new music to check out: The Sea and Cake

With New Year's Eve & New Year's Day just around the corner, I'm getting in one more post before this year is done so here goes:

As a pretty diehard music lover who's not afraid to talk about my favorite albums or favorite artists, I'm also encouraging others to listen to new genres of music, check out new artists, get exposed to stuff they haven't heard before.

For this go-round, I'll spill the beans about Chicago's Fab Four of indie-rock, The Sea and Cake.

If you've heard about these guys, awesome. But there are those who haven't just yet, or vaguely know about this Chi-town quartet, so here's some interesting info to get you reeled on in:

(1) The Sea and Cake have always been about guitar-driven indie-rock, with West African, Caribbean, shoegazer & jazzy tinges thrown in for good measure;
(2) Not only that, but TSAC places strong emphasis on stellar musicianship & effectiveness in songcraft;
(3) They've been at it for 15 years running & their 8th album, Car Alarm, got released back in October (I must add I love Car Alarm lots);
(4) Drummer/keyboardist John McEntire & bassist Eric Claridge are one of indie-rock's more telepathic rhythm sections, period;
(5) Sam Prekop has one of the breathiest, coolest deliveries around, reminiscent of Michael Franks if he ever went indie;
(6) If need be, TSAC is not afraid to kick out the jams;
(7) Each of the musicians is a visual artist in their own right;
(8) The Sea and Cake makes music you can dance to, dream to, rock out to, throw into your CD player for your road trip!! (easy, breezy, danceable, beautiful music.)
(9) TSAC is a model of consistency in musicianship & songcraft, two premises for why they've been doing what they do so well (& have been doing for over a decade).
(10) If you love jamming, you'll also love The Sea and Cake. (Check out #6 again.)

I've said enough already about this collective of awesome musicians, but here is an additional point of reference or two where one can go & find out more about/listen to The Sea and Cake:

http://www.thrilljockey.com/
http://www.theseaandcake.com/

pink moon: in a few words

Nick Drake's final album, Pink Moon, was released in 1972; in contrast to his previous efforts, Five Leaves Left & Bryter Layter, this recording is the work of one man & one man alone. What makes Pink Moon such a compelling listen for me, even to this day, is the fact that he recorded this effort at a very dark time in his life - he was in the midst of extreme depression, depression which really took the love of music right out of him. (And that love for music wouldn't resurface until just before his untimely passing in 1974.) But that simple fact alone isn't what makes his last release one of my all-time favorites:

The second reason why is its brevity. Pink Moon clocks in at a mere 28 minutes & gets to the point; after one musical statement has been made, Nick moves on to the next one without hesitation. (The longest song, "Things Behind The Sun," is 3:55.) Being concise is also being immediate with the listener, & that feeling of immediacy graces Pink Moon in spades. I always thought that Simon & Garfunkel were the masters of making short but sweet music - still do. But Drake's last album is a concise masterpiece in its own right, a statement which has continued to endure well after its creator has passed on.

Third, it's all about simplicity. Sure, it sound simple but at the same time, it's also stark & foreboding. This album is the sound of one man all by his lonesome - his voice & acoustic guitar. The only additional instrumentation - & this too is an extreme minimum - is a splash of piano on the title track. What makes this recording so special in regards to simplicity is that it was done in just two nights, with all of its bare-bones, spooky vibe intact.

Fourth, check out its emotional impact. Pink Moon reveals an artist not only in a deeply intimate setting with just his voice & guitar; it also reveals Nick Drake in the throes of a devastating depression which I mentioned earlier on. We're hearing his pain, his anguish & despair laid bare on tape; we feel his desolation & hurt as well. For him to create such a masterpiece of haunting, heart-wrenching beauty under such circumstances took a lot of faith & courage & that's exactly what he did on Pink Moon, despite/in spite of the fact that his depression was pretty major.

If ever there was a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, Pink Moon is that light, a ray of hope which has continued to shine brightly & never fade away for over three decades. This album is a self-revealing portrait done at a dark time in Nick Drake's life, a masterpiece of melancholy from the late British folk icon, sparse, stark & yet so beautiful: the sound of a man alone.

a love supreme

Some of the most enduring masterpieces, whether they are works of art, literature, or music, have always found a common point of reference: the artist trying to juggle his personal life with his creative urges. True inspiration in such instances can't get any better than a writer, an artist or musician performing a balancing act between family and his creative vision.

