Big F**king Shit / Right Now, Man!

I had originally conceived of a long piece about Jazz vs. Classical / written vs. improvised music, but since I heard The Brave And The Bold by Tortoise & Bonnie "Prince" Billy yesterday, I changed my mind and will say a few things about this instead.

Now, friends and foes alike may know that some of the values I most treasure in music are a willingness to fight and overcome, as opposed to e.g. wallowing in sorrow and self pity. Will Oldham, a.k.a Bonnie "Twat" Billy has never made it a secret that he prefers the melancholy and the sad. This sad sucker once claimed, you know, that he was sad because he "was born". Giving up before you even start. That's the spirit.

Now, to above mentioned record. It is comprised of cover versions of songs by artists as seemingly diverse as Milton Nascimento and Devo. But to me, the two most striking covers are Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road" and The Minutemen's "It's Expected I'm Gone", and both attempts fail greatly.

Let us just quickly establish that the meaning of a given song is not merely its lyric, but the way this lyric is performed. It can be related to Roland Barthes' description of "The Grain of the Voice". By this he meant that the voice and its grain embodies everything real of which it spoke. If it spoke of pain, the voice was pain. If it spoke of hope, it was hope.

Now, "Thunder Road", like many of Springsteen's songs, is a song of hope and forward motion. One of it's most striking couplets is "Have a little faith / there's magic in the night". In Oldham's detached voice, there is no such hope to be found. Tortoise's playing slows down the tune immensely, and it loses momentum. "Thunder Mud" more than "Road".

One of the most striking lines in the Minutemen song is "No hope / see, that's what gives me guts", but there is no guts in either Oldham's voice nor the slow core of Tortoise.

Not only is there in my opinion a lack of concord between the lyrics of these songs and the "grain" of Oldham's voice which not really alters their respective meaning so much as distorts it. It's a pointless artifact, and if not pointless it definitely offers a completely different (and in my opinion wrong) impression of the songs and artists it covers.

Big Pimpin'

The coolest MF around. Not too sure about his pimp hat, though.




Also, RIP to Wilson Picket.

He really IS suffering, you know...

Ok, since I stopped reading Modern Drummer even before I started I didn't know that the video of Tony Royster Jr. from the previous post was some years old, and that he in fact didn't turn out to be the new Tony Williams after all, but more like the new Dave Weckl, and I know which one I prefer. (He's still young, though. Maybe in time...). Favirotie current Jazz drummer? Hamid Drake! And maybe Paal Nilssen-Love.

Caryn Rose at Jukeboxgraduate had an interesting post recently. I like her Greil Marcus quote. Too many critics and regular readers and listeners/fans are too concerned with the factuality of art. They seem to measure a given artistic work on whether it's based on real life experiences or not, which I find irrelevant. Any good writer/artist/musician should be and is able to create stories that are good in their own right regardless of whether it actually happened or not. Nor must we take for granted or even expect that a writer's persona is in fact the author him-/herself. I remember Robert Christgau's review of The Magnetic Fields' wonderful 69 Love Songs, where he correctly states that had Stephen Merritt "lived all 69 songs himself he'd be dead already". But the songs are great anyway, don't you agree?

Skillz

I've always been sceptical of prodigies and perhaps even more so of lenghty drum solos, but MAAAN can this twelve year old kid kick the shit out of a drum kit. The next Tony Williams maybe?

Picking up the Pieces/Happy New Year

A few bits and pieces from the festive period.

Derek Bailey died on Christmas Day. He is regarded as the major guitarist in the improv game, but he remains a guy I've read more about rather than I've actually heard his music. One reason why is that many of his records have been out of print for quite a while. Another is that whenever I was going to get any recommendations, the various sources I used recommended totally different albums. Allmusic rates two live albums, Derek Bailey & Han Bennink from 1972 and Outcome from 1983, as well as his recording of Aida from 1980. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, on the other hand, rate Domestic and Public Pieces and his duet album with Barre Phillips from 1980, Figuring. Allmusic are not too keen on the latter. Other sources rate yet other recordings. The only record I have of him is the charming Karyobin he made as a part of the 1968-version of The Spontanious Music Ensamble, which also included Dave Holland and Evan Parker. I've read several interviews with Bailey over the years, and he has always seemed as a reflective and smart guy, but I realize that I don't know enough about him to write a piece myself, so I'll let other do the work for me here, here and here.

I'm always excited when I read people I respect writing about their love for The Minutemen, like Sasha Frere-Jones and David Reese did just recently. We are still waiting for that documentary to appear on DVD!

