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?

Some Fine New Early-ish Music CDs

Here's one of my enduring dream/fantasies: I'm walking the halls of some old building (school, church, warehouse -- whatever) and I hear the distant strains of recorder and lute. Some musicians are taking advantage of an empty building that's blessed with astounding acoustics to practice. Well, these two albums have made my dreams real.

You'd think that classical music producers would be sensitive to ambiance, but I can't tell you how many albums I hear that have just smeared the soundstage, until everything (EVERYTHING) sounds front and center, bold and in your face with no sense of the room. Music moves through physical space when it's recorded live; it moves the air. You don't get that with earbuds and you don't get that if you manipulate the sound in the studio (and a combination of the two just kills the whole experience.) But the two jewels pictured above, both from the Attaignant Consort, are exquisitely performed and impeccably recorded.

 

"Madame d'Amours" was released in 2007, and "Le Parler et le Silence" is from 2013. "Madame" is music for Renaissance flute consort (late 1400s to late 1500s), and "Le Parler" features flute consort and lute from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries. "Madame" has the old reliables, pieces you may know from John Renbourn and yes, Jethro Tull. "Le Parler" has more variety -- Morley, Gibbons, Dowland, de Visee, Hotteterre -- but seems pensive, even wistful, like the pieces were written as a slightly mournful look back to another era. I'm sure that's just my take, and most likely, not the least bit accurate. I'll spend some time reading the comprehensive liner notes and let you know!

Oh, and props to Arkivmusic.com and Fanfare Magazine (fanfaremag.com) for the best tips and recommendations for classical music.

Saint Patrick and the Banshee

My family has quite the Irish background, yet I'm not really much of a fan of Irish music. I think I have 4 Irish CDs, 3 of which I got for free because I was the music purchaser at one of my jobs. And the one I paid for ("The Lilting Banshee") was $1.99 at Value Village. Unfortunately, the copy I have is the Musical Heritage Society reissue, not the cool Saydisc original pictured here.

"The Lilting Banshee" is an instrumental collection featuring Irish pipes, harp and bodhran. Very pleasant, though the inclusion of a Howard Jones song baffles me.

There have been Irish albums in the past that I've enjoyed very much, but I never made the upgrade to CD. Maybe it's time to reconnect with the Bothy Band, the Chieftains and early Clannad. After all, you're only Irish once! 

Play It Again, Sam

 

Looks like Value Village is turning into my go-to place to find great CDs. (I'm not sure if that's a good thing or just very, very sad. I'm leaning toward the latter.)

 

Sam (Leslie) Phillips was a Contemporary Christian singer (think Amy Grant -- man, I really need to post about her music some day) who eventually turned her back on that genre -- maybe it was "the Cyndi Lauper of Christian music" tag that did it? -- and now releases albums with more of a pure pop '60s-informed style. "The Indescribable Wow' was the first foray into the new world, and it's an incredible 'debut'.  

 

 

Sam's voice is thin and reedy (imagine Stevie Nicks sped up) -- but that's not a bad thing here. So much 'pop' music is basically vocalists with limited range performing exceptional material, and that's the case here with Sam (though she does push her voice to the edge on "What You Don't Want to Hear"). Check out the musical talent on display here: producer/performer T Bone Burnett (and Mr. Sam Phillips, at least at the time), drummer Steve Jordan (Keith Richards), percussionist Alex Acuna (Weather Report, Joni Mitchell), bassist Buell Niedlinger (don't even ask..), and arranger Van Dyke Parks (The Beach Boys' "Smile"), and of course, the exceptional songs by Sam. Lyrically insightful, incredibly tuneful.

Naturally, this album pretty much went nowhere. Those of us who were aware of it at the time continue to carry a torch, and retrospectively, it has attained 'lost classic' status. I still hear new things I missed after all these years. Subtle, rich, poppy yet deep.

It's pretty much out of print now, and I got it for less than 2 bucks. Is this a great country or what?

Valentine's Day, Quiet Village and Value Village! A Late Post

Total bonus here: $1.99 at Value Village, the CD includes both the "Exotica" LP AND "Exotica II" AND my mother-in-law loves the original vinyl releases (stored in the garage that her wheelchair can't access)...so I burn a copy for her, suggest to my wife this would be a great Valentine's Day gift for her mother, and YES, I will score total bonus points!!

Okay, so her first reaction was: what the heck is this? (That might be your reaction.) But last week, she called to say how much she loved it.

If  "Exotica" means nothing to you, let me illuminate. Servicemen returning from exotic (sorry) locations brought home souvenirs of their ports of call, and musicians began to capitalize on the rosy romantic view (in hindsight) -- so they provided hokey versions of what we'd imagine tropical music to sound like. Martin Denny's band had an Hawaiian nightclub residency. One night, performing "Quiet Village" ( a Les Baxter tune) -- pseudo-Polynesian tiki music -- the club's caged birds (part of the club's interior ambiance) began chiming in. Band members provided the bird calls on subsequent performances, and a sound was born. Eventually, the band was recorded, and "Quiet Village" was the single. I have to believe their version was an in-joke; there's nothing quiet about this village. We now refer to the whole genre as "exotica". (For the full story, the liner notes are priceless, and they formed the bulk of the Les Baxter interview in "Incredibly Strange Music"  -- I reviewed those books a while back, as I'm sure you remember...)

No, this isn't really something I'd slap on the system to relax, but if you're looking for an 'ironic' soundtrack for a backyard barbeque (and you wanted the hipsters in the neighborhood to think you were cool), the CD is a lot of fun, and how many albums are just fun anymore?