Horse Farms, Bird Strikes and a Clever Pianist

April 24, 2010 by
IMG_0396

A recent business trip to beautiful Lexington, Kentucky had me hopping from Connecticut’s Bradley Field to Baltimore and then Louisville, where I rented an anemic but reliable Nissan Versa and zipped the 70 miles to Lexington—it worked out to be the most efficient plan based on schedule and airfares. The key to effortlessly stowing a carry-on bag with Southwest is to invest in EarlyBird check-in so that you can be assured of overhead bin space.

Horse farm scenery, Lexington, KY

Traveling music for me is all about the mood and head space of the moment. Currently, I use an iPod classic and transfer my music to iTunes in Apple Lossless. Certainly adequate resolution for travel and when combined with my mid-fi Bose noise cancelling headphones, it gives me respite from any unsettled ankle-biters howling at their guardians for more chocolate milk.   

One record I had on my listening agenda was Jamie Cullum’s The Pursuit. I had caught pieces of a few tracks on satellite radio and decided to buy the CD. I like this kid—I have no idea how old he is, but he seems youthful. As a pianist, I appreciate his tasteful and stylish blend of magnetic pop songs with bursts of Connick Jr.-like flare. The CD opens with a track called Just One of Those Things, a jazz/pop number in which you can hear the glee—this guy is just so happy to be making records. The band, the horns, this is a throwback that could have been yanked from just about any era of popular music.

Tracks 2 and 3 are great pop songs with sprinklings of intriguing melodies and delicious piano ornamentation. There is a breakdown and the second track (I’m All Over It Now) where the vocal hook alternates with some honky tonk riffs that add levity and attitude (sneer) to the music that I wholeheartedly appreciate. The third track (Wheels) is one that I heard in the car and motivated me to buy the disc. It is a simple pop song with all kinds of subtle layers and a great hook. During the verses, the bass line (in B) is root-5th, root-6th, root-7th and back to root-6th underneath Cullum’s totally tasty piano work. When the bass player hits the 7th (A-sharp in this case) the piano matches it two octaves higher as part of a riff that is repeated over and over, the combination of tones produces a warm, fat, happy, rich foundation for the verse vocal. Cullum comes across to me as an intelligent composer and lyricist with style. Really good record, and one which I will certainly explore on a better playback system!!

One little dose of Brian Wilson before the trip lands me back in Connecticut. There is a track from the Imagination CD called Cry—I love the huge Brian Wilson harmonies and clever chord changes, but there are two moments in the song that slay me: The first is simply the bass line in the choruses—the opening chord is C-minor, followed by a G 7th with a huge low F in the bass that resolves back to C-minor inverted (with an G in the bottom). I just love that!! The song’s second moment comes about two minutes into the song where three-part harmonies singing “ah” paint four consecutive chords, with the first being C-major and the second being C-minor. It just strikes me as so powerful to take a major triad and drop the third to go minor with human voices. The third chord is B-flat major and the final chord is back to the C-minor, all over a pedal C bass. Wilson’s roots are in religious music and this moment is all about hymns and choirs. Beautiful.

I did actually work—the trip was productive and generally positive. Lexington, KY is stunning in spring and I am blessed to be surrounded by wonderful, smart people in my professional life. Nothing like getting home though… footnote:  My return flight included a bird strike to the nose of the 737 on climb out of Baltimore, just above the windscreen. We returned to BWI for inspection and were cleared to resume the flight.  

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Drum Machines and Cheese Wiz: A Quick Fix From 1986

April 14, 2010 by
keene1

In my somewhat expansive record collection, there are quite a few LP’s from the 1980’s. I can’t help it—that’s my era. I turned 16 in 1980. Admittedly, some of the records are awful, maybe with a gem hiding in there someplace. I have an LP that I hang onto because of one short acoustic guitar solo that just moves me.

So with the recent passing of Alex Chilton, I took time to explore the band Big Star (see prior post) and other artists that have been tagged with the Power Pop genre. Research in this area has led me all over the place, and one accidental destination was the discovery of singer/songwriter Tommy Keene. Many point to 1984’s “Places That Are Gone” EP as his definitive work, but eBay and my local record shops have yet to yield a good copy of that—so I procured an unopened copy (on LP) of “Songs From The Film” circa 1986.

Right away I was assaulted with the 80’s recording style that tries so hard to obliterate any sense of humanity in the music. Morbid drum sounds, particularly the snare, which sound processed and synthetic—memories of a sad scene from Miami Vice where Crockett has chucked the peach-colored blazer and is sulking on his boat. The guitars are so wet they are drowning—there is no attack, no character. The lead vocal has suffered a similar fate and is often veiled by the instrumental effects—it’s just too much. It was side two of the LP before I remember hearing a quiet passage, any sense of dynamics at all.

Yet through the murkiness I heard some interesting songs, some unique vocal melodies, some aggressive chord changes and some harmonies supporting what could have been (but just weren’t quite) compelling arrangements. The 2nd song on side two (As Life Goes By) had some texture and the last song was by far my favorite (The Story Ends) where we finally catch a break from the Cheese Wiz snare drum sound. This LP was born of a major label and big time producer (Geoff Emerick, who worked with just about everyone including The Beatles), but the 80’s synth-slop-craze had almost all of them high as a kite.

It’s kind of fun to churn through some of the 80’s records, and when you peel back the sludge there are often some wonderful songs embedded below the surface—Tears for Fears, a-ha, Martha Davis, Missing Persons, etc. This can go on endlessly and creates a prime opportunity to dig through and re-explore the old LP’s. But for me it can be hard—those early drum machines and over-used synths wear me out in a hurry. They should grab all of the talent from that era and call “DO-OVER!!”