When trying to find the various links used in this post I came across an interview with Albert Ayler done with Down Beat back in 1966.

I will try to finalize my 2005-list soon, but note this: As far as I'm concerned, The Arcade Fire's Funeral and The Go! Team's Thunder, Lightning, Strike were released in 2004. In this day and age, what whit increased opportunities for on-line shopping and the availability of imported records, these records and others were available to many when they were released, and I can't be bothered to find a spot for the among my list of records from 2005. Also, I have found it a bit difficult to update my list of reissues. Among other things, I can't decide whether to include reissues of albums that have been available for some time, or not. An example; The top spot is handed to Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity which was added because I found out it had been listed as a reissue this year, although it is actually just a re-pressing of the same reissue that has been available for some years now. Nevertheless, It is one of my all time favorite jazz records, so if I'm to include it it needs to have the top spot. I might have to rethink this before I close the list.

The Nick La Rocca legacy

When Freddie Keppard passed on the opportunity to record his music for fears that musicians would copy his style, the Original Dixieland Jazzband became the first to put jazz on record in 1917. Their leader was one Nick LaRocca, and according to him the fact that this white group was the first to record jazz was inevitable. You see, good ol' Nick believed that this new and exciting form of music was wholly a white invention. Nicky boy, you see, claimed that a music as complex as jazz could never have been invented by another race, let alone black people, whom he believed to be inferior to his white complexion. As if Buddy Bolden, Scott Joplin, Freddie Keppard, and a host of African American musicians in New Orleans never even existed.

Picking up copies of the Norwegian dailies to get a glimpse of what they regarded as the best Jazz records of 2005, it seemed horribly clear to me that current Norwegian Jazz writers must concur with Nick La Rocca's sentiments made some 90 years ago. Carl Petter Opsahl, jazz critic for VG, has produced a top five list which apart from its number one spot is completed by white or non-black performers. Not only that, four out of his top five have either Norwegian musicians as leaders or as an important part of their line-ups. That a live recording by John Coltrane tops his list says to me that he seems unable to follow much of the new releases in modern jazz outside his (and mine, don't forget) own country.

Roald Helgheim, who writes about jazz in the Sunday editions of Dagsavisen, received a price some time ago for his contributions to jazz in the form of his writing. Ironically, that price is called the Buddy-price, named after one Buddy Bolden, a figure the aforementioned Nick LaRocca pretended never existed, and looking at Helgheim's 2005 list it seems likely to conclude that he is only too happy to agree with Mr. LaRocca. Apart from Sonny Simmons' The Traveler on third place, every single record on his goddamn list is by white, Scandinavian performers! Simmons is augmented by Norwegian musicians on his record, so no wonder he got on the list.

Arild R. Andersen writes for Aftenposten, and used to shop at my record store. If I'm not mistaken, he once ordered a copy of Frank Lowe's Black Beings, but he seems to have forgotten such excesses, as his top five list gives us more Scandinavia, except for his number five spot, which is handed to Bill Frisell, who is...you guessed it, WHITE. His colleague I do not know much about, but he seems as incapable as the others to look beyond Europe except to acknowledge that old masters are still great (see his number one spot).

I failed to find Terje Mosnes' list from Dagbladet and I should therefore probably not say this without evidence, but I fear he would come up with a similar list to those above.

I have long argued that music to African Americans have probably been the most important art form than that of any other group of people throughout history. A bold statement, I know. But through their culture and music, the oppressed black population of America have used music as a tool to express themselves and comment on their situations in ever more innovative and meaningful ways. They have used music as a tool to break free from stereotypes and oppression, and in the early 1900's that music was mostly Jazz and Blues.

It seems odd to me that when so many of the prominent Jazz writers in Norway compile their thoughts on the Year-in-Jazz through a Year-end-list, they fail horribly in looking to other parts of the world. Because the African Americans, who are the originators of the genre, are not the only ones who've been neglected; The writers have been so intent on showing how vibrant their own national Jazz-scene is, that they have failed to look outside of the Norwegian border, and when they do, they pick established performers over young talents. I would argue that these writers are not doing their job in trying to find and discover new, exciting, and good Jazz and then try to bring it to a wider audience through their writing. Either that, or they just have terrible bad tastes. Or both. It's a crying shame.

