Leon Russell and Ian Anderson major stars in the 1970s, both released new albums this month! Boy it doesn’t seem possible that it’s been 44 years since I bought Benefit my first Jethro Tull album. Equally implausible, is that it’s been 43 years, since Leon Russell and the Shelter People spun for its first time on my turntable.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve made reference to listening to David Wilcox’s new album blaze, today I listened to it again and I think it’s time i write something about the album! For me David Wilcox has the whole package, he is an intelligent and thought songwriter, a great singer and a terrific guitar player. What more could one ask for? I’ve been listening to David since the late 80s when I heard him on the radio singing and discussing the titled track of his first album “The Nightshift Watchman” Which is a song about those people, who sit in underground bunkers watching the skies for a missile attack knowing full well that if they do their job, their job and the world as we know it may be over!! You can read the lyrics here. Many of David’s eighteen releases can be found in my music library and I feel that blaze is one of his best albums.
Sometime in the late 90s, I discovered the music of Native American flute master R Carlos Nakai. Since that time many of his albums have made their way into my music library. Carlos flute, along with the vibes of Gary Burton keep me sane! Many times when I am stressed or worried at work, I say that it is TIME for some R Carlos Nakai and within minutes of the music’s start I am headed back to sanity!! Nakai has some wonderful musicians who work with him to create the music that I love and often need, including William Eaton on a variety of stringed instruments and Will Clipman on various percussion instruments. I particularly like the albums that Nakai has made with pianist Peter Kater. Their 1994 release Honorable Sky is one of my favorites.
Yesterday and today I was back to work at my regular job. Because I spent the day performing soil borings, logging the borings and collecting soil samples for permeability testing,(sounds like fun doesn’t it!) the work did not lend itself to music listening. Today’s work the laboratory permeability testing was suited for music listening. The best music for that type of work is jazz or New Age. So I started off with the album that was # 5 on the JazzWeek Chart- Expression by Javon Jackson. Dare I say, that I do not know Javon Jackson? Oops, I guess I just did! A quick read of Javon’s biography at his website reveals that he is a tenor saxophone player who rose to prominence as a member of the last version of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In addition to his work with that group Jackson has also appeared 125 recordings and toured with Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Betty Carter, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Donald Byrd, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Richard Davis, Bobby Hutcherson, Curtis Fuller and Stanley Turrentine. That’s some pretty good company – don’t you think!
So last Saturday April 12th Herbie Hancock celebrated his 74th birthday, when I read that it was his birthday I started to think about his status in the jazz community and I asked myself – why haven’t you listened to more of his music through the years?? I think I’ve asked that question a dozen time, don’t you think?? And as usual my first response was – “Beats Me” But as I thought about it the only explanation that I can come up with is that when the roots of my music listening were being planted (1970 – 1975) Herbie was making some pretty avant-garde music in those years and since I really wasn’t that into that type of music, I never listened to Herbie – hum – but you did listen to Bitches Brew?? I think that the most likely scenario was that I heard something of his, didn’t really like it that much and from there figured I didn’t like his music, and so I never sought it out! Now as I read this jazz icons biography and realize that he is not only a great jazz musician but also just a flat-out great person – I think I have missed out on a lot over the years!
When I first heard of the band Gandalf’s Fist……
….. I discovered two guys who over the last few years have become good friends and have formed a band with a name that arose from an attempt by a mutual friend to impress a geeky girl. The band name that their friend created and the two friends have stolen is Gandalf’s Fist! The two friends are multi-instrumentalist Dean Marsh and lyricist/vocalist Luke Severn. Their music is steeped in the British Prog rock scene of the 1970s….Continue Reading
So the other night, when I was reading Light of the World by James Lee Burke (which by the way I finished yesterday so I will be writing about it shortly) I started thinking about the character of Clete Purcel and specifically a song that would fit the character. Now, if you read Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series you know that Clete is Dave’s best friend and right hand man. They were partner in the Homicide Division of the New Orleans Police Department until their self-destructive tendencies got them kicked off the force. Through twenty books by Burke – Clete and Dave have fought the bad guys that live on the underside of New Orleans, New Iberia and in the case of “Light of the World” Montana. Throughout those books, if there is a wrong decision to be made Clete made it, if Clete knew he was going too far with a suspect or a bad guy that he was beating the crap out of and he knew he should stop Clete kept gong! So for me the song that best fits Cletus Is- “It Ain’t Easy Being Me” by Chris Knight!!
