Jacques Brel

Is there anyone who writes songs like this anymore?

Sad News from Jamaica

For anyone who has ever had any interest in ska or reggae, The Harder They Come was a landmark film. Its director died recently.

When I played ska, we were definitely out of the Two Tone School, and that was the stuff that my bandmates were really into. My first love in Ska/Reggae, however, was the Studio One sound, with its more relaxed rhythm, its complex horn lines, its more Latinate percussion, and its rougher edges. The early reggae of The Harder They Come, including the title track, came right out of that great sound.

By the way, if you want a more modern and very fun cop film set in Jamaica, check out Third World Cop. It definitely owes a debt to The Harder They Come. Sort of like Spillane in Jamaica with a Sly and Robbie soundtrack.

73 Martini Day Pledge Break

It is twenty to two and, so far, we only have six cocktails pledged. I know that my readers can do better than that. We have sixty-seven to go. Let's step up to the plate and not let this special observance go by. Next year we will need to get 74 pledged, and, frankly, if we can't get 73 this year, I don't know if we can keep up our end.

If it keeps on...they will even try to bring back Prohibition.

"Old Bill ran for Sheriff
Against the Proh-I-bition Man.
He swore he'd drink the county dry
If the folks would put him in.

It almost tickled the wets to death
When the dries got drunk on Old Bill's breath.

Old Bill Jones was a son of a gun,
When he got a good drink or two."

-Ozark folk song "Bill Jones"

We could always have someone put in a matching grant challenge! Make your pledges here or below.

Ah yes, but I said Stan Getz

Sorry. I went to find some Getz and got distracted by Monk. It happens.

To make amends (warning, the sound level is quite low on this one, so if you turn it up, remember to turn it down later):

But most people, when they hear "Getz" want to hear (remember, turn the volume down if you listened to the last one):

And after that you can be forgiven if you want to just get lost in Brasil...

But now we are clearly off the topic!

For Those Of You Who Do Not Like Radioactive Cicadas...

Mr. Riddle, in the same breath that he calls Set Sail for the Sun "indistinguishable from cicadas, except perhaps by volume," goes on to laud Space Age Bachelor Pad Tiki Music. Now, you might be surprised to know that I love this stuff, too. In fact, in Martin Denny's stranger moments, he and Stockhausen shake hands behind the Mai Tais.

Recently, I have relied on this show out of Kansas Public Radio to provide a source for this sort of thing. There are a couple of others out there, too, like Space Age Pop.com that provide background information as well as plenty of discographies and links.

I will let you guess who my favorite easy listening musician is.

It is really not too hard, if you think about it for a bit.

While you are trying to figure it out, I will be down at the bullring by the sea...

Finally, one last bit of Stockhauseniana...

The interview is much more interesting than the introduction, although the excerpts from Licht are quite fun. My favorite part of this is towards the end where he is asked about traditional music and whether or not he wants to break from it.

Reflective Pond

For those who want some visuals to go with their Stockhausen...

Set Sail for the Sun

This piece, Set Sail for the Sun is by Karlheinz Stockhausen. It is one of the few pieces of his I really know nothing about. I have never seen the score (or, I am guessing, in this case parameters), and do not know anything of its structure besides what I have gleaned from watching this a few times. It is absolutely gorgeous, and can provide for you a welcome respite from Thanksgiving Day festivities.

Enjoy!

Beautiful!

I love stuff like this.

Dino Saluzzi

There have been two times when I have been driving and heard music on the radio that was so engaging that I had to just pull over and listen. The second time was late at night. I was driving home from the music building where I had been practicing the harpsichord for several hours. I had the classical radio station on and heard this piano music that was otherworldly.

Now, I was probably in the throes of my most vehement anti-piano period. I switched from piano to harpsichord after my teacher had been unfairly fired by the university (also, I was getting more and more into the baroque, which I could never really love on the piano), and was living with a bunch of Romantics (a string quartet that played way too much Brahms). My tolerance for nineteenth century bluster was low, and the piano epitomized nineteenth century bluster, particularly the overheated flash and dazzle from Franz Liszt.

But this music on the radio station was something else. It was spare and subtle, with hints of Wagnerian harmony, yet without Wagner's overblown Teutonicism. I pulled the car over and just listened.

After the piece was over they announced it as a late Franz Liszt piece. I had known from music history classes, that Liszt had become quite religious and contemplative in his old age, but I had never heard this.

I excitedly drove home and saw the cellist in the dining room.

"I just heard this amazing late Franz Liszt music," I stammered out, "it was the most amazing piano music I had ever heard!"

"Ah," he replied, "that was probably 'The Lugubrious Gondola.' Yeah, that stuff is beautiful."

"You mean you knew about this stuff and didn't tell me about it?"

"Why would I? You hate Liszt."

"But if I had heard this, there is no way I could have hated it."

