get near the end, I can still remember her.
One of the most interesting (if useless) features is the ability to see what page sent the person here. So, every time somebody does a Google search for some words, I can see what the words are.
So, I ask you, why the heck would anybody want to do the following search: free nude girls with stretch marks?
A stretch mark fetish? Yow. What is the world coming to?
On the way to work this morning, I blasted my brains out with Elvis Costello's brilliant CD The Delivery Man.When the chorus of the beautiful country balled "Country Darkness" started to play, it hit me: how pathetic is it that a funny little guy from England is making better country music than almost anything you're apt to hear on either 'country' radio or television?
Anyhoo, if you don't have a copy of this CD you should skip dinner tonight and head right out to your local plastic and aluminum disc store.
There's a problem with the production values on some modern pop music recordings: too much production, not enough value. Layer upon layer upon layers of samples, backing tracks and ProTools-tweezed nothing.To be honest though, this problem of content-free popular music isn't new. Only the 'coating' has changed. Recently we've had Britney Spears and various boy-bands. Going back a quarter-century, there were the Bay City Rollers and Shaun Cassidy. The big difference between the two eras? All of the extra studio tracks full of digital schmutz. Things in common? Way too much VerseChorusVerseChorusVerseChorusChorusChorusFadeout.
What's interesting here is that heavy use of studio wizardry does not doom a recording to failure. If the performer and production team start with some decent ideas then there's a good chance they can rise above. I'm thinking of artists like Missy Elliot ("Work It" from Under Construction was killer) and Lauryn Hill, who made those silky beats seem so organic.
Leela James is going straight onto my list of artists who've struck that delicate balance. Funk. Soul. Blues. Hip-hop. Gospel...and one smokin' voice. If ya let this stuff wash over you, you just might be transported back to the days of Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Chaka Khan and Isaac Hayes. That soul-drenched atmosphere is brought to you by a team of producers including Wyclef Jean, Kayne West (does that guy ever sleep?!), Saadiq, Chucky Thompson, James Poysner and Robert Randolph. The overall sound is amazingly cohesive considering how many hands and ears were in the pot.
A Change Is Gonna Come sets the mood with "Music", a soulful plea for a return to what's really important in music (and it's not videos, thongs, bitchez and ho's). Nice to see that sentiment realized with such a rock-solid groove.
But hey, Leela's no prude. Skip ahead to "Soul Food", where both kinds of sustenance sound mighty tasty.
For me, the high point of the record is "When You Love Somebody". The slow blues groove burns with intensity as Leela turns up the volume (emotional and otherwise) to celebrate and lament the things we all do for love.
There are a couple of bold moves on A Change Is Gonna Come that can't be ignored. The first is a cover of No Doubt's "Don't Speak". When I first saw that title on the track list, it made me a little apprehensive. But as I made my way through the record for the first time (discovering James' voice) I actually began to look forward to it. Leela makes no attempt to eclipse Gwen's iconic performance. Instead, she delivers a sultry rendition that, given Stefani's love of dance music, would surely cause a wry smile to cross her face. And yes, the title track does mean that Leela James took on the Sam Cooke classic. Her love of that famous Cooke melody is obvious as she weaves her voice into it. I couldn't help but sway back 'n forth just a little. Great and powerful stuff. After hearing all of this, it comes as no surprise that James has opened for groups like the Black Eyed Peas, Stephanie Mills, Robert Randolph and Macy Gray.
A Change Is Gonna Come closes closes with "Long Time Coming", a burning rock-steady groove that indeed strikes the balance. Just enough production and definitely enough value...almost more than I can stand!
If I was the kind of reviewer who gave out numerical ratings, I'd have to give this one the maximum value. It's that good.
Man, I just hate it when something cool is going on and I allow it to pass by (good thing I don't live in New York City, there's just too much passing through every night).
