Caught Drew Gress' 7 Black Butterflies at the Standard the other night (w/Drew, Ralph Alessi, Tim Bernes, Craig Taborn and Tom Rainey). I'm loving the fact that we're sprinkling in some more "out" stuff into the schedules lately (ie, Trio 3 w/Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille & guest Geri Allen a few weeks back). But, like Trio 3, the group was so tight and the compositions were so meticulous whilst retaining a sense of immediacy and melodic commitment that it couldn't just be chalked up to just some "out" stuff. I think the more shackled artists get due to over-education and over-intellectualizing, the more necessary it is to infuse some solidly avant leanings just to keep it sounding alive. I'm not a musician, so I realize it's a tricky thing and everyone thinks they're doing something "new" . . . it's understandable, but you can just really tell the difference between the same-ol' same-ol' and something fresh . . . I don't claim to know why exactly. Trio 3 and Drew Gress have set the bar very high for me, and I'm excited what else will come along down the pipeline.
Next up is the Cryptogramophone 10th Anniversary run in late April w/Nels Cline, Bennie Maupin, Scott Amendola & Co. Let's see what happens!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
I'd Rather Be Blind, Than See Beyonce Play Etta James
I've never "started a petition" in my life, but the idea of Beyonce playing Etta James in a biopic being shot soon is enough to make me write a Petitions For Dummies book in like 2 seconds. I mean, it's so ridiculous and insulting, it's hard to even go ahead and make the argument . . . part of me is so revolted by our current music and movie industries, that I'm tempted to just ignore it and hope it all passes by like a bad dream and I'll wake up and it'll be the 70s (or ANY other decade of the 20th century) again.
It's hard to even be angry at the "artists" (celebrities is more accurate) these days because they don't know any better. Beyonce isn't an actress and she isn't a musician/vocalist, she's a celebrity. If Beyonce looked like Etta James, she'd be working at McDonald's for life. She's just lucky and happy all this shit is happening to her and could care less about the bigger picture of artistic integrity and whatnot . . . why should she sacrifice her dream for the betterment of our culture on the whole?
I think it's time to launch an official ban on creating remaking the past. No movie remakes, no music sampling, no homages . . . legitimate biographies and documentaries are fine, but no creative license should be taken, as it only results in disrespect and distortions. I mean, people are spending so much time pilfering the past now, what happens when 100 years from now THAT generation is wanting to pilfer OUR past and all they see is a whole century of us merely remaking the century prior?
I know that last paragraph was a tangent, but the bottom line is - I don't want Beyonce or any other "model-celebrities" pretending to be singers anywhere near any project pertaining to Etta James unless it's them donating their huge fortunes (unlike anything Etta James has ever seen in her life) to some legitimate project dedicated to honoring Etta's contributions to music.
It's hard to even be angry at the "artists" (celebrities is more accurate) these days because they don't know any better. Beyonce isn't an actress and she isn't a musician/vocalist, she's a celebrity. If Beyonce looked like Etta James, she'd be working at McDonald's for life. She's just lucky and happy all this shit is happening to her and could care less about the bigger picture of artistic integrity and whatnot . . . why should she sacrifice her dream for the betterment of our culture on the whole?
I think it's time to launch an official ban on creating remaking the past. No movie remakes, no music sampling, no homages . . . legitimate biographies and documentaries are fine, but no creative license should be taken, as it only results in disrespect and distortions. I mean, people are spending so much time pilfering the past now, what happens when 100 years from now THAT generation is wanting to pilfer OUR past and all they see is a whole century of us merely remaking the century prior?
I know that last paragraph was a tangent, but the bottom line is - I don't want Beyonce or any other "model-celebrities" pretending to be singers anywhere near any project pertaining to Etta James unless it's them donating their huge fortunes (unlike anything Etta James has ever seen in her life) to some legitimate project dedicated to honoring Etta's contributions to music.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Bish-nifick!
So, last night we went to see Stephen Bishop at The Cutting Room. At close to 30, we were a solid 10 years everyone's junior in the entire establishment, which we expected to be the Bish demo. There's always a second upon entering such a situation, and this happens quite frequently to us, where you think "damn, why isn't this a more diverse crowd?" But then you realize that there's really been no good music produced in the past couple decades, and everyone wants to be seeing and listening to the next-big-thing, so the only one's left to appreciate the master song-crafters like Bish are basically the Boomers. It's really a shame.
The show was great. He played everything we wanted to hear: almost everything from Careless (Careless, On and On, Never Letting Go, Madge, Save it for a Rainy Day, Little Italy) and a few jams from Red Cab to Manhattan (of which there aren't many...just keeping it real) like Send a Little Love My Way, "It Might be You" of course, which he prefaced with a kind of crass story about Philippine women at a massage parlor asking him to sing the song in the middle of his massage (it was more the vocal impersonation of the women that was crass than anything). It was just him and the guitar, which was perfect, because it really makes you see clearly how well-crafted the songs are. I don't know enough about chord structures and whatnot to say exactly what was going on musically that impressed me, but you could just see the intricate work going on and how perfectly it complemented the vocals at every second of the song.
This was basically just another example of how far our culture has fallen musically . . . something I experience frequently, but not usually this potently. It's really not THAT difficult to write a melodic jam if you know your instrument well and actually try to sing, but if your focus is solely on being famous, which is primarily the case these days, then the melodic jams become cheap, thin and empty. Let me tell you something, if Stephen Bishop arrived on the scene today sporting some kind of Justin Timberlake ensemble, I don't even know what would happen . . . either he would be hailed as the instant-legend savior-of-all-music OR completely ignored because it would have been so long since a decent singer-songwriter has been on the scene people wouldn't know how to begin to appreciate it.
That's it for the Bish recap.
The show was great. He played everything we wanted to hear: almost everything from Careless (Careless, On and On, Never Letting Go, Madge, Save it for a Rainy Day, Little Italy) and a few jams from Red Cab to Manhattan (of which there aren't many...just keeping it real) like Send a Little Love My Way, "It Might be You" of course, which he prefaced with a kind of crass story about Philippine women at a massage parlor asking him to sing the song in the middle of his massage (it was more the vocal impersonation of the women that was crass than anything). It was just him and the guitar, which was perfect, because it really makes you see clearly how well-crafted the songs are. I don't know enough about chord structures and whatnot to say exactly what was going on musically that impressed me, but you could just see the intricate work going on and how perfectly it complemented the vocals at every second of the song.
This was basically just another example of how far our culture has fallen musically . . . something I experience frequently, but not usually this potently. It's really not THAT difficult to write a melodic jam if you know your instrument well and actually try to sing, but if your focus is solely on being famous, which is primarily the case these days, then the melodic jams become cheap, thin and empty. Let me tell you something, if Stephen Bishop arrived on the scene today sporting some kind of Justin Timberlake ensemble, I don't even know what would happen . . . either he would be hailed as the instant-legend savior-of-all-music OR completely ignored because it would have been so long since a decent singer-songwriter has been on the scene people wouldn't know how to begin to appreciate it.
That's it for the Bish recap.
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