For John Coltrane, in 1964, as Ashley Kahn put it, "...inspiration coincided with dirty plates and diapers." It is no surprise then, that Trane, trying to balance family matters with his own creative energies, took some breaks in the action to come up with one of jazz's (& popular music's) most enduring masterpieces of all time, A Love Supreme.

A Love Supreme is the high-water mark of Trane's career, one of his best-known efforts to this very day. At the same time, it is a full-blown glimpse at the man himself, a perfect self-revealing statement. Long before hip-hop artists & rappers gave God the glory & lots of shout-outs to the Almighty in their liner note credits, Coltrane stepped outside the box of jazz elites & gave God credit where credit was due. In the man's own words: "I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music...I feel this has been granted through His grace." This album is a seminal gift to God, a four-part song of praise which has stood the test of time & then some.

With the sound of a gong & Jimmy Garrison's bowed bass kicking things off, "Acknowledgement" is the John Coltrane show, a fitting introduction indeed, with the leader soloing his heart out. Near the end of this piece, he begins to chant out "A Love Supreme," a chant which still leaves its impact long after the last notes of music fade away & Garrison takes up a double-stopped interlude which segues right into "Resolution." Now it's McCoy Tyner's turn to shine, step out into the spotlight. And does he, as always, deliver a cooking & cascading solo before Trane re-enters to drive the heart of Part Two on home. This seamless transition between soloists, especially with John & McCoy, confirms how tightly linked this quartet was as a unit of stellar musicians, more so than ever on this effort.

Part Three, "Pursuance," begins with a drum solo by Elvin Jones, & when it comes to awesome drumming, Jones always proved his mettle as one of the most explosive, one of the most intense drummers around, right up there with Art Blakey. Once Jones gets things in order tempo-wise,

Trane enters to establish a theme before passing the soloist baton once more to Tyner, who again delivers a brilliant solo. Coltrane returns at full throttle, never letting up for roughly two & a half minutes; eventually, like a runner whose energy is almost spent, he jumps into the restatement of the theme. Jones closes things off with a fusillade of snare & cymbals, a signal for Jimmy Garrison to make his presence felt on bass. If there was a bassist who could go it alone (no accompaniment whatsoever) & keep things interesting, Jimmy Garrison was that man. For roughly three minutes, he stated his case as one of the premier jazz bassists ever to roam the earth, double-stops, guitar-like strumming & all, as if to say the upright bass was never meant to be a monophonic instrument. His presentation, one of the most beautiful on this recording, segues directly into Part Four, "Psalm."

What can be said about "Psalm"? This is Trane sounding reflective & urgent in the same breath, an incantatory delivery for the ages. In fact, we're hearing the sound of a man laying bare his soul on tape, an awesome point of closure for an already outstanding song suite, a dramatic performance full of power & heartfelt passion.

For roughly 45 years, A Love Supreme has found ways to endure, to make an impact on us, the listeners. If anyone hasn't bought this recording yet, they should. Not only does this album reveal the Classic Quartet at the peak of its musical powers; it also reveals John Coltrane as the fearless leader taking another step on an ongoing spiritual journey, giving God the glory as he went along.

the day of ascension

June 28, 1965.

A day to remember. Also, a day in which there would be no looking back.

Just past the midway point in 1965, John Coltrane was living up to his billing as one of jazz's premier musicians. But a musician of Trane's stature can't help but ruffle feathers now & then to make his voice heard. So on the week prior to the 4th of July, the man, with 10 other musicians in tow, convened at Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey recording studio to create one of his more ambitious, more challenging, & more controversial efforts to date, Ascension.

You heard right: With this recording, he would cause a great deal of genuine controversy, some of which was justifiable, some of which was completely far-fetched. Some folks dismissed it as outright cacophony, inaccessible noise; others thought it was too "out there," too incoherent, too chaotic for the uninitiated listener to stomach. But others sang praises about Ascension: they truly felt that Coltrane reached new heights, a Mount Everest of sorts, which remain unreachable to this very day.