Merry swinging X-mas

Pandora's Box

By way of a recomendation from my friend Adis, I checked out Pandora, a site created by The Music Genome Project. What this neat little site does is, when you type in an artist or song that you like, it creates a radio show with similar artists based on the musical attributes of the artist you requested/suggested. A kind of generic radio programme, if you like. I had some fun creating Minutemen, Albert Ayler, and Eric B & Rakim radio-shows. Since The Music Genome Project base their studies on the characteristics of the sounds, not all picks whetted my appetite. Needless to say, pinning down someone like the Minutemen and what they "mean" to me just based on their sounds (and not, for example, how those sounds are applied) will not give you the full picture, and therefore any other artist that may sound similar may not actually bring about the same "meaning". But to heck with that for now, 'cause this was actually quite fun.

Richard Pryor - Dec. 1, 1940 to Dec. 10, 2005

The Voice of the People

One day after I claimed hip hop to be the voice of the youth in French suburbia, th e Norwegian paper Dagbladet says that French politicians (right wing, of course) are looking to take legal actions against several French rappers, claiming they are the culprit of the uproar. Censorship is always the way to go. F**king morons. (Pardon my French (pun intended)).

It's been a while...

I'm having a last gasp attempt at getting through the syllabus, so I haven't had time to think of anything worth a dime to write about. Besides, I haven't had the time to write much either.

But I have been reading. Greil Marcus has come out of his hiatus (yeah, I know about his Dylan book) and interviews Patti Smith regarding the 30th anniversary of Horses for The Village Voice.

Patti has some views on music and society: "...rock 'n' roll is our cultural voice. I saw it evolve in my lifetime—I'm gonna be 59 in December—and it was revolutionary, in every way. It gave young people an outlet to channel all this new energy that didn't really compute with the generations before them". She goes on to talk about the riots in Paris, saying "I mean, look at what's happening in Paris right now. Part of me wishes I could just go into the streets and say, y'know, "What the fuck? Here—here's a Marshall; here's a Strat." That's the beauty of rock 'n' roll: It's a voice".

I agree that rock 'n' roll can be a voice and all that, but somehow I don't think it's the voice of choice to the kids in Paris. Their voice is more likely hip-hop (which, I suppose, can be as rock'n'roll as anything).

Nelson George is blogging again. It's been a while.

Dylan Calling

A short, yet charming take on "London Calling" by Bob Dylan.

Jazz Records: Update

I have been updating my jazz records list this weekend. There are some changes:

- Firstly, I have broken down the collection into alphabetized posts, eg. A-C. This makes it easier for me to update the site, as well as it gives you easier access to various parts of the list.

- Second, I have added many more records, including ones that I do not own myself. The reason for this is twofold: they function as a "hyped" and therefore "check out!"-list for me. Additionally, they are incentives for you to drop in later to see what the heck I'm going to give whoever's album.

The record labels and release/recording-dates are culled from various, often contradicting sources. If you find any mistakes or have any other comment don't hesitate to leave one or send me an e-mail.

Enjoy!

Books

Kevern Verney: African Americans and US Popular Culture 2003, Routledge (130 pages).

Starting off with the degrading representation of blacks in Minstrel Shows at the end of the 19th century, Kevern Verney gives insight to the different roles African Americans have played in music, movies, literature (covered less thoroughly) and sports, and their simultaneous fight for Civil Rights and fair representation and participation in popular culture. Biases and prejudices were used to prevent African Americans from participating in US society as a whole, but these measures were eventually broken down, albeit not without struggles. From the minstrels through The Harlem Renaissance. From radio to TV, and acknowledging music as African Americans' largest contribution to US popular culture. Major figures in the book are Jack Johnson, Paul Robeson, Sidney Portier, Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr., plus an array of musicians from Bert Williams through Miles Davis to Public Enemy. They all represent important aspects and eras of the African American history. Verney has a background as a lecturer in American History at college level, and his vast knowledge is apparent throughout the book. His writing is smooth while at the same time presenting the topic with the seriousness it deserves.

One of the recurring themes in the book is minstrelsy. Verney starts his story with minstrel shows and tells about the degrading representation of African Americans in them, initially played by white actors in burnt-cork make-up. At the same time they sang songs inspired by African American tradition. Blacks were eventually allowed to play in minstrels, but even they had to wear burnt-cork make-up to ensure caricature was maintained. Verney argues that the minstrel representation has permeated much of African American history in US popular culture even after the shows themselves stopped running. One example he uses is Louis Armstrong and how he at several times while playing opened his eyes wide and rolled them around, a well known minstrel trick to show the contrast between the white of the eyes and the darker skin. The argument is that for a long time such tricks were used to cater to the white audience's prejudices.

