Do NOT QUESTION one who wields a solid Gibson guitar this well! You would be wise to listen to the sound. Gospel music is very good for your Soul. Some lately good conversations around here about Dave Brubeck sparked me to dig out some Scorsese flicks that I haven't enjoyed for too long. My favorite turn-on from the series was learning about Sister Rosetta Tharpe. When I first saw & heard her grand blues & rhythm choir I hit repeat about 10 straight, wonderful times. This is as cool a guitar slinging as you can get my friends (she flairs that picking hand better than Jimi). I can never get enough. Realize that for a young group of aspiring British musicians, this was nothing short of astounding. It really is the holy roots of rock & roll - one of the very first times we had ever heard a solid-body electric guitar and a Hammond - let alone in front of a choir. George Melly used to say that despite the halo around her head on the stage, she used to like to have a rather brandied good time.
Waltz. A very nice rhythm usually set in a 3/4 time (or sometimes 6/8). MasonJar pointed out that my last Sly post had no chord change (just funkin' one bass line really, really good). Speaking of good bass players, good organ players, and bands working around one chord. This came out of my speakers yesterday and made me feel real good (probably the cowbell). I must say I will heartily raise a hand for Steve Winwood when it comes to keyboardists. During his days with the Spencer Davis Group you could really hear the R&B wail out of his Hammond B3. This tune offers some classic Winwood - listen to a few of his chords and you'll catch a glimpse of some forthcoming Traffic sound. You just have to dig all the interplay around the fast waltz meter - kept perfectly in time by the bass player, Muff Winwood (Steve's brother). 3 notes is all he needs here, working 'B' and 'D' into the 'E' that sets the pace. Follow him and just listen to drummer Pete York flow around the meter. Steve & Spencer seem to have fun with the dance as well! A tight band here playing with lots of loose energy, feeling, and fun!
...Funkin' my days - literally. Thanks - thanks to someone .. somewhere. Here's a little funky 'grazzee' for heppin' my step last weekend. I'm really grateful for the acknowledgment of the Dylan post. :-) Another VERY influential artist is Sly Stone. Sly & The Family's matured funk was moving sound in those early 1970 days of fusion -tweaking the ears of people like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. This slower, extended version of "Thank You" highlights another noteworthy influence: bassist Larry Graham. Considered inventor of a certain bass 'slap' -his technique would become the sound most associated with the word FUNK. Turn up the low-end for this one and GET DOWN !
All The Best MOG ! Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)!
Words are weird. They can send you spinning (whistles). So many combinations and turns and twists - context is difficult (if not downright impossible sometimes). I wish I could pick up the phone at times with some folks here. Some threads get lost. (Not really - they're just put down for a time). Time is a strange thing..moods change like the shadows ever constant. Many times the keys we type around here don't quite get the right thoughts or .. those eye-glimmers that actually lurk behind all our screens (you know what I mean). I always like to think there's the perfect way to ease it all when typing labors don't cut the rug and cover the breath of the thoughts. That is the music ( a constant) that stands behind these brain wonders we all post (too fast for this FastR most days... I surf my musical heart when it calls and I get driven by other expressions here) - made the same through the tunes that chime my ear or my mood. It's random. I've said it - it makes well the hours. Anyway ... just for the record ... to follow some theme (unfortunate politic forced on us this year in the states fueled my last rant, er, post) I will find truer meanings with each step. This is in many ways how I feel when I think about the connections here most of the time. Someone up here, some time, will warm your heart as well as chill your bones. If you don't quite get Bob Dylan - no worries .. you will. Someday he will chant something from his vast library and it will hit you full force. Like a ton of bricks his words can pummel your clarity & place with such conviction you will well tears in perfect harmony. Time always moves - but words and music have the ability (oh so well) to be timeless. This song is from a time when Dylan was influencing The Beatles - and they him. Smile your eyes and ears. Nice to meet you. \Peace
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I should think exteroceptive television - given the common state of people's general dialogue these days. Whether we blab about the bullsh*t sitcom last night around the water cooler or we wax up here somewhere about the nutty politicos walking around the world - we most likely do so with only a narrow-banded glass tit for grist. Information comes in many ways - harvest it in many ways. Please - our mind-mills deserve the stimulation and we all deserve the added skepticism.
Times certainly have changed since the opiate of the masses started the scourge of this planet. Once feeding electrical wires to remote places just to light the porch has now monstered into Consumption Extraordinaire. We have truly out-sheeped the sheep on this one, folks. Step back and imagine (there's that word again) what your world would be without that little box sitting in your life.
All but vanity and the vainglorious coin in my opinion. You think I'm railing on you? I'm just as hypocritical - and I bet you with my shrinking dollar. My gripe is the mis_use of this informational _tool - I see it taking advantage of people and warping egos. Knowing it is half the battle for doing something about it, that's all. Just a general angst - don't mind me. I didn't get enough 'funk' the other day here in the 'funky' sort of music way. I got the funked Blues instead from some politico-religio rants I came across in my surf (should have took my own advice and surfed the real outdoors). I came to MOG for the music - I will not proselytize other than some vain attempt at a different way to get you to hear something. (Give you some grist for your mill). Just a jamming payback slight here to balance my mood. Music sure is an expression of humanness - I cannot think of a better way to get some of your Philological 101s covered. As Frank says "Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar"!