How could I describe Ascension? Music full of sheer power. An intense musical maelstrom. Purely controversial music which isn't for the faint of heart. Furious, aggressive music which requires multiple listens to wholeheartedly appreciate. Controlled mayhem. At any rate, this recording is beautiful music, part of an ongoing spiritual journey which Trane was on up to his passing.

A lot of folks might have thought he would have been better off recording this session with his usual rhythm section of Tyner/Garrison/Jones. But no. Trane chose to add mostly raw, untried talent into the musical equation as well. (One exception being Freddie Hubbard, who also performed on the album which defined free jazz altogether, Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz.) Which is a good thing, given the galvanizing power & force of this whole session; think of Ascension as a 40-minute jam gone wild!!

In the middle of 1965, John Coltrane made quite a name for himself, though the accolades Ascension received weren't exactly in superlatives. From that day forward, he knew that there could be no turning back, only the drive to press forward with his next musical statements. And though a few more albums were made with the Classic Quartet (Sun Ship & First Meditations being the last documents as an actual Quartet), the accelerated pace at which the music was changing proved to be more than his longtime bandmates could stand.

As the meridian line between A Love Supreme & Meditations (recorded in November 1965), Ascension revealed to us Trane's unswerving singleness of purpose, taking his music into previously unchartered territory. It is also his mission statement, as if he were saying, "Love me or hate me, I am taking my music places I want it to go so there." And did he ever: this was the perfect starting point for him to begin his much later, more freer musical explorations/excursions.

finding avalon

Back in 1982, the TV show Dallas was all the rage, MTV was still in its infancy, the Internet was still a distant dream looming off in the horizon. It was also a period of fame, greed, excess ran up to the nth degree - an apt summarization of the 80s in a nutshell.

In the world of popular music that year, new wave & synth pop held center stage; little did we know that 1982 would also be Roxy Music's final stand as a group: The second incarnation of Roxy would soon call it a day, with no additional words or rhetoric needed to explain their departure. Yet the trifecta of Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera & Andrew Mackay would make their last stand courageously (& with style) as their swan song, Avalon, so brilliantly demonstrates.

On their previous efforts, Manifesto & Flesh + Blood, Roxy Music synthesized new wave, avant-garde & post-punk together with R&B, soul, as well as Caribbean & African tinges. In the process, they ushered in the beginning of the decade as synth-pop's torchbearers & trailblazers with a sound distinctly their own. With Avalon, these core strengths of the aforementioned albums became more matured, more refined than ever. It could be said that, as Roxy's trio of original personnel were approaching middle age, this release comes across as mellow, subdued, mature, restrained. True enough, it's all of the above. But at the same time, Avalon would signal the end of the road for Bryan Ferry and company, Roxy's final proclamation chock full of resignation & melancholy.

Did this mean you couldn't get your move on to "The Space Between" & "The Main Thing"? You most certainly could; Roxy Music still had it when it came to getting your dance on. But it's the slower, shimmering, more atmospheric numbers, such as the title track, "More Than This," & "True to Life" which stand out the most. "More Than This", I've felt for the longest time, was Ferry's way of saying that Roxy Music, like any relationship with nothing left to give, would soon come to an end & who could say where each of the remaining group members would go next. "Avalon" is a trip to a mysterious place, a journey to a land where the music & dancing could go on for days; by the same token, it's one of the more heartfelt love songs ever & with good reason: this tune is about rebirth, redemption, finding the strength & confidence to start a relationship over.

"While My Heart is Still Beating" is pure melancholia, longing & desolation all the way, which are recurring themes throughout this album. "To Turn You On" is a Bryan Ferry solo effort; it's an upbeat love ballad, captivating in its sincerity & working wonders within this whole song cycle. "India" & "Tara" are instrumental vignettes which fit the mood & flow of Avalon: lush, airy, ethereal. "True to Life" has us, the listeners, wishing we were on the same journey that Ferry is singing about, whether we're out on the town or on an island in the Caribbean.

Romance, longing, desire, melancholy, hope: each of these trademark themes which made Roxy Music so awesome in the first place came together in this brilliant gem of a recording - a short but sweet 37 minutes. If that's not enough, Avalon also carried class as well, something you could always count on from Bryan Ferry. After this masterpiece, Roxy went off the radar, without any fanfare. Ferry, of course, went on to bigger & better things with his 1985 classic Boys and Girls (the perfect companion piece to Avalon & just as outstanding).

