Music Monday - Art Form or Cash Cow with Planned Obsolescence?

I felt badly about not caring for rap performance because it destroyed my status of being able to enjoy and appreciate all forms of music. I finally rationalized, “How can anything be music if it is not musical?”

Most (and I feel safe in saying “most”) rap performance is merely inflammatory, profanity-filled, roughly rhyming couplets, set to a rhythmic background of raucous and thumping sounds. It is seldom musical.

How can that which is not musical be termed “music”? Simply put, rap is not music.

I don’t know what it is. Some kind of performance art I suppose.

And there’s something else that worries me: We hum and whistle the songs and music of our youth. That’s what makes them so eternal, so legendary to us. Just what are people going to be humming 20 years from now? It’ll be slim pickings surely. Will it be “bomtiddy bomtiddy bomtiddy bom”? Or perhaps a string of unsavory obscenities and profanity.

I have pawed through the cut-out bins, the pawn shops and the abundant thrift stores for cast out and cast away recordings, 8 track, cassette, 45rpm, LP and now CD. Years of doing this taught me (among many other things) that the music that is temporary and disappointing in our lives ends up there in the discard bins, reverting to dust.

Sometimes it was heart-throb entries like David Cassidy or Michael Parks there in the bins. Or maybe classical albums like Ravel’s Bolero or Handel’s Messiah orchestrated and played by small town bands in Europe or Alabama somewhere and bought from magazine ads. There were stacks of stand-up comedy albums, played once and never touched again. I found lots of vanity albums from show-biz personalities hoping to supplement their income in the music business. But, “William Shatner Sings?” or Robert Mitchum’s “Calypso is Like So” although treasures to the collector now, were turkeys when released. The used boxes contained albums by one hit wonders and head bangers. Never a Sinatra, never a Brubeck. It was seldom any jazz album would appear in the charity shop or garage sale. A used Charlie Parker album? Get real.

Today what do you find? Rap CDs. Lots of them. LOTS of them. It seems they do not stand up to repeat plays. The rap protagonists listen to the recording once and then move on. They must. Apparently there is not enough pith in the helmet to wear it repeatedly.

Of course in any art there are exceptions to every premise and medium. I make no judgments here; it’s only an observation.

Since the advent of recordings, one generation of parents grew up listening to jazz and show tunes. That was the popular music of their time. They listened to songs with fine poetry and indelible melodies. They also carry the guilt of the “Charleston” and the “Lindy Hop” and other dances of that ilk.

Along came Bill Haley and Little Richard. Parents were wary because they couldn’t understand the lyrics and thought the dances too sexually symbolic. Turns out they were right and well … wrong. Rock didn’t promote sexual activity any more than the crooners and the snuggle dances of the ‘40’s.

Rap is not the same story. The older generation may just be completely right. The current denizens of the younger generation may just be the victims of the emperor’s new clothes. The next BIG Thing might just be the cash-cow of corporations, eager to exploit the markets with a product that is transitional and must be replaced often; another edition of the planned obsolescence ploy, geared to selling the same product over and over.

The jury is still sequestered on that and ordered Gulf Shrimp today. It's going to be a long session.

Music Monday - Borrowed Licks

I heard Robert Randolph and the Family Band closing the Letterman show a Tuesday night, August 27, 2013. It was not rap; it was actually a little jazzy in places. The little band had a couple of unusual instruments: a broad neck five string bass and a pedal steel guitar. They played and sang an original piece called "Born Again" from the just released "Lickety Split" album. The music was good but one thing bothered me. The music of entire chorus was taken from Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With" with different words.

There is no video of it yet but here is a sample clip just about long enough to hear the similarity. Go HERE and play clip number two, "Born Again".

Update 2 Sep 2013: Here is a vid of the performance.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band - Born Again by eidurrasmussen

Now play this
Stephen Stills singing "Love the One You're With"

So it did a bit of a search. I found another Family Band appearance on the Letterman show doing the song "Ain't Nothin' Wrong With That." Well, the first guitar lick comes straight out a classic rock number that I can't quite place in my mind yet. Maybe you can.
Listen to this, at least the first phrase.

Now, jazz musicians quote each other all the time, but in a spontaneous way, a phrase here, a phrase there. It seems more a nod and a tribute. But, these examples seem written into the songs. Is that okay? George Harrison got into some trouble because his "My Sweet Lord" was was ruled an "unconscious plagiarism" of The Chiffons's "He's So Fine".

Music Monday - Bill Black

Today William Patton "Bill" Black was born.

He was the largely uncredited bassist in the group Blue Moon Boys, the band behind Elvis Presley.

After forming Bill Black's Combo, the quintet specialized in instrumental covers of the era in the late '50's to the early '60's. Eight of the recordings by Bill Black's Combo placed in the Top 40 between 1959 and 1962. These were "White Silver Sands" (U.S. No. 9), "Josephine" (U.S. No. 18), "Don't Be Cruel" (U.S. No. 11), "Blue Tango" (U.S. No. 16), and "Hearts of Stone" (U.S. No. 20). Advertised as "Terrific for Dancing" their Saxy Jazz spent a record whole year in the top 100.

The Combo appeared in the 1961 film The Teenage Millionaire and on The Ed Sullivan Show, where they performed a medley of "Don't Be Cruel," "Cherry Pink," and "Hearts of Stone", and were voted Billboard's number one instrumental group of 1961.

From Wiki:
In 1963, Bob Tucker joined the Bill Black Combo as a road manager and guitar/bass player. Black himself had been ill for the past year and a half and unable to travel. Nonetheless, he insisted that the band continue without him.

