Musical Lone Wolf Moments I Love

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:15:00 GMT

When I started recording my last album I was going to keep it simple. Vocal & guitar, maybe a bit of bass here, or a bit of harmony vocal there. But once you add one thing, you get ideas, and you'll add another... So I ended up with full band arrangements for most songs. Don't get me wrong, I am really happy with how it turned out, but I am still in awe of pure solo recordings, you know, one person, one take and no, or very few..., tricks.
One day I’ll make one. But in the meantime here are a few of my favorite musical lone wolf moments.

Paplo Casals: The Bach Cello Suites
Recorded in the 40s, Bach’s divine perfection is delivered with the fire and smoky sense of longing generally associated with aging folk musicians.

Bob Dylan: World Gone Wrong
In the early 90s Dylan recorded a set of early blues and folks gems - allegedly in his garage. He sounded 50 when he was 25. He’s about 50 here. So do the math... He’s treating the old lyrics with the awe and respect normally reserved for Shakespeare’s second folio, and he drives it home with some razor sharp light touch guitar clicking. “I got blood in my eyes for you baby....”

Joni Mitchell: Number One
This is a youtube clip. She plays "Number One" during a TV interview at a breakfast table in the sunny backyard of a hotel in Amsterdam. Effortless and casual elegance. Unpretentious genius, like it ain’t no thing. “There must be more to living than a mortgage and a lawn to mow...”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG96PO595hU&feature=related

Jesse Wintchester: Live on Mountain Stage
A couple of years ago I saw him play solo at Joe's Pub in New York and was completely blown away. We all hung on every word and every note. This recent live album sounds just like that show. A perfect set of perfect songs perfectly delivered. Road trip! (to wherever he's playing next...)

Lighning Hopkins: Swathmore Concert.
He’s made many great records, but this one has lot’s of banter between songs. It’s charming, funny, and deep. Put the needle down anywhere and within 2 seconds you know it’s Lightning Hopkins. One of the most distinguishable brands in music. “...Ya’ll may not know what a field is...”

John Lee Hooker: Tupelo
A You Tube clip of a very young John Lee Hooker, singinga about the 1929 flood... You can hear the pores of his thumb rolling over the strings and miles railroad steel in his voice. The notes drip lightly and steadily, like rain drops, but they’re slowly adding up to beat strong enough to break any levy. “And it rained and rained and rained …. Tupelo, Mississippi.... is gone”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77pmWCpMNkI

Neil Young: Le Noise and Dreaming Man
What? Neil gets two? Well there is at least two Neils, that’s why. Le Noise is him singing and playing mostly un-caged electric guitar at master producer’s Daniels Lanois' mansion. These are all one take performances masterfully captured, looped, and spewed back through Lanois’ labyrinth of vintage equipment pushed to the max. What a sound. Hate Neil’s rocking side? Try Dreaming Man - a live album of songs from Harvest Moon. Acoustic guitar and vocal - no sound labyrinths. From Hank to Hendrix. Indeed.

Camron Carpenter: Camron Live
The new young genius of the organ. Church organ that is. Really? No worries. You’d think Daniel Lanois and Neil Young rigged up this organ. But no one rigged anything. It’s a live performance of Bach preludes and fugues that rip, echo and rumble through the pews and vaulted celings of the Church of St. Mary The Virgin. The organ seams to sweat and moan under the hands of the young master who’s unleashing sounds from it’s pipes that burst forth as if they had been trapped in there for centuries. Bravo!

Randy Newman: Songbook Vol 1
You can’t write a better song than Randy Newman’s Lousiana 1927. Unless you’re Randy Newman, then then you may have chance. Here he re-recorded some of his best songs the way he made them, alone at piano. Gigantic little songs, most are under 3 minutes. “They don’t know what love is... I know what love is”

Mississippi John Hurt: Live
Raw country blues isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I have yet to find someone who doesn’t love Mississippi John Hurt at first listen. A voice like a big cup of coffee and the prettiest finger picking you’ll ever hear. It’s more of a folk sound really. All his records records are great, but this live recording from the 60s is one a good introduction, I think.

Robert Johnson: Remastered by Pristine Classical
These tracks were recorded in the 30s in hotel rooms in Texas and when they were re-released in the 60s they spooked, haunted and inspired Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton into making history. This re-master sounds so clear, deep and present, it spooked me into thinking Robert Johnson was sitting in the room with me. How did they do it? Most likely the guys at Pristine Classical sold their soul to devil. (PristineClassical.com)

And then there is Keith Jarrett’s Koeln Concert, the first few Dylan recordings, the two Blind Willies (Johnson and McTell), Mance Lipscomb, Bruce Springsteen's Nebrasca, Townes Van Zandt at the Old Quarter... hmm, maybe this should be a book....

Caruso's Singing Secrets

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 23:05:00 GMT

Here is a phenomenal book about singing. It's short, to the point, and full of practical advice and great illustrations. Mario Marafioti was Caruso's laryngologist. He wrote the book after examining and working with Caruso for years. Marafioti couldn't stand the strained and artifical sounds most singers were producing and instead recommends Caruso's simple and natural approach to singing. He says singing is speaking in musical rhythm. So to sing properly you have to speak properly first. He liked the way Italian farmers sang - natural and wide open, the same way they talked.

And it's not about the vocal apparatus you're born with either. It's how you use it. Apparently Caruso's throat and vocal chords were nothing special. He smoked and partied and was always congested. In fact when Caruso was a singing student a famous throat specialist told him to do something else, "...you have not the throat for singing". But Caruso could make this entire body resonate with sound. He had "musical bones".

Speaking of smoking, partying and singing like you talk. Here is a haunting three-minute clip of Billie Holiday. It’s just vocal, piano, and the occasional jingle of her earrings. I think Mr. Marafioti would approve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dX0pdsLVb0

Notes On Notes

Musical Lone Wolf Moments I Love

Caruso's Singing Secrets