This album isn't just a swan song; it's also a silent word of goodbye from Messrs. Ferry, Manzanera & Mackay. Avalon isn't just the ultimate album to fall in love to; it's pure musical bliss, a fantastic original piece of work which can't be imitated after all these years.

the koln concert

For almost a year now, Keith Jarrett has been one of my favorite pianists, or should I say one of my favorite musicians of all time. Not only has he overcome some insurmountable odds (e.g. chronic fatigue syndrome) to take his playing to great heights; he also proven his mettle & steadfastness in refusing to be pigeonholed under any specific genre. To tell you the truth, the man has made some pretty powerful music which has transcended any need for categorization, dodged any labeling whatsoever.

One of my favorite CDs by Keith is The Koln Concert. If there was an album which was truly magical in more ways than one, The Koln Concert would be one of those defining records, period. And it's not because a) it became Keith's biggest selling effort to date, or b) this masterpiece would put his record label (ECM) on the musical map to stay. This concert was one of the most awesome concerts he ever performed all by his lonesome, true, but here's another reason why his performance @ Koln was so magical:

75% of this concert was unplanned, unscripted. It's as good as spontaneous improvisation ever can get in a live setting, especially when there's only one musician on the stage. From the opening notes of this performance to the very end, Jarrett takes off & soars with a passion which lets you know his heart & soul is in the music. Some might dismiss his vocalization during his playing as some sort of anomaly, some needless ennui, but let's face it: he's groaning & grunting for a reason, namely that he's feeling the vibe, the music; he's speaking from his soul to us, the listeners, his heart is in his playing. When left to his own devices, Keith could deliver the goods: gospel, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Tyner, Hancock, Tyner, Bill Evans. And The Koln Concert confirmed those divergent musical styles in spades, by bringing them all together for roughly 65 minutes...by the way, some of the best 65 minutes of music ever made.

The myths are myriad when it comes down to how this very concert came about. One of those strange but true facts surronding this January 1975 recording was that Keith got the wrong piano for the gig; the lower & higher registers weren't to his liking so he stuck to the midrange of his keyboard the whole time. Despite his piano's limited capabilities, Jarrett still pulled off a winner, an outright classic, a bonafide masterpiece.

As for the highlights? I won't nitpick at all: the whole album is downright outstanding. Part I is worth the price of admission into the world of Keith Jarrett, or for that matter, a CD full of great piano playing, something that won't have you reaching for the "skip" button. Part II is twice as nice, especially beginning at the midway point of section B; Keith's performance during this point in the concert still gives me goosebumps each time I listen to it.

If there was any album by Keith Jarrett which I would recommend getting, The Koln Concert is the best place to start your KJ collection, or to get your first dose of Keith at the peak of his musical powers. Not only is this electrifying music; it's also beautiful, spontaneous improvisation which is, has been & always will be some of Jarrett's most popular output to date.

inspiration information

Inspiration. It's something heartfelt, it comes from the soul. Above all else, it's a gift.

Vision. It's learning to see not only within oneself to find what you're looking for, but also outside oneself as well.

Shuggie Otis truly had the gifts of inspiration & vision down pat, at a time when being visionary was a honor reserved to the select few who knew how to take their music to new heights - Hendrix & Coltrane just to name two prime examples. The young, exuberant prodigy that he was, Otis was about pushing the envelope, defying labels, being his own man as a musical artist. At a time when record companies saw you as an R&B musician, a folk musician, a rock singer, & nothing else, Shuggie used his musical knowhow to tell them otherwise. Following his heart, following his own lead, the man would craft a genuinely expansive masterpiece (& an oft-overlooked one in many circles), Inspiration Information.

Released in 1974, Inspiration Information sounds like a more upbeat, sunnier version of Sly & The Family Stone's 1971 classic of woozy, narcotic bliss, There's A Riot Goin' On, and in certain aspects it is. Almost three years in the making, this album was the culmination of Shuggie's hard work & relentless singleness of purpose, a song cycle which sounded far ahead of its time in more ways than one. It wasn't just soul. Nor was it straight-up rhythm 'n' blues or even funk. Honestly, it was a blurring of the three above genres into something refreshingly beautiful & unique, yet positively genuine in scope. He played virtually all the instruments himself (organ, electric piano, guitar, drums, bass, drum machine), serving as a precursor to like-minded folks such as Prince (who performed primarily all by his lonesome on many of his early releases).

