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jamn
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Posts posted by jamn
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These are two of my favorites.
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The guy is a freakin' virtuoso of the pop medium, and you best believe he knows it. A song like "Call My Name" contains so many "winks", both musically and lyrically, that you KNOW that HE knows that WE know that it's a goof, but that makes it anything BUT, since he goes ahead and delivers it in a totally convincing, powerful even, manner.
There's so many layers to this stuff (literally and metaphorically)...
"What Do U Want Me 2 Do" is the kind of "quiet storm" tune that Smooth Jazz artists would give their left nut for (assuming that they indeed have any to give....), slick, sophisticated, not particularly deep, but posessing great depth nevertheless just because it's so damn TASTY. Prince turns it out and throws it out like he could do this kind of thing in his sleep (which he probably could), but dammit, if it were so easy to do, and so "inconsequential", then why aren't we up to our collective asses in stuff this good? I'll tell you why - because it's NOT that easy, and the songs are NOT inconsequential!
In my opening post, I called this album "perfect", and perfect it is. Anybody who's ever struggled to make a record of any kind knows the nagging feeling that something could have been different and/or better, that you could have put something in or left something out, or that there's a few very VERY minor details that you'd like to clarify but you just can't...
Well, if there's any moments like this on this record, I don't hear it. I've listened "large" and I've listened "small", and this mutthafukkah totally TCB'ed on every detail, from the large macro design to the smallest nuance (especially vocally - good GOD amighty does this guy have an arsenal of vocal sounds and stylings, and goodgodamighty does he have total, TOTAL, control over them). It mindboggles me to listen to everything on this record and imagine the WORK that went into it, much less the WORK that it took to make it so perfect. Records don't make themselves, you know, especially production-centric affairs. Just listening to some of the "throwaway" stuff like the harmonized "I got plenty of what you need, and that's time" bit at the end of the title tune humbles me, it's SO perfect in every way.
So what's the big deal about perfection? There ain't none if the results don't come alive, breathe, sweat, and move. And baby, PRINCE MOVES! On a lot of his stuff, it seems like he's creating an exhibition of work to be admired in the abstract, but here, he's back in the trenches throwin' down with everybody else. This record makes me smile, laugh, and dance even when I don't WANT to, and that's a feat that becomes increadingly difficult as the years pass and, uh, "things happen". Y'all know what I mean.
Prince is a virtuoso, a true giant of contmporary music (no genre qualifications necessary - virtuosity is about depth of command, not style) If it has seemed lately that he's taken his gifts and gone home to play by himself, here it seems like he's decided that his greatness is a lot more fun for everybody when he takes it to the stage. In today's musical environment, songs with melodies (hell, songs with real singing!) and seem seem hopelssly "old school" (and maybe that's why I've heard more than a few people say that it takes several times through this album for it to fully hit them - we've gotten used to such prefab garbage being the norm for pop that when we come across REAL MUSIC in the pop vein that we're not sure how to respond, maybe?), but maybe that's Prince's tact here - time (ie - age) has finally gotten him to the point that the BEST way for him to be the rebel that he's always wanted to be is to just crank out artfully produced and performed pop songs with grooves that any middle-aged Chitlin' Circuit band could ride for centuries to come.
It's perhaps a one-man revolution (pun intended), and probably doomed to fail (let's face it - the days of pop as a jubillantly silly celebration of everydayness are long gone, and ain't coming back, ever), but hell, if you ain't got nuthin' to lose, why NOT?
Go ahead, Prince, go ahead.
Sounds like my album of the week.
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I am standing on the deck of a Canadian tall ship called the Caledonia. She visited my town in west Michigan last August and I bought the captain a beer at the local pub. It turned out that he was once a Jazz Trumpet major and played in the same college big band I played in (ten years after me). We had many mutual friends and acquaintances. The ship left town the next day with me aboard for the next six weeks. Our ports of call included every major city in Eastern Canada. Never underestimate the power of beer.
