The Herbie Hancock and Christina Aguilera performance and recording of Donny Hathaway’s “A Song For You” is an example of the type of concert I would love to produce. Lose the sixty backup singers and dancers, along with the smoke and fireworks. May not be as exciting visually, but could lead to a different type of musical experience for the audience, where the musicianship of the performers is what counts.
I remember living in New York dropping into Wells for midnight breakfast (Fried Chicken and Waffles) and seeing Joe Williams get up from his table and sing two songs with Willie Bobo’s small band. Moments like this are unexpected and thrilling. It is not just the mixing of the styles, like a classical opera singer singing with Jay Z, it is watching two musicians figuring out how to compliment each other regardless of their discipline.
In this video you can see Hancock watching Aguilera and improvising, supporting and appreciating her. This is magic and gets lost (I think) when there are tons of people running around the stage trying to create excitement for 20thousand people.
If I had my way I would love to see an evening with Cassandra Wilson in a small venue being backed up by John Mayer.
We sometimes forgot what its like to listen to live music or at least music recorded live, without the slick mixing machines. I remember when Barry White had his first concert in New York and I asked someone who attended, how was the concert? “He sounded like the record” was his reply. Not the answer I wanted to hear. I enjoy musicians looking to go beyond what they have in the studio.
So I’ve been listening to Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars and I wish I could play an instrument and join in. They are energizing and I feel like dancing.
The group is on tour and will be in Phoenix May 8th and 9th at the brand new The Musical Instrument Museum. Look to be there.
Happy Birthday March 25, 2010 – you are a treasure!
“Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul”
This fabulous CD (October, 2007), covers the years 1966 to 1974. It has some unreleased songs, some outtakes and of course some of those familiar classics that did make it onto the radio such as, “Rock Steady”, “You’re All I Need To Get By”,“I Never Loved a Man, the Way That I Loved You”,(her first single on Atlantic in 1967) are collected here in this double package.
Aretha (another single name star like “Cher”, “Denzel”) has won twenty Grammy Awards,has had 20 number 1 singles and has gotten tons of other awards in her 5 decades of entertaining her legions of loyal R&B & Gospel fans.
She sings with joy, passion, and heart. Aretha sang a stirring rendition of “My Country Tis Of Thee” at the presidential inaugural in a fabulous hat. She was great!
Coming to a local Public Television Station near you this week is a new documentary about Sam Cooke (January 1931 – December 1964).
The contribution of the legendary singer/song writer will be explored in the PBS “American Masters” series “Sam Cooke: Crossing Over”. It includes some performance scenes and interviews with family and musicians to illuminate the short career that lifted our spirits with traditional Gospel music, but also gave us songs like “You Send Me” and the classic “A Change is Gonna Come” (rumor has it that he wrote this in 1963 after hearing Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”.)
“Sam Cooke: Crossing Over” – Amazing talent, not forgotten.
Legendary Jazz club the Village Vanguard will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010. Such jazz greats as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, and Cannonball Adderly, just to name a few, all played at the Vanguard and more than 100 Jazz albums were recorded here.
Opened in February1935 as a bar, the 7th Avenue basement club has presented all types of entertainment from pop singers to beat poetry to folk music and then in 1957 it changed to an only Jazz format which has been its claim to fame.People still come from around the world to the Vanguard to listen to the music.
“Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original” and about Monk’s dancing in a circle. Kelly says that Monk was actually leading the rhythm section of the band or quartet when he got up from the piano and started to rotate.
I’ve seen Monk a few times at the Randall’s Island Jazz Festival and at New York Town Hall and remember the dancing and not finding it strange at the time and I never got he was doing anything other having a good time. I’ll take Kelly’s research in writing this book as fact and I did not see it that way at the time. Monk’s dancing only got strange when he started to do the dance when not on stage.
Monk’s repetitive movements could have been a sign of autism and here again Kelly dismisses this completely. I think we will never really know sure. The book sounds like a good read and present for the holidays.
Opened in February1935 as a bar, the 
