If you are deeply into the person that created the music you enjoy, and interested in that person's experiences that contributed to their art, it seems completely natural to be interested in their homes from any time in their life. I am as much into people and their stories as I am in the works they create. I have that in common with Bob Dylan. He has made visits, mostly in secret, to the childhood homes of his cultural heroes one of his past times for decades now. Western society, in general and for many centuries, has revered the homes and the birthplaces of its cultural icons. Have you noticed? Then again, if a person has a deep connection, even an almost spiritual connection, to their own home, whether their current home or home of their youth, then it is more likely that they understand the deep connection an artist may have had to their home. If your home never meant much at all to you, why would you think anyone else's home meant much at all?
Really sad news. I was playing Nice Guys and People in Sorrow only yesterday and actually checked Jarman's wiki biog to see whether it said what he was up to these days. Saw the AEoC a few times over the years - the gig at the Roundhouse in 82 was sensationally good. RIP.
I dunno, I've never been to the childhood home of a musician. But I have been to the childhood homes of other artists -- a trip to Walt Whitman's childhood home was a wonderful, engaging experience for me that really took me back into Whitman's time (so different from our own), and place, and certainly informed my understand of and connection to his art. I've been to the adulthood homes of many artists -- Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Edith Wharton (in that case the house itself is an attraction all its own), Louis Armstrong, Jackson Pollock, to name some. That always provides a great connection to the artist, and helps keep the artist alive in public memory. Most of the birthplaces of the great artists of the past around her are long gone, but I used to work around the corner of the address at Pearl Street in lower Manhattan where Herman Melville was born. There's a plaque on the high rise there now. But I used to get a little thrill and feel connected to the artist when I walked past it. It makes great artists of the past feel alive and human and relevant in a way, instead of just putting their works on a pedestal and letting them just fade into repertoire disconnected from the artist or from the daily life people lived. But I'm the kind of person who, when he's walking around a place, often feels like the past is almost as alive and palpable as the present.
Flora Purim "Stories to Tell" I just love this music. I have a friend who CAN'T STAND her singing. I can see what rankles him, but what rankles him doesn't bother me at all. And even setting aside her singing, I love the music on this one.
The childhood homes of many of the major figures of jazz history are no longer standing. Elvis Presley's birthplace and childhood home
I have a very nice memory of Jean Sibelius' childhood home in Hameenlinna (Finland). I remember the piano used by the great composer for his first studies. Very emotional.
I listened to these both last night. The best I can say is that I appreciated them both in an academic sense, the way one appreciates an object in a museum that he encounters once, ponders for a moment, and then walks away from forever. As is often the case with this kind of music, I didn't hate it, but I didn't connect with it in any meaningful way, and after a while it got to feeling like homework. I think part of my struggle to identify with classical music, especially in the cases of composers who pre-date the age of recordings, is how many degrees removed it is from the source. So much of what I connect to in music, apart from the purely aesthetic enjoyment of melodies, harmonies, rhythm, texture, etc., is that process of really locking into what a composer, performer, writer, etc. is directly contributing to the work. This is where a lot of those intangible qualities of the art form shine through for me -- hearing Miles Davis bend a note a certain way, or Dylan sneeringly emphasize a certain syllable, or ?uestlove hit a cymbal crash that seems to resonate forever. Especially in a genre that doesn't necessarily prize a great deal of interpretive liberty, listening to a group of musicians in 1983 recording a Beethoven piece doesn't give me a sense of closeness to the composer or to the performer, hence the ability to appreciate but not really connect with it. When Brad Mehldau plays Bach or Brahms, I am at least able to latch onto, in addition to the appreciating the raw compositional qualities of the music, how those performances are woven into the fabric of Mehldau's body of work as a whole, and I hear them in a different light. I have no idea what kind of interpretive liberties he is taking with those pieces, but I do know that, even if he's reading them directly off the page (which I doubt), his individual stamp as a performer is all over them. Maybe I'd feel that way about the Beethoven piece I listened to if I had 30 other recordings by that same string quartet and could appreciate the nuance of what they were bringing to the table as performers. I'll check out some of the more contemporary stuff that's been recommended, maybe that will help troubleshoot that issue a bit. I have been enjoying Steve Reich a lot lately -- even when he's not present on the recording, there is something about being to read his liner notes, to feel his hand directly guiding the recordings, etc., that allows me to connect with his vision in a way that I can't with Beethoven, etc.