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a big shout out to Son-of-a-Weizen, for introducing me to mr. thad jones
ss1
Yeah Son-of-a-Weisen, that was an excellent thing you did for him. I love Thad......and Mel.
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra
This is one of my favorite Big Band Albums of all time.
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i gotta get this cd
ss1
Yep.
$14.95 at Amazon
Amazon's Sampler of exerpts from this Album
This really gives you a feel for the Album. It's beautiful. I will definitely buy this album.
$8.99 at the Music Resource if you are willing to wait.
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And here I am wanting to get away for a while...
And right now is when we don't want to get away from Michigan. The weather is warming and green is bustin out all over
. The only problem is the damn deer have been eating my newly sprouted Hostas, like forty of them.
Michigan is a beautiful place right now and will be for many months. We have a new high speed catamaran cross lake ferry called the
from Muskegon to Milwaukee beginning in May or June
and two great music festivals.
and
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This was an absolute spanking of the Nets by the Pistons who just sent the whole team at NJ in waves. I believe the Piston bench is the best in the NBA and Larry sure let them play tonight right from the git go. They just refused to let them run and the Nets are a pretty one dimensional team. They have to run to win. Good luck with that. There can't be a better 4 guard rotation in the NBA and the DP have so many big men, Corliss Williamson is playing small forward at times. And Tayshawn is back to his playoff monster ways. At times it almost seems unfair that such little guys have to play such big guys.
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New Flash!!!
Nets score 25 points in first half.
All time playoff low and low for Nets this season.
Detroit D - Believe!!!
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Here are my two favorites. Great selection and prices. They are really the same company.
Doubletime has a list of what they consider to be the 100 most historically significant Jazz recordings.
I am interested to know how board members feel about this list.
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Maybe he liked it so much, he decided to stay.
I know every time I go there I wish I could stay longer.
I
NYC -
garnett is gonna be named mvp today
i'd like too see garnett win it, "IF" the lakers don't
I agree...if not the Pistons Kev and the Wolves. He is an amazing basketball player at both ends of the floor. A no-brainer to choose him MVP.
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Pistons/Nets series starts tonight. I wonder what effect all that trash talking by the Nets after their last regular season meeting will have. My guess? Pistons squeeze the Nets dry with defense and win by 15.
I'm really looking forward to this series. Have been since the Nets playoff sweep last year. My feeling is that the Pistons have improved dramatically since then and the Nets have not. The Pistons also have home court advantage. Even though they are an outstanding road team because they depend on defense, this will make it tougher for the Nets. It should be a good series but I agree with you Jim, the bad boys will turn up the D and the Nets will become the Nots.
The most recent Pistons Nets Game
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I wondered how no one mentioned metheny but I guess people here don't like him much :-)
There's a few Metheniacs around here.
Glad to hear it. I am one.
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This is available now, looks very interesting.
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Weather Report Annotated Discography
I know I am another SUPER late-comer (a whole year!) on this thread but I have to put my two cents in.
I too, have been a WR lover since the very beginnning.
I can remember it like it was yesterday...Rottenbaur, Germany 1971 (a small farm town just outside Wuerzburg)....I was sitting in the living room of the farm house I was renting with 4 other members of the the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division Band......we were drinking some great local beer and the eating some brownies....really good brownies......when suddenly one of the other guys in the band comes in with a new album in his hand. "You're not going to believe this", he said. He was right. It was WR'S first album hot off the presses and that was the beginning of my love affair with this band. Over the next several months, we wore that record out. I also have I Sing the Body Electric (a bit of a come down after the first album, Sweetnighter (definately one of my least favorite), Mysterious Traveller (another amazing album that I completely wore out),
NOTE TO NEW DADDY JIM: Mysterious Traveller has an wonderfully entrancing and calming effect on young babies. When Zora is crying or won't go to sleep when you want her to, try lying on the floor, putting her on your stomach and playing MT. It worked every time with my two boys.