I do however have one bone to pick with Verney. While I agree with the fact that biases and prejudices have prevented African American fair participation in US popular culture, I do not think Verney pays enough tribute to how African Americans used their own cultural expressions to comment on their situation even before the Civil Rights movement. Before the advent of minstrelsy, black slaves had work hollers and spirituals that cleverly used metaphors and imagery that would later on be used by both blues and folk artists. Although Verney covers topics such as be bop, 1960's jazz and 1970's funk, he does not, to my opinion, acknowledge that in be bop's case it was a conscious attempt by black jazz musicians to break free from standards set by white swing orchestra-leaders in the early 1940's. The changes in structure and tempo were used both as signs of aggression and as a move from dance music to listening music, that is from "entertainment" to "art". The smaller combos made this sort of playing easier, but it also put the players at center stage, as opposed to the (white) orchestra leaders. Verney gives better attention to the links between the Civil Rights movement and jazz and soul in the sixties and seventies, but even this could have been elaborated a bit more.

Over all, though, I think Kevern Verney has presented a very good history of African Americans in popular culture, even if the shortage of pages may have prevented him from a more in-depth analysis of major developments.

People are drunk...

EDIT:

Note to self: Never write posts while drinkng.

Rock-post-rock

Apparently, the guys behind this years best album also headlined this years best indie-rock show, according to Tom Breihan. Shame I couldn't be there. (Not too sure about his stance on indie-rock, though).

Rollins and Ware

Sonny Rollins and David S. Ware, two of my favorite living saxophone-players, have both released good albums this year; The 9/11 Concert and Live in the World respectively. All About Jazz has a piese of the two giants in conversation. A lot of talk about God and spirituality, but an enjoyable read.

Down Beat reports that Jazz Line Distribution is to release Eric Dolphy: Last Date on DVD. It has previously been available on VHS. I know nothing about this film, but Eric Dolphy is one of my all time favorites, and any soundbite and footage of him is highly welcomed.

I Wanna Beeeee A Teen Again...

I've received criticism for my inclusion of several power pop-records on my 2005 re-issues list, and perhaps to some extent rightfully so. I expected nothing less anyway. Power pop is a strange genre. Mostly sentimental and nostalgic (radio-days, 7" singles, that summer etc.), conservative in both style (Beach Boys-harmonies; Beatles-esque song structures) and lyrical content (girls), sometimes verging on the misogynistic, but sometimes also entirely good-hearted. My friends pretty much divide into two schools when it comes down to power pop; a few of them swallow it down, hook and all (pun intended), the others remain more skeptical, and some of this skepticism seem to me to be a reaction to the whole-hearted praise of my other friends, which is understandable. In Norway, there has for a long time been a tendency to herald the obscure and equate that with quality, note the popularity of the Nuggets-series. I by no means subscribe to that notion myself. That said, there is no rule that says obscurity in terms of recognition equals mediocricy (or worse) in quality. The means and mechanisms of distribution in popular culture is too complex to make a clear-cut distinction in that respect. So as for Yellow Pills, it is filled with mostly unknown (to me) artists, some of them bad perhaps, but I find a good few of the songs highly entertaining and likeable. Hoboken Saturday Night may be a better record (I'll admit to not having listened to it for some time), and I have no doubt that Yellow Pills will race down the list in due time as there are not enough good songs on it to retain that top position. But for now, I just plain enjoy it.

Speaking of compilations, Blue Note have released a The Very Best-series with among others Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, Bud Powell, and Horace Silver. Most of them have eight to ten-plus tracks. Thelonious Monk's Blue Note legacy has already been sealed through his Genius of Modern Music Vol. 1 and 2, so that is a hard act to follow. The Monk-record looks good on paper, but I miss some compositions, and duck points for only ther only being 13 tracks. Bud Powell's a bit better, the only notable exclusions being "Wail" and "Audrey". "The Scene Changes" is from the album of the same name, which is worth buying by itself. Lee Morgan and Horace Silver differ from Monk and Powell in that they mostly started recording albums, whereas Monk and Powell began in the pre-album era and started out recording "sides" (early version of what we call "singles"). Therefore, sides-compilations have a different function than albums, especially since there was a trend at Blue Note to record albums as a collective whole. That said, both Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" and Horace Silver's "Song for My Father" are so well known and work excellently on their own. For some strange reason Morgan's compilation omits "The Sidewinder", though.

Updates

Nothing much going on, except to tell you that I've been updating my 2005 lists. Have a look!

Rosa Parks

Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks passed away on October 24. J.L. Chestnut Jr. pays tribute.