I would say set this aside for now. You will have to build a different bridge to get that side of the river. Perhaps one day you'll hear something that really grabs you and will bring you over. We could make recommendations of our favorite specific recordings until we're blue in the face but ultimately some inexplicable personal connection between you and the music is what will truly seal the deal.
This morning's purchases from HDTracks: Eric Dolphy - Musical Prophet, Sidney Bechet - Really The Blues. I've heard Bechet many times but never owned any recordings.
Paul Chambers & Wynton Kelly: The Vee Jay Sessions 2 These are 2 musicians and their music which I admire since many years…..
I'm ready to move on, but it was a week with a lot of plays of Lee Morgan - Last Sessions. It's not representative of his sound, and probably not his best. But there's sometinhg haunting there that made me come back to it. Never thought I would say this but: Don't like the electric piano on the second track. Should have had a softer sound. @Mugrug12, were you able to play it finally? Your thoughts please. Thanks.
I was only recently exposed to Onyx Collective, through their cover of "Within You, Without You," on the A Day In the Life: Impressions of Pepper collection on Impulse. I really like what I heard and would like to hear more.
Yesteryear I had the same reaction (loving it) when I first heard this. Its one of absolute favourites. I had not thought of it as haunting but now you say that. Yeah there is an unsettled nervousness at places. Good call
It depends on how interrelated an artist and his work are to his geographical origins. Literary figures like Faulkner, Ginsburg and Joyce obviously. Paris-centric painters like the Impressionists. With music, I think of the delta blues guys, and the CBGB punk scene. Jazz I suppose you'd look to New Orleans, but later musicians came from all over and happened to land in NYC because that's where the work was.
I've never been to the home of a jazz musician, at least not yet. I have been to the campus of the college Kenny Dorham attended. Today I finally get to spin this that arrived last night. Bob Dylan "Oh Mercy" Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab SACD
Very cool. As a kid we travelled to England and visited Haworth (home of the Brontes), Bath, the moors, south England. A few years later when I got to high school English I was probably the only 14 yr old boy who loved reading Brontes and Thomas Hardy. Having experienced the places and landscapes and weather really made those books come alive for me. Probably helped me become a big Smiths fan too.
If you get nothing from this, then you may well just stay away from classical music: Let me also say there’s plenty of interpretative liberty being taken in classical music. When you really dive into say three or four different interpretations of the same piece from this or that composer, then you realize just how different each performance sounds. Like, for example, the way Leonard Bernstein conducted Mahler’s symphonies compared to say Rafael Kubelik is like night and day. The key is to find interpreters that change the music and bring it to life. This is something that will require a lot of time on your part and a good ear, which I know you have or you wouldn’t be listening to jazz. I went through a period of listening to classical, and nothing but, for about nine years. I’m merely just taking a break now as I got bit by the jazz bug again, but I’ll be back to it in due time. Classical music fulfills me in a way that no kind of popular music (i. e. jazz, rock, bluegrass, country, etc.) can do and it touches my soul so deeply that sometimes it’s unbearable to listen to because of the way it tears me up inside. I think the same can happen to you, but you’ve got to be more open-minded to the genre and find a better access point than Beethoven (sorry, but I NEVER listen to Beethoven) or Brahms.
Pat Metheny Group: Travels (Japan Hybrid SACD - Disc 1) I can’t even muster the words to describe how I feel about this 2-CD live set. Absolutely enthralling and, more importantly, gorgeous music.
...paying it forward- I’ve got a small assortment of jazz CD’s of various conditions (they all play fine), but some have no case, maybe no artwork etc. Hey, it’s the music that counts right Anyways, if anyone is interested PM me and they’re all yours. I’ll pay shipping as well.