Musicians were his biggest fans, beyond a doubt. Stereolab multi-instrumentalist Tim Gane remarked concerning this album, "...Inspiration Information is almost like a new style of music that could've developed but never did...That's the problem. It never developed past this record." Even to this day, I can agree with Gane; his observations surrounding this record are still right on. In the musical climate of 1974, Inspiration Information sounded too futuristic, too startingly unique for some: the end result of an artist spending too much time to create a masterpiece, whereas the record company wanted a product right then & there (& with that, a speedy return from their investment). Though his masterwork met with indifference & his record label (Epic) dropped him after all was said & done, Otis made music that sounds equally fresh in the present day as much as it did 35 years ago.

What more can be said about Inspiration Information? This is revolutionary, groundbreaking music. As time has shown, this effort foretold other developments which would take place in the realms of popular music: DIY-style recording, post-rock, organic computer music, electronica. Take note that Inspiration Information sounds ahead of its time & it sure sounded like nothing else which was released back in 1974. Trying to place a label on this music, even now, is impossible, much less attempting to find a name for it.

From the herky-jerky rhythms of the title track, the way in which "Island Letter" morphs from a ballad into funky jamming, or how "Aht Uh Mi Hed" (drum machine & all) could be seen as a sunnier counterpart to any track on There's A Riot Goin' On...we've only touched on the album's first side, but the warmth & heartfelt intimacy is there, right down to Shuggie's own soulful vocals.

Side two, which consists of 80% instrumentals, goes to show why Inspiration Information is so fresh & innovative 35 years down the line. Whether it's the jazzy melancholy of "Rainy Day," the proto-techno drum machine showcase "XL-30", the slow ambient jam which is "Pling!" or the angular reggae/funk of "Not Available," Shuggie demonstrated his strengths not solely as a songwriter but also as an arranger, knowing what instrumentation to throw into the mix as well as when & where to put it in, like a painter with his vast assortment of paints, checking which colors to use/which ones could work effectively. Whereas the music of the day was cluttered up, Otis places strong emphasis on giving his instruments space, room to breathe easily, proof that he was in tune with the credo "Less is more."

Inspiration Information took multiple listens for me to wholly embrace, but I love it with a passion, now more than ever. It's not just R & B. Not just soul. Not just funk. To tell you the truth, it's all of the above & so much more, a work of art which defies categorization. And most of all, it's music with inspiration & vision, the two greatest gifts Shuggie Otis was graced with.

field music

Bid Day. The ladies of Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Delta Zeta etc. are slowly but surely starting to arrive at LaFollette Field. Today is the main event, the grand finale of Sorority Recruitment Week, the moment of truth for who knows how many ladies, wondering what sorority they'll end up joining. It's also the culmination of a few weeks' worth of skits, presentations, other recruitment-related stuff; seriously, those few weeks of preparing for Sorority Recruitment itself can be stressful, taxing, & exhaustive for everyone involved. But the big day has arrived & with it lots of amazing, wonderful, classy ladies.

Bid Day sure wouldn't be the same without yours truly getting the opportunity to listen to some sorority songs/cheers being sung at full volume. And sorority songs/cheers are definitely some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, period. Unless duders are deserving/worthy of this honor, unless they are wearing the letters of their favorite sorority (representing 110%!!), such songs don't get sung to just any random guy walking down the street. Only on certain occasions do these songs get the chance to be heard & what better time to hear them being sung with heartfelt emotion & energy than on Bid Day. (And yes, guys, sorority songs & cheers count as music too!!)