This weekend the JVC Jazz Festival comes to Newport, Rhode Island with a crazy-great lineup. Spread over the Jazz, Pavilion and Guitar stages:
Saturday, August 13th:
Good gawd, I'm justabout exhausted thinking about it. Much of Wynton's large ensemble work hasn't 'stuck' with me, but he's one helluva trumpet player. I've never had the opportunity to see Charles Lloyd (you should give his Jumping In The Creek a listen)or Geri Allen. Patricia Barber is stylish piano player and vocalist. Medeski, Martin & Wood have a sound all their own. Jon Faddis plays the hell out of his horn. Liebman and Lovano on the same stage? Wow. Carla Bley, she's one of my favorites. A great composer who manages to toss around her talent AND humor. The Pavilion stage is just chock full with T.S Monk, Stanley Clark, Jean-Luc Ponty and Bela Fleck and the great, great McCoy Tyner.
Ah, and then we get over to the guitar stage. There is going to be some serious blowing with the likes of Howard Alden, Mark Whitfield and Kurt Rosenwinkel.
Phew! If that first day wasn't enough, Sunday definitely one-ups it:
Sunday, August 14th:
I'm not even sure which way to look here! Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band with Corea, Burton Redman and McBride. Heck, that'd be enough to satisfy me on most weekends. But...a big name from NewportsPast has returned: Dave Brubeck. His quartet will be augmented with special guest Wynton Marsalis. Things hardly slow down from there. A little fusion with an updated Steps Ahead lineup (Richard Bona is an amazing addition to that group). Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Joshua Redman, Don Byron and Gary Burton. This year's fest is really over the top (and why I'm telling you this I'm not completely sure because I'm NOT going and it's bumming me out. I guess I just wanted to spread the word.)
The guitar stage on Sunday would put me in jazz guitar heaven. In fact, just hearing Bill Frisell (I'll be reviewing his new live recording East/West shortly) play with Joey Baron would be enough. The legendary Larry Coryell (who has a great new record out with ex-Pat Metheny drummer Paul Wertico) follows as does an interesting duo comprised of Russell Malone and pianist Benny Green.
I sincerely hope that the weather is fine this weekend for anyone choosing to partake of this incredible jazz feast. I'll be thinking of you while I'm doing my spring cleaning, four months too late.
Sorta like Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman's Song X has long been a strange attractor for all sorts of hyperbole, rumor-mongering and dismissal. Yea, Song X was nothing but a slap in Geffen's face (despite it being Pat's first release on that label) or...it's the best thing Pat has ever recorded.Oh, by the way, it's the worst too.
Sure, depending on your point of view, this may very well be the worst thing he's ever done (though I suppose that if you're in that camp then you've never even listened to either Zero Tolerance For Silence, or The Sign Of 4, both of which are far 'worse'). If you're only into the softer Brazilian-inflected material or the more straight-ahead jazz stuff then I can see how Song X might be tough to deal with. But hey, if you've been to any of the Metheny Group shows you should be well aware that Pat is fond of making the occasional blasphemous noise. Did you take your bathroom break during "Scrap Metal"? Shame on you.
Well, in a move that will surely have a negative impact on my wallet, Nonesuch Records has begun to reissue a pile of the Metheny back-catalog (post-ECM, I believe). They've started with perhaps the most unique record in Pat's discography: Song X. A collaboration with free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, this record just about blew the top of my head off on first listen back in 1985. In the liner notes from this 20th anniversary edition, Pat relates:
Yes, this record is unlike any other. Added to Pat & Ornette's melodic shell game is the stellar rhythm section of the great Charlie Haden on bass and Jack DeJohnnette on drums. Tweaking the rhythmic madness is Ornette's son Denardo on drums and percussion.
Part of what makes Ornette's projects so tough to categorize is the very fluid yet somehow unpredictable nature of 'harmolodic' improvisation. Unlike 'normal' jazz improv, where players fit lines into the harmonic structure provided by a set of chord changes, harmolodic improvisation can key off of any piece of the developing composition: a snippet of melody, a chord, a rhythm. But wait! There's more!! Each player may choose his own aspect to play off of. It's a kind of collective improvisation that can yield stunning results. I've witnessed bands (including Ornette's) doing this in a live setting. At points tension builds as you begin as you begin to wonder if the group is 'lost'. Then, triggered by who knows what (of course somebody does, just not me), everybody veers off in a different direction. It's exhilarating for both performer and audience.