The Bill Black Combo created musical history in 1964 when they became the opening act for the Beatles (at their request) on their historical 13-city tour of America after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Black himself was not well enough to make the tour.

Black's main stand-up bass is today owned by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, who received the instrument as a birthday present from his late wife Linda McCartney in the late 1970s. The bass can be seen in the video clip to McCartney's song "Baby's Request". In the documentary film The World Tonight, McCartney can be seen playing the bass and singing his version of "Heartbreak Hotel".

In 1995, he played it on "Real Love", the last "new" Beatles record (one of two in which McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr overdubbed a full arrangement onto a John Lennon home recording from the late 1970s).

In 2005, Clay Steakley portrayed Black in the Elvis Presley biopic miniseries Elvis.

On April 4, 2009, Bill Black was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We lost Bill Black October 21, 1965.

Music Monday - The Hunts

Tuesday night at the Simmons Center.
The Hunts: A family musical group.

It was difficult to catch them all in one shot, well almost impossible. So this frame is a composite of several shots. From left to right they are: Clint (Dad), Sandy (Mom), Jessi, Jonathan, Josh, Jordan, Jenni, and Justin.

Or something like that..

It was a fun show of well known songs and originals. The clog dancing was a big hit with the audience.

A fresh wholesome show from some really talented youngsters. (Including Mom and Dad!)

Music Monday - Art Tatum

Things are sort of dull around the Music Monday composing room, so for the next few weeks the cracked editorial staff has decided on a new feature for the day:

The artwork of David Stone Martin on record covers.

One exciting work of art (called Illustration by some) will be presented here each week until they run out. Most scans are from the editor's personal library and the original copyrights apply.

They are presented here for admiration and educational purposes only.

The second two are not signed but are generally attributed to David Stone Martin.

October 13 in 1909 Art Tatum was born. Next Thursday is his birthday. Did you send a card? You didn't send one to Buddy Rich either. I am beginning to suspect.

David Stone Martin apparently did art work for several Art Tatum Albums. Pictured are four. The artwork was often repeated on reissues using different layouts and backgrounds.

From WIKI:
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. (October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso. He was noted for his extremely fast runs despite being nearly blind.

Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries ...

Art Tatum's recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists."

In 1925, Tatum moved to the Columbus School for the Blind, where he studied music and learned braille. Subsequently he studied piano with Overton G. Rainey at either the Jefferson School or the Toledo School of Music. Rainey, who too was visually impaired, likely taught Tatum in the classical tradition, as Rainey did not improvise and discouraged his students from playing jazz. In 1927, Tatum began playing on Toledo radio station WSPD as 'Arthur Tatum, Toledo's Blind Pianist', during interludes in Ellen Kay's shopping chat program and soon had his own program.
By the age of 19, Tatum was playing with singer Jon Hendricks, also an Ohioan, at the local Waiters' and Bellmens' Club.

As word of Tatum spread, national performers, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Joe Turner and Fletcher Henderson, passing through Toledo would make it a point to drop in to hear the piano phenomenon.

Tatum tended to work and to record unaccompanied, partly because relatively few musicians could keep pace with his fast tempos and advanced harmonic vocabulary. Other musicians expressed amazed bewilderment at performing with Tatum. Drummer Jo Jones, who recorded a 1956 trio session with Tatum and bassist Red Callender is quoted as quipping, "I didn't even play on that session [...] all I did was listen. I mean, what could I add? [...] I felt like setting my damn drums on fire."
Buddy DeFranco said that playing with Tatum was "like chasing a train.

Tatum said of himself: "A band hampers me."

Tatum did not readily adapt or defer to other musicians in ensemble settings. Early in his career he was required to restrain himself when he worked as accompanist for vocalist Adelaide Hall in 1932-33. Perhaps because Tatum believed there was a limited audience for solo piano, he formed a trio in 1943 with guitarist Tiny Grimes and bassist Slam Stewart, whose perfect pitch enabled him to follow Tatum's excursions. He later recorded with other musicians, including a notable session with the 1944 Esquire Jazz All-Stars, which included Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and other jazz greats, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He also recorded memorable group sessions for Norman Granz in the mid-1950s.

Music Monday - Lester Young

Things are sort of dull around the Music Monday composing room, so for the next few weeks the cracked editorial staff has decided on a new feature for the day:

The artwork of David Stone Martin on record covers.

One exciting work of art (called Illustration by some) will be presented here each week until they run out. Most scans are from the editor's personal library and the original copyrights apply.

They are presented here for admiration and educational purposes only.

I saw Lester Young only once.

He appeared in a traveling extravaganza called Birdland All Stars of 1957 which included the Basie band, Joe Williams, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughn, Billy Eckstine and a number of others.

Young was obviously not well. He had to be accompanied onto the stage and placed at the microphone. His solo duties out of the way, he waited at the microphone. Someone from back stage came out and accompanied him off stage. He didn’t seem to know where he was. He died in March of 1959.

Next Saturday August 22, in 1909, Lester Young was born.

In June of 2000 I sold the concert program (pictured above) on eBay, for fifty-eight bucks.

Among the people supplying the background for Mr. Young are:
Gene Ramey
Ray Brown
Jo Jones
John Lewis
Buddy Rich

This is a 10” LP
The tunes in this album are:
A foggy Day Let’s Fall in Love
Down ‘N Adam Little Pee Blues
In A Little Spanish Town Thou Swell
‘Deed I Do Jeepers Creepers

Other David Stone Marting covers for Lester Young.