I Don't Know Nothing About Terry Callier. Should I?

[JSngry]

Hell, I remeber his sides getting 4 & 5 star reviewws in Down Beat when I was a kid, and he seemed likea cult figure then. I know I should've at least checked him out by now, but you know how that shit goes sometimes.

So, what's the deal?

[ghost of miles]

Don't know much about him, but I found this interview online.

[Harold_Z]

I remember him getting very popular among my "in" crowd for a short time around '69 or '70 . Some friends had the records so I didn't buy any. Probably should have.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Harold_Z

[JSngry]

Don't know much about him, but I found this interview online.

Found anotehr one where he said that he worked at some university in Chigago for a long time after "retiring", but that he got fired when they found out that he was a performer. C'est la vie...

[BFrank]

He's kind of a folk-y/jazz-y singer and guitarist. Interesting, but certainly not straight-ahead stuff.

If you have an eMusic account, there are a few of his albums there.

[JSngry]

Interesting, but certainly not straight-ahead stuff.

"Interesting" makes "certainly not straight-ahead" irrelevant afaic.

[WD45]

I am a big fan of Callier's album "Live at Mother Blues 1964." Callier is on vocals and guitar as usual, but is accompanied by two acoustic bass players. He is in strong voice, working mostly traditional material on this set. Word is that he had two bass players at the time because he was under the influence of Coltrane. [not that trane used two bass players all that often, but like I say, that is the word.]

He has had a bit of a resurgence in the last decade, moreso in the UK than here. Verve Forcast put out a date in 98 or so that had a real 70s Pharoah Sanders vibe to it. Perhaps because Pharoah played on it...

There has been a lot of material released in between there that I am not familiar with.

[K1969]

Terry Callier is one of my all time favourite artists. He was greatly influenced by Coltrane when he saw him play live in the 60s. I guess that he's the closest thing you can get to a Coltrane influenced soul singer. When you listen to sections of tunes like "Can't catch the train", "Alley wind song" or "Dancing Girl", the influence is explicit. He's a very spiritual artist and not really like anyone else I've ever heard. In MHO his best LP is "What colour is love" for the epic track Dancing Girl which, if you listen to the lyrics, is actually about Bird addicted to heroin. You can hear the full track at http://www.waxingdeep.org/ - 3/4 through the January 26th 2007 radio show. The music in "What colour is love" also has one of the rare accolades of being as beautiful as the cover:

[jimi089]

Bump up to the top.

JSngry, did you ever explore further?

Thanks for the info K1969 - I'mt thinking of picking up a couple of his albums because what I've read and heard has intrigued me.

[JSngry]

Not yet, haven't had a lot of discretionary income lately, but still plan on doing so at some point.

[fent99]

Love the Callier albums from the 60s (on Cadet?). He's pretty a popular live draw in London and part of the Soul Jazz revival of a few years back. Saw him live a couple of times and in a club (Jazz Cafe) where he was brilliant.

There's some live stuff on (premonition?) easier to find in the US since I think the chess/cadet albums are european issues