Longtime fans of Song X will be thrilled to hear the six new compositions presented at the beginning of the program: "Police People", "All Of Us", "The Good Life", "Word From Bird", "Compute", and "The Veil". It's great stuff...and, unlike other "bonus tracks" releases, the material seems right at home from the first listen. What's amazing about Song X is that even twenty years after its release date it still sounds absolutely vital.
A word of warning to the adventurous first-time listener: this is some pretty challenging air molecule wiggling. If you've heard nothing stronger than Kind Of Blue or Coltrane's A Love Supreme then you'd best brace yourself. If you can get a handle on what's going on during the opening track then move (cautiously!) on to one of the most fun and invigorating freakouts ever recorded: "Endangered Species". It's 13 minutes and 38 seconds of pure joyous musical spasms. Fear not though, because if you push through the slightly less chaotic "Video Games" you will be rewarded with one of Ornette's most beautiful melodies in the ballad "Kathelin Gray".
I'll leave the rest of the recording as an exercise to the musically fearless. It'd be great to have a few new pioneers take the plunge.
Wow, I haven't had this much listening fun in years. Twenty, to be exact.
Hmmmm....maybe tomorrow morning?
Also picked up Bill Frisell's fine new live recording East/West.
But...what if the police were allowed to use the handy machine below? The offender get's to see his machine 'o death crushed before his very eyes.
Beautiful.
Hokey smokes, it's almost too much to deal with. Like Tom Waits, this Cave guy is the sort of artist who's tough to pin down. He seems to have his own "whatness". Almost reminds me of a male Patti Smith. I'll work up a review as soon as I'm done being overwhelmed.
By the way, I also bought Danial Lanois's latest record Belladonna. It's amazing. The guy's a genious. But you already knew that, right?
Man, it's weird to be interviewed. Here I am, in my mind nearly wallowing in my supposed introversion...while my mouth is blabbing away about music and writing & stuff. Gee, I hope I don't come off like a nerd or somethin'.
Hmmm...where did it start for me? Two answers: 1. A little over three years ago because of a radio essay on bloggers and 2. Back in 1976 or so in my bedroom in central Maine, the culprits being Creem Magazine and Lester Bangs.Going way back first, it'll be no surprise to anybody who's read much of my stuff that my mind was fairly well polluted at an early age by way too many columns/rants from the pages of Creem magazine. I ingested each and every issue like it was food, always with a health dose of Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath and other rock delights playing loudly in the background. The writing of Lester Bangs exploded off of those pages. The man was just brilliant. Or nuts. After a while it dawned on me that brilliant and nuts, being a writerly sort of cliché, was a perfect description of Lester. He had a severe passion for music that just about dripped off of his reviews. Sometimes I wasn't quite sure what the hell he was talking about, but my 16 year old brain told me that anybody with that much passion was worth hanging onto. At the time, I had some writing aspirations of my own. In truth though, I was no good at it...so it was all fantasy.
A few years ago, while driving home from work, I heard a radio essay on an Internet phenomenon called "blogging". Just what I needed, more reading material! A little web-searching (Was it Google back then? Mighta been Altavista...) led me to sites like What's In Rebecca's Pocket and, in particular, Up Yours - And More Helpful Tips. The former was an interesting site, written by blogging pioneer Rebecca Blood. The latter was a cranky, sexy and funny rant put together by Dawn Olsen. Holy smokes, could Dawn give good potty mouth. More than once I had to hold back a spit-take at work (yea, of course I shoulda been workin'....what, you don't surf the web during the day? Liar!) Anyhoo, at some point or other, Dawn mentions this new site being put together called Blogcritics, anybody who has a blog (I did!) and knows what they're doing with words (I sorta did!?) can join up. I figure, what the hey, this was a chance to finally indulge my inner Lester.