The other time I had to pull over just to listen to a piece of music was in Sacramento, on a summer evening. I was driving downtown and KXJZ played something unlike anything I had ever heard. I could recognize the bandoneon because I had just been turned on to Astor Piazzola, and definitely got the Argentinian vibe from it.

It turned out to be Dino Saluzzi's Mojotoro, which I bought immediately. I have listened to that album many times, in fact if pressed I could probably sit down with some manuscript paper and write it down from memory. Yet I am nowhere near tired of that album.

For the last couple of days I have been loading music into the iTunes and realized, with shock and horror, that I had not put any Dino Saluzzi into it. So, I walked over to the ECM section of my library (with few exceptions, I can't come up with any category beyond ECM for this stuff) and grabbed Mojotoro as well as Responsorium, the former for obvious reasons, and the latter because I was working on building playlists that feature free reed instruments, and Responsorium features Saluzzi accompanied only by bassist Palle Danielsson and his sone Jose Maria Saluzzi on guitar.

While loading the two discs into iTunes, I gave Responsorium a listen, which I had not done that often because it is a disc that requires engaged, active listening. You cannot drive or read or have a conversation with this in the background. You either totally miss the music or you end up driving into a building.

Listening to Responsorium made me realize that this is just as good a record as Mojotoro, in fact, it might be better. Looking on Amazon.com I see that there are a few Dino Saluzzi discs out there that I don't have, a situation that might have to be corrected somewhat soon.

Anyway, with the weather turning cold, sitting and following richly expressive and inventive melodic lines on a bandoneon sounds pretty good, and I can think of no better bandoneon player to listen to than Saluzzi.

And I Will Lift You Up...

Last week Melanie and I had a nice dinner at the Awahnee. At least once in your life, you should have a romantic, candlelit dinner in the Awahnee's breathtaking dining room. The food is quite good (not so good that the restaurant would last a year in San Francisco, but very good for resort standards), the architecture fantastic, and the setting beyond belief. Really. I have been going to Yosemite since, well, forever, and it still blows me away.

The only fault with the dining room is the music. In a high-ceiling, American Indian meets Craftsman dining room, they decided to have a piano player. And we are not talking Chopin and late Liszt, both of which would actually work. Instead we are talking about boring renditions of jazz standards (you know the head, repeat and we don't need no stinkin' solos arrangement), show tunes (with way too much Andrew Lloyd Webber, although one song is too much of that guy), Beatles songs, and so forth.

Right after one of the silly songs from Pocahontas came a familiar and very syrupy song, one that lacked rhythmic direction, and made up for its boring harmonies by a sort of false-build-up-to-an-utterly-lame-climax. Yet is was a song that sounded familiar.

And then it hit me.

On the chorus:

"And I will lift you up
On Eagle's Wings!"

I about choked on my venison osso buco.

"That's that horrible song, 'On Eagle's Wings,'" I sputtered to Melanie. She listened and replied, "Gack! You are right."

As our laughter died down, Mr. Piano Man launched into The Phantom of the Opera.

While the whole piano thing seemed out of place in the Awahnee, "On Eagles Wings" seemed perfectly at home among fruity arrangements of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John.

One thing I know for sure: I love my parish. I would guess that "On Eagles Wings" has never sullied the air at St. Margaret Mary's.

Perhaps You Need Something A Bit More Modern?

Yes, it is true. The good part of an evening frittered away on You Tube. Anyway, if you don't enjoy this, part of your soul is missing...

And then for a little trip down Memory Autobahn (for those of us who have been heavily involved in electronic music, this is some great footage of the pioneers of synthpop)...

For you traditionalists...

Perhaps Steve Jordan is too avant garde for you tejano fans out there. In that case I give you Valerio Longoria:

Let's Try This...

Steve Jordan is someone more people should know about. This little video should tell you why:

Victor Borge

I had forgotten how funny Victor Borge was. these clips on Don's site reminded me. I can almost like the piano watching this stuff.

Music of Azerbaijan

A few years ago (I believe I have mentioned this in the past), I went to a World Music festival to hear the fantastic Alessandra Belloni, a Sicilian musician who does traditional tarantelle. On the bill were Hun Hu'ur Tu, the famous Tuvan throat singers (always fun to hear), and some guys from Azerbaijan. All of us who went were blown away by the Azeri music, particularly a garmon (a type of accordion) player named Rahman Assadolahi. I have seen him again, and loved the music just as much.

Anyway, my parents were on vacation in Greece and Turkey and brought us back some music, including an Azerbaijani woodwind player. I don't know if it is something in the Kabab, but once again I am astounded at the gorgeous sound of music from Azerbaijan. Even with some slightly silly synthesized pop/almost new age intrusions, this stuff is fantastic.

If there is one region of the world that merits a serious listen, it is Azerbaijan.

Ah, the sweet music...

We have a metal awning over our front door.

Right now there is a hailstorm.

Halfway there.