After the conversation on '70s-80s jazz, I was curious what was included in the Penguin Guide to Jazz's core collection from those decades (copied in below). Air: Air Time [77, Nessa] Ran Blake: The Short Life of Barbara Monk [86, Soul Note] Arthur Blythe: Lenon Avenue Breakdown [79, Koch] Anthony Braxton: Eugene (1989) [Black Saint] Kenny Burrell: Ellington Is Forever Vol. 1 [75, Fantasy] Gary Burton: Hotel Hello [74, ECM] Betty Carter: The Audience With Betty Carter [79, Verve, 2CD] Graham Collier: Hoarded Dreams [83, Cuneiform] Vic Dickenson: Gentleman of the Trombone [75, Storyville] Duke Ellington: New Orleans Suite [70, Atlantic] Art Farmer: Blame It on My Youth [88, Contemporary] Chico Freeman: Destiny's Dance [81, OJC] Ganelin Trio: Ancora Da Capo [80, Leo] Jan Garbarek: Dis [76, ECM] Stéphane Grappelli: Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark [79, OJC] Jim Hall: Concierto [75, CTI] Herbie Hancock: Head Hunters [73, Columbia] Julius Hemphill: Flat-Out Jump Suite [80, Black Saint] Joe Henderson: The State of the Tenor Volumes One and Two [85, Blue Note, 2CD] Earl Hines: Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington [71-75, New World, 2CD] Dave Holland: Conference of the Birds [72, ECM] Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert [75, ECM, 2CD] Thad Jones: Consummation [70, Blue Note] Rahssan Roland Kirk: A Meeting of the Times [72, Atlantic] Stéphane Grappelli: Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark [79, OJC] Jim Hall: Concierto [75, CTI] Herbie Hancock: Head Hunters [73, Columbia] Julius Hemphill: Flat-Out Jump Suite [80, Black Saint] Joe Henderson: The State of the Tenor Volumes One and Two [85, Blue Note, 2CD] Earl Hines: Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington [71-75, New World, 2CD] Dave Holland: Conference of the Birds [72, ECM] Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert [75, ECM, 2CD] Thad Jones: Consummation [70, Blue Note] Rahssan Roland Kirk: A Meeting of the Times [72, Atlantic] George E Lewis: Homage to Charles Parker [79, Black Saint] David Liebman: Drum Ode [74, ECM] London Jazz Composers Orchestra: Ode [72, Intakt, 2CD] Wynton Marsalis: Black Codes (From the Underground) [85, Columbia] Wynton Marsalis: J Mood [85, Columbia] Modern Jazz Quartet: The Complete Last Concert [74, Atlantic] David Murray: Ming [80, Black Saint] David Murray: Home [81, Black Saint] Evan Parker: The Snake Decides [86, Psi] Joe Pass: Virtuoso [73, Pablo] Alexander von Schlippenbach: Pakistani Pomade [1972, Atavistic] Zoot Sims: If I'm Lucky [77, OJC] Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith: The Kabell Years [71-79, Tzadik, 4CD] Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith: Divine Love [78, ECM] Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Quintessence [73-74, Emanem] Cecil Taylor: For Olim [86, Soul Note] Clark Terry: Memories of Duke [80, OJC] James Blood Ulmer: Odyssey [83, Columbia] Edward Vesala: Lumi [86, ECM] Bobby Watson: Love Remains [86, Red] Weather Report: Mysterious Traveller [73-74, Columbia] Eberhard Weber: Yellow Fields [75, ECM] Mike Westbrook: On Duke's Birthday [84, Voiceprint] Mary Lou Williams: Free Spirits [75, Steeplechase] Phil Woods: Phil Woods/Lew Tabackin [80, Evidence] John Zorn: The Big Gundown [84-85, Tzadik] I guess some selections reflect what was in print (Flat-Out Jump Suite rather than Dogon A.D. for Hemphill maybe?) But then the extent to which great music was self-released like Dogon A.D. and may or may not have been reissued (for reasons unrelated to quality) is part of the issue for music from that time. ECM seems to win on the label front.