I consider this indirect stumble into Blogcritics to be one of the best things that's happened to me in recent years. All those pent up thoughts about music, which I've been collecting for almost thirty years, now had a true outlet. And what a blast (and hard work!) it has been. At times, I find myself wondering why I didn't head in the direction of writing way back when. This is before the rational side of my brain reminds me: you couldn't write your way out of a paper bag back then! Uh...oh yea, almost forgot.
Now Blogcritics has reached a new and fantastic milestone, ten million unique visitors. Yow, that's a lot of clickin'! It's also a lot of fine writing. I couldn't be happier for all of us. The word 'unique' is especially important here as it's quite true that there's no site like Blogcritics. There's so much great writing here, in so many styles, that in truth it's hard to keep up. Think about it though. Where else on the Internet can you find, in one place, the ravings such as those of Duke DeMondo, the rich and beautiful thoughts of Sadi Ranson Polizzotti, the libertarian ramblings of Al Barger and the considered essays of Natalie Davis? I tell ya, we are a freakin' dessert topping AND a floor wax!
I myself have sung the praises of Blogcritics to just about anybody who'd listen. So many good articles to pass on. I'm sure that others have done this as well. It's fun to think about who's reading and how they've fit Blogcritics into their lives. Here's just a single example: I've been bending the ear of a good friend of mine (the same guy who found the Hounddog CD) for a while about how funny The Duke's podcasts are. I sent him a link to podcast #2, which he ended up listening to on his way to work. It made his day. Tomorrow, he and his wife are leaving for a week of vacation, with a pile of The Duke's podcasts loaded onto their iBook. (Gee, I hope Meg's not listening when they get to podcast #6).
Ah, and I should not forget Eric Olsen who with a mountain of hard work, great writing, faith and encouragement, has made Blogcritics what it is. I'm looking forward to the day when Blogcritics is a household name right up there with Yahoo, Google and others.
And so Blogcritics has passed this milestone. With the daily numbers being up, we'll certainly have the next ten million within a much shorter time. Fantastic. It's no hyperbole to suggest that the future's extremely bright around here.
Congratulations everybody.
OK, I don't know the legal particulars, but this record is another example of the music industry gone wrong. The issue? Hounddog is out of print.It's just wrong.
A few years ago, Los Lobos guitarist and all around musical polyglot David Hidalgo got together with vocalist Mike Halby (Canned Heat, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) to create this fantastic chunk 'o blues. Hidalgo, as usual (and as can be heard not only on Los Lobos records but also on the very cool Latin Playboy's releases) plays every stringed and non-stringed instrument available. The results sound like a cross between Delta and Chicago blues with a smattering of a pile of other influences. Halby sounds like Tom Waits' weird cousin (if you can get your head wrapped around that!) All of the tunes were co-written by Hidalgo and Halby with the exception of a sweet, sweet cover of Junior Parker's "I'll Change My Style".
I just received a copy of this record last night in the mail. A good friend of mine had been trying to hunt down a used copy for a few months now. I'll listen to anything with Hidalgo on it. Many years ago, Los Lobos received piles of critical praise for their How Will The Wolf Survive? I liked that record but was really won over when I saw them perform at a blues festival at Great Woods amphitheatre, back before every freaking venue had been renamed after a financial institution, product company or erectile disfunction drug. It was clear at that show that not only was David Hidalgo the backbone of Los Lobos, he had the desire to make some hideous noise with that danged guitar.
Dig yourself up a copy of Hounddog. It's perfect for sittin' around the back porch this time of year, sippin' on a lemonade, or something stronger if you'd like.
Yes, that's a 10 with six zeros after it! Check it out.
While waiting for 'stuff to happen' on my computer this morning, I've been listening to Leo Kottke's wonderful Try And Stop Me. Not only does the man have an unending supply of interesting musical ideas, he can execute them with grace on the guitar. Also, he tells really funny stories. Here's the tale he tells at live shows as an introduction to "Then":Now that is a story.
Dunno...but I can tell you what's not: spending it sitting in a nice hotel room drinking endless amounts of Powerade and chowing down on Imodium AD.
Icky.
Oh well, at least I got some reading done.