Sorority songs: only once in a while do I get the chance to hear them sung out loud. Thank heavens for Bid Day; I feel like singing already.

everybody knows this is nowhere

Upon hearing Neil Young's second solo album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, for the first time in my life, I couldn't help but gape in amazement at the unusually high amount of intensity & energy each song had to offer. And what better way to provide immediate proof of this than the opening track, "Cinnamon Girl." Trying to draw a comparison between his self-titled debut album (released in early 1969) & Everybody Knows... is pointless: The debut was a quiet, peaceful affair; on the other hand, the latter effort would be a one-way ticket to louder, noisier adventures which would immediately wash over the listener like a thunderstorm of sound. By the way, what made me such a big fan of this album in the first place?

Let's begin with the album opener, "Cinnamon Girl." This song, as well as the remainder of this release, lives up to the motto that you can say a lot with just a few notes. The constant five-note riff which kicks things off & the man's very own one-note solo told me you don't have to rely on a ton of musical technique to make your voice heard. By adhering to the motto of "less is more," Young and his Crazy Horse bandmates rewrote certain aspects of the musical rulebook by saying that one note (or two) can say more than a thousand musical notes strung together.

Secondly, this album eschews with the aforementioned technique, clarity & cuteness, three ruts which a majority of bands during that era were still stuck in. It sounded harsh, primitive, metallic, elemental: sounds coming straight from the gut. (The eponymous debut by The Stooges, which came out the same year as Everybody Knows... is another classic example to take note of.) Nothing sounds adorned; in fact, adornments of any kind were dispensed, thrown out the window altogether: Young's own high-strung, shaky voice as well as the ragged guitar playing of the man himself & the late Danny Whitten (in the right & left speakers, respectively) proved to us that you could make an impact without having to soften up, without having to sound cute & sentimental (listen to Neil's ominous lyrics throughout this album if you don't believe me). With Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Neil Young found his own musical voice through massive amounts of atonality, feedback & distortion, in complete disregard of the musical formulas which ruled that time period.

Third, improvisation plays a central role behind the spontaneous vibe which permeates Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. In fact, the album's three highlights - the aforementioned "Cinnamon Girl," the album side closers "Down By The River" & "Cowgirl In The Sand" - were completed in one afternoon, a sign that you didn't have to be perfect, going through take after take to come up with an impressive musical statement. Improvisation carried its way over to the makeup of the whole album itself: the songs were purposely underwritten, giving Young and his bandmates greater freedom to improvise without rambling around at random. You could say the songs served as frames on which the extended improvisations could keep intact, as well as to reflect Neil's own ominous singing.

Having said that, you've got to listen to the musical interplay between Young, Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot & drummer Ralph Molina all the way through. Each of the band members feed off of each other, in a spirit which is in closer proximity to the Ornette Coleman Quartet's Atlantic output than to any of that decade's psychedelic jam bands. As jazz musicians, Coleman & Miles Davis may have put "high art" on the map but Young & company brought it into the realms of rock music, solidifying the term once & for all in a time span of just over 40 minutes. Talk about capturing magic on tape in just one recording!!

Fifth, it's all about consistency. Quieter, more country-oriented material such as "Round and Round" & "The Losing End (When You're On)" still maintain an energetic vibe which keeps the album flow smoothly between the epic guitar onslaughts which are "Down By The River" & "Cowgirl In The Sand." To pack a lot of punch into just 7 songs, you've got to have not only stellar musicianship; you've also got to have some calms before the next storm. And there is some calm - albeit an intense, energetic calm - to be found here & there on Everybody Knows...

The one thing which has always struck me about Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is that simplicity is a beautiful thing, no matter how crude the end results might be. To quote a title from an Ornette Coleman composition, "Beauty is a rare thing." And the beauty illustrated here - the second effort of Young's to come out in as many months - is indeed rare: kept raw, rushed, full of bristling energy. Which is all the more reason why I love EKTIN after all these years!!

in a silent way: first impressions

Miles Davis was a musical chameleon of sorts, not just in terms of how he changed his colors but how many about-faces he did to win over a new audience. Near the end of the sixties, he began tinkering with electronic instrumentation & the rhythms of rock music, & all this before he even put the word "fusion" on the map. Starting with "Circle In The Round" (from 1967), "Stuff" (from his 1968 effort Miles In The Sky), then moving on to Filles De Kilimanjaro and the electrified compositions on Water Babies, one was wondering which direction Miles was going to take with his music. Was it going to be more soulful, along the lines of James Brown? Was it going to be loud & proud like Hendrix? The enigmatic personality that he was, Messr. Davis always got good at leaving both his listeners and critics guessing which route he was going to take his music.

