My first real introduction to Bluegrass

Like many of us, I probably first heard bluegrass on TV: "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", the theme song from "The Beverly Hillbillies". There was some bluegrass sprinkled throughout "The Andy Griffith Show", and then later the movies "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Deliverance". Once in a while on car trips, my wife and I would pick up cheapo cassettes from K-Mart from labels like Starday, King and Gusto featuring bluegrass (and trucker tunes!) So I'd heard bluegrass, but I didn't really hear it until I found "The Bluegrass Album" featuring a bluegrass super-group of younger performers like my man Tony Rice, Bobby Hicks, J.D. Crowe and Doyle Lawson. The songs were all traditional, a mix of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and others, along with a gospel song tossed into the mix.

After the success of the first (1981) album, many more followed (5 volumes?) and they naturally called themselves "The Bluegrass Album Band". Listening now with ears a little more travelled, the album sounds a bit homogenized -- nobody singing through their nose or scraping away drunkenly on fiddle -- and I miss the, shall we say, piquant nature of an Uncle Dave Macon or Gid Tanner. But they all are excellent musicians, playing at the top of their game in a traditional setting, with exceptional quality production and sound. This is the album where I went from a curious explorer to a committed fan. From here, it was onto the Skaggs & Rice album and many, many more in the days to follow. Thanks, guys!

RIP, Wayne Henderson

 

 

Wayne Henderson recently passed, so I pulled out "Scratch" by the Crusaders (Wayne, the trombone player, was the ostensible leader -- I guess -- I mean, on this live album, he introduces the other band members, so that makes him the boss, right?) I'm guessing the band was pretty tight-knit (what do I know?) only because musicians who played with them are introduced as "friends". The band is the band, anyone else is...not.

I probably already blogged about this album (sorry, my research team was busy), but I just wanted to give a shout out to Wayne. This live album is (as albums were then) about 40 minutes long, they come back for an encore after the 30 minute mark -- and then the last song, lasting almost 9 minutes, spends two-thirds of the time introducing the band members. Value for your dollar? Yes, yes, yes. Stomping intro ("Scratch") written by Wayne, a funky version of "Eleanor Rigby" (no, really), "Hard Times", which sounds like the Saturday Night Live outro music, and "So Far Away", a shorter version than the studio version but features the l-o-n-g l--o--n--g held note (circular breathing?) that totally excites the audience (and that's what you want in a live album, right?)

I love the Crusaders, at least the first 4 that I own (I can't vouch for the cross-over years that followed), but those first 4 albums cemented a musical relationship for me, and for that, I thank Wayne Henderson. I love jazz trombone because of you, and that's a big debt. Scratch daddy, indeed      

New Age (Yeah, I Know...)

 

 

There was a time, dear reader, when the term "new age" hadn't been sticker-slapped over every piano solo/harp/synthesizer/flute/cello/ or any-combinations-thereof album, because it still actually referred to a fairly specific type of music, found in health food stores and little catalogs featuring incense, LPs and cassettes. Then the Windham Hill label exploded, and anyone who could noodle aimlessly on piano or guitar suddenly was releasing albums by the truckload. Any music considered soothing or soporific was labeled "new age", and even though Windham Hill honcho Will Ackerman resisted the label, too late -- it was now a Godzilla-sized marketing ploy.

I like many of Windham Hill's original artists, but a lot of the music seemed mournful and lethargic, like all the joy and spark had been drained out. The weird thing is, a lot of "real" new age music is sparkly, relaxing and joyful. Heck, a lot of Iasos' music sounds like Tinkerbell's yoga class.

Iasos also loves the l-o-n-g fadeout, and Aeoliah favors long forms too, more like organ drones or Eno's ambient pieces, but where Eno's music can be cool and contemplative, Aeoliah's is more warm and soothing. It's great music to go to sleep to, and I mean that as a compliment!

"Structures from Silence" is an early Steve Roach album, and it's basically Side One of Eno's "Discreet Music", except where Eno's piece is as much process as it is composition, "Structures" feels more random and floating, though I suspect the process is similar.

Some "artists" hit while the iron was hot, then went off to do other hack work, while some of the originals kept plowing the same row. I assumed someone like Iasos occupied his own space out of touch with the rest of the world, so I was pleasantly surprised to see his recent career overview CD reviewed in a British rock magazine. Seems that all sorts of contemporary British bands cite Iasos as an influence and an inspiration. Who would have guessed?