More on this once I get my copy of “Places That Are Gone.”

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Boston Traffic, the Dad Shines at Symphony Hall, and How About Those Cellos!!??

April 7, 2010 by
Boston Symphony Hall

My Father is hangin it up after teaching musicology at Boston University for 46 years—let’s just say I grew up surrounded by an eclectic group of people. So as he prepares to vacate his digs on Commonwealth Ave, they asked him to make a presentation about a German composer from the Romantic Period (mid to late 19th century) named Johannes Brahms prior to a Brahms performance by the BU orchestra and chorus at Boston Symphony Hall.

The venue makes it a bigger deal, so we drove up from Connecticut, dropped my aunt with the folks, and zagged like Barry Sanders from Burlington, through Lexington, into Arlington Heights, to Belmont, onto Route 2, into Fresh Pond, past the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School and onto Storrow Drive to Boston. I had us down there way early because one: it was a beautiful day and two: Sox/Yankees was happening at Fenway Park less than a mile from Symphony Hall—I wanted no part of that mayhem. I got lucky and found a metered spot by the Cheesecake Factory on the backside of Copley Square. We grabbed dinner (salads, guacamole, grilled eggplant sandwich) and had a three minute walk to the Symphony.

Professor Joel Sheveloff is no small man. The Big Guy’s got a knack for public speaking, and he was presented with a bound book of comments and well wishes from colleagues and students past and present upon introduction on the big stage. He spoke for half and hour about Brahms and how he was perceived around the world and how people were slowly starting to appreciate his great works. All well said with some pointed humor mixed in.

I was sitting with family and friends—people I have known since the 1960’s. We had seats in front and whether you appreciate classical music or not, hearing a full orchestra in a great building like that is a privilege. Conductor is center stage, violins right and left, cellos center just aft of the conductor, with brass toward the back and timpani and harps back/right and double bass/back left with the bassoons. The chorus was standing up against the back wall of the stage on risers.

It is striking to hear the instruments interact within the space and how intricate the overall arrangement is (called orchestration). I was most taken by how physically demanding the playing is—and how monstrous a role the cellos played as the music unfolded. You just can’t possibly take this all in from any recording—to watch the players concentrate as they observe their master (the conductor), and execute complex parts at both loud and soft and VERY soft volumes. Totally amazing.

The cellists bow their instruments, they play staccato notes, and they stop and start in minute amounts of time. It seems almost not possible. And the violins to the right play different parts than the violins on the left—the imagery from all of that is quite something.

Then there were the voices. When the orchestra backs off the throttle just a bit to allow the singers command of the melody, and then things build and both the orchestra and the chorus swell larger and larger—and this is all without any Fender amps—and then back to a hush in an instant so the violins or the woodwinds have their moment…Hearing acoustic live music gives one the ultimate perspective. It all seems miles away from corporate pop and Milli Vanilli.

One more point about the Red Sox—I vowed to focus on the positive in this humble scrawl, but if I may just vent a little mild frustration: I strongly dislike Sweet Caroline—the infantile, dull nature of that plodding ditty and its apparent reverence at hallowed Fenway Park (and other places) makes me cringe. Maybe Neil Diamond is a nice guy, I have no idea. But that song sucks!

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A Plane Journey on a Sunny Saturday

April 3, 2010 by
The Caprice with a backdrop of small aircraft

After a Saturday morning trip in the Subaru wagon with my trash barrel to the dump, I took a little road trip in the Caprice that started out auspiciously with a speeding ticket. It was way too beautiful a day to let a little infraction spoil the fun, so my daughter and I resumed our journey to the Waterbury-Oxford Airport. This is a tiny little strip with a cool restaurant on one side and just a great little spot to watch planes about the size of the Caprice doing touch-and-go’s.

On the trip out, we rocked a little Weezer—Ilana had heard the band on Guitar Hero and she also thought the song Buddy Holly sounded familiar. Weezer fascinates me. They have a unique blend of gentle pop flavors mixed into hard alternative gritty noise that keeps my interest. I don’t absorb their songs as if they were nutrients for my creative side, but I am always interested to hear what they’re up to…and I admire their ability to be different. I guess when you add it up, I like Weezer. They remind me a little of a talented band from my home town called The Bags.

We rolled up to the airfield and took in the sunshine for a bit, watching student pilots and just hangin. No tunes, just a little peace and scenery on a beautiful day.

The Caprice with a backdrop of small aircraft

On the way back (trying to keep an interesting mix of music in my kid’s face); I cued up 1977’s Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt. This record is all over the place, and one thing I like about a great car stereo is the ability to maintain a high level of detail above the ambient noise of road and motor. We could follow the bass guitar and the tasty drumming through each track whether it was raucous or mellow. I was getting into it and at one point Ilana backed the volume down. That’s cool—dad was a little exuberant, maybe…

I like the whole Simple Dreams record (this was an LP from my collection burned to CD), but the popular tracks just crush: “It’s So easy,” “Blue Bayou,” “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me,” and “Tumbling Dice.” As a collector of vinyl, I strongly recommend this record to anyone who likes great songs, great performances, and excellent production (Peter Asher). Featured tracks were composed by Warren Zevon, Jagger/Richards, Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison—that’s a pretty strong overall selection. The playing is believable and real, with dynamics and a range of tones from silky strings to biting electric guitar. Superb drums sounds, too.

We made it back to the Bat Cave without getting pulled over and I decided to celebrate by cooking up an egg-white omelet mixed with some leftover Beef Brisket. Lots of excitement for one Saturday!!

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