With the 1969 release of In A Silent Way, we would soon find out what direction the man of the hour would take his music. (The "Directions In Music", as indicated on the back cover, sums it up perfectly.) Then & only then did the floodgates of fusion began to open ever so gradually; only then did the rock/funk rhythms he tinkered with to good effect on previous efforts really begin to find their footing, their identity. No doubt, this was the start of something unique, a fresh way of approaching the musical canvas. To be honest, In A Silent Way signals a whole new thing altogether: Miles spreading his musical wings over previously unknown vistas, taking his compositions into unchartered territory & with amazing results.

Even now, listening to this album, calling this masterpiece amazing would be an understatement. In A Silent Way merged these differing musical routes of rock, funk, soul, pop, even classical into breathtaking, beautiful music which defies categorization or pigeonholing of any kind a good four decades later. Seriously, it saw no need to be labeled or tagged under this guise or that; it was, still is beautiful music, plain & simple.

At the same time, this is music which wasn't afraid of risk-taking, accepting challenges. Even the participants on this recording were daring, willing to step outside the box, a vast majority of the musicians leaving their own footprints in the world of fusion: Keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter (one of Miles' go-to guys in the composition department in his last great Quintet) went on to form Weather Report; guitarist John McLaughlin would go on to create the Mahavishnu Orchestra; keyboardist Chick Corea would bring on Return To Forever, just to name a few performers on this effort who would go on to bigger & better things. What can be said of the musicians' contributions, especially those aforementioned folks? Not only are they amazing but they are also superb, given the man's ability to get everyone to convene in one room with very little if anything to go on.

In A Silent Way would also signal the emergence of the producer as artist. Miles' right-hand man & longtime producer, Teo Macero, through tinkering around at the recording desk, extensive tape editing, even repeating a section of music twice to get a full-fledged production, made his presence known on this record as well. And credit should be given to Macero for bringing such musical bags of tricks into the spotlight, many of which became a trademark for Miles' future recordings, such as Bitches Brew, On The Corner, and Get On With It. (Namely with tape editing, looping, electronic tinkering.)

But Miles was only getting started on his next musical odyssey. His next release, the aforementioned Bitches Brew would sell like hot cakes; at the same time, it would send fusion's floodgates bursting open for good. It would be at this juncture where Miles threw down his musical gauntlet & let the truth be known to his critics just where he stood at this point in his career. Yet if one wants to know where the whole genre of fusion began in earnest, one needs to look no further than In A Silent Way for proof. It's the best point of reference which came to define a whole musical genre.

the spirit of '66

1966 was a pretty good year in the world of popular music & with good reason: some of the most important albums of the entire decade came out left & right, leaving their lasting marks on us, the eager listeners that we were in those days. Just to name a few: The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, The Beatles' Revolver (which by the way was their longest-running album at this point in their career), Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. (Of course, Dylan always enjoyed defying convention: Blonde on Blonde is roughly 73 minutes of great music from start to finish, as opposed to the half hour or so of power to be found in just 12 songs during that era.)

The Spirit of '66: In each of these aforementioned albums, it definitely is going strong. The sixties in general, proved to be a vast receptacle of all things cultural, political, mystical & spiritual. But each of the aspects which came to define the decade (& the spirit of the times) was displayed in all of its brilliant power & glory during 1966 through such masterpieces as the albums I just mentioned earlier.

At the time, popular music was viewed like a sacred institution, each relevant release a sacred book, its songs serving as scriptures full of comforts, assurances & truths which still hold up over four decades later. There was heartfelt life, meaning, symbolism, & truth in music back then; even the most schmaltzy stuff, it seemed, carried a fabric of sincerity which is woefully lacking now. Moreover, much of the monumental releases which found their way into the listeners' musical rotation back in 1966 have still endured, never lost their ability to amaze, capture our attention in more ways than one.

But why? Such music was made out of necessity, out of personal experience, being able to articulate one's concerns, emotions & feeling about living in times like those; it was all about risk-taking, breaking the norms & conventions of the day to get one's voice heard. The main premise of each artist like The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan, or Brian Wilson, at this