But I digress...I also have (or had at one time...my boys have been known to raid the old man's vinyl collection quite regularly over the years) Tale Spinnin', Black Market, Heavy Weather, Mr. Gone and 8:30. My favorites are Mysterious Traveller (wonder if they meant to misspell Traveler?), Weather Report, Heavy Weather and Black Market in that order.
I will not attempt to analyze this music because several board members (most notably JSangry) have done so far more eloquently than I ever could. I will say however, that this music moves me on a wide variety of levels and I have turned hundreds of students on to WR over the years, always with a positive result. Thank-you Joe for picking this.
One more thing....this is my first time checking out the AOW and I have to say, WOW! What an amazing thread. Makes me wonder why I have been spending so much time on Political threads and getting pissed off talking about GWB when I could be here talking about something I love. Reading this thread actually caused me to finally do something I've been meaning to do for months...I took my turntable out of my living room stereo system (dumped about a hundred CDs on the floor doing it) and brought it down to my inner sanctum where my computer is and hooked it up to my Bose wave radio. Not a bad sound at all. I am playing Mysterious Traveller as I write this. Heaven.
Again, this is a great thread on a great forum. Thanks to all who participate.
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Great Jazz guitars players you should not miss out:
Pat Metheny
Joe Pass (if you can, get Joe and Ella)
Wes
There are many many more! Meola, Paco, Django, John Mclaughlin, etc. I wondered how no one mentioned metheny but I guess people here don't like him much :-)
I don't know what makes guitar players so unique but I guess when you get to a point when someone hears a player play 10 sec and you know who is playing, that normally indicates that you are listening to a player with an unique vocabulary. That happens with all the great players. I can listen to a bootleg from Joe, Metheny, Wes, etc and I will immediatly know who is playing. Also, another great thing great players have is that they normally play with lots of different musicians and in quite different styles.
It's quite normal not to like several artists when playing differently, either solo or in an ensemble. For example, take Metheny. He has worked on so many different projects with an enormous ammount of musicians that almost no one will like all of his work. Not many like Song X or Zero Tolerance for Silence for example. wesbed, try to hear Joe in an ensemble and see how he stands out, or simply delight yourself with Joe and Ella... can't get much better than that.
ps: for a classical virtuoso, check out Andreas Segovia.
All the best,
BA
You are absolutely correct about all of these guys. I love them all. The guitar is a wonderful instrument (spoken from the mouth of a brass player).
I have many albums by McLaughlin, Di Meola, Metheny, Pass, De Lucia, Coryell, Burrell, Montgomery and others. I love funk guitar as well, especially early George Benson. And don't forget John Scofield....or Mr. Zappa (I have been told that Frank invented the wah, wah pedal. Does anyone know for sure if that is true?).......and I really like some of Jeff Beck's work. Back to Jazz, there are two highly underrated guys that, coincidentally, both play in organ trios. Paul Bollenback who plays with Joey DeFrancesco and our own Joe Gloss.
Here is the beautiful album I am listening to at the moment.
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Randy,
I am very sorry to hear of your loss. Please give my condolences to your family. I hope you can find some comfort in knowing that you will carry on her legacy every time you put stick to drum. Passing on a love of music of any kind is the most beautiful gift a parent can give to his or her child. Take care.
Jack
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At just 25 years old, Rick has exploded with his first solo album.
they didn't sell, so he ate them all. Stuffed 'em in even after he was more than fed up. Kaboom!
Here's a photo of Rick just prior to his explosion...
roflmfao
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he was alerted that it was premiering in NYC and so it played, not at UICA, but at Morningstar Cafe (the old Ten Weston Gallery) last weekend in G.R.
It would have been nice to know that it was playing locally! Any chance it will be shown at UICA?
I am interested as well.
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The greatest duo in NBA history.
Magic was the greatest.
Elvin is dead
in Artists
Posted · Edited by jamn
I just got a job teaching music in a town near Nagasaki, Japan where Elvin met Keiko and where they had (or have) a home. I will try to visit Elvin's Nagasaki home while I am there. RIP Elvin.