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\ Alvin Lee -guitar/vocals
\ Chick Churchill -keyboards
\ Leo Lyons -bass
\ Ric Lee -Drums
Ten Years After\ Rock & Roll Music to the World \ "Turned Off T.V. Blues"\ 5:12
It's a cold and winter's night and the rain is falling down It's so cold, so cold outside snow is laying all around There is blackness in my window and the silence is the only sound Well I'm sensing and I'm thinking though I like to watch t.v. It just fills my mind with garbage that my eyes ain't supposed to see Got the turned off t.v. blues now, but I'm learning how to see (closing my eyes) Well I've got a worried feeling all the pain and misery Well, it's happening in the world now even though I cannot see Though my body is not with you still my mind is running free (take me home) There's just nothing I can do now, though I search from day to day But the truth is so hard to tell you, and you know it anyway It's a cold and winter's evening, I wish my blues ... go away
Alvin Lee and 'Big Red' -a 1958 Gibson ES-335
Ten Years After\ Rock & Roll Music to the World \ "Religion"\ 5:49
I never really understood religion Except it seems a good excuse to kill I never really could make a decision I don't suppose I ever really will I can't relate to any power structure Where ego is the driving energy I let mine go a long, long time ago, now When I decided that I would be free The only thing I understand is living The biggest sacrifice to make is death Once you're dead, there's noting left for giving The life means fighting your every breath
MOG wakes up in 2008 to many posts about good hangover music. I happen to mention Bill Evans on Bartleby's post, then I go listen to dermahrk's good tune, and suddenly my email invites me to a most beautiful Bill Evans post just then upped by mogger DLuebbert*. Karmic - perhaps. I hearkened to a mood that hit me during the Christmas week. I was enjoying a (rare) post by my good friend MasonJar just the week prior when MOG informed us with moovyphreak's post about Oscar Peterson's passing on December 23rd. With the festivities downstairs wrapping up (so to speak), I went into a depressed and very introspective state up in my stereo confines and quiet speakers. With lack of proper Oscar Peterson cuts I then steeped myself in Bill Evans the rest of the night - getting stupid drunk and loving every key I heard. It raped my soul in a warmth so, so forgiving of the pain of these feelings of "loss." We all suffer - it seems especially true during the holidays. Either a loved one inevitably passes during the season or we become overwhelmed from the lost presence of someone during the celebrations. I suppose the sense is karmic. The solstice of winter is a death toll. We have once again hit the coldest, darkest part of the year and all is frigid and still. To a coming equinox and a return to the other side of this circle game we spin - so it goes and so the music soothes the emotions through every turn.
I will expurgate (and relieve you) my junk writing and my thoughts about this cut vis-à-vis Miles Davis' 1958 staccato renditions. Besides, Mr. Luebbert writes much finer jazz reviews. I want you to really listen to that Evans' performance. Try and sense what is going through his head as he plays that song in 1979 - watch his brow. He is feeling the loss of someone. That someone is the man playing the bass in this tune. Scott LaFaro died untimely and Bill really never recovered. The song, "RE : Person I Knew" is the first track from Evans' first release after LaFaro's death (this track here recorded only three weeks before the car accident). When you hear the interplay in this track you'll catch a glimpse of the symbiosis that jazz is all about. Scott LaFaro was a virtuoso (think of him like a Django Reinhardt of the upright bass) - matching Bill at such levels of communication that we can only imagine. We listen from afar and bask in the beauty of the musical interplay. We share in the joy of interacting with life in moving harmony and live dynamics. It is, truly sad when it is no longer. We miss all of them. Oh such keys...
On a local sad note, this tune is similar to what we regularly hear here every Sunday at a club called Shakespeare's. Like family, we gathered around beautiful piano jazz and clinking glasses for some 12 years. Jerry had to close the doors to the establishment last Sunday night (economy) - it was a bittersweet evening. To an uncharacteristically packed house he kidded us "I should'a put up a closing sign every week!" Our local legend Neil Bridge and his hot trios often had Neil's former students sitting in - it was always something live and new for the ears. I feel bad for Neil (and our grateful ears) .. where's he gonna score a cool regular weekly gig like that again .. we're losing cool stages and hangouts like this to choose from anymore - depressingly shameful for arts and culture not to converge and imbibe somewhere. Here's to good jazz clubs everywhere - may you thrive, prosper, and live long. Cheers! I sure wish I could have been at the Village Vanguard, New York, June 25, 1961.
Thanks for the traipse into Harrisongs, dmdm. The discussion there led me to Dhani Harrison to see what he's been up to lately. I caught a lot of him vicariously through his father's last album, Brainwashed, and I certainly enjoyed seeing him in the tribute performance, Concert For George. Seems that the fair Dark Son has been up to some good music making recently. I'm a bit late for having this actual EP in my hands, but the download is still very available.
EP 001 is the first release from thenewno2. Best described as Electro, Blues Drum&Bass, Rock, Dhani Harrison and Oliver Hecks have created an atmospheric blend of organic and digital sounds. The songs contain a captivating combination of male and female vocals over a mix of guitars, Drums, strings, keyboards and synthesizers. With this as a platform, thenewno2 have written, performed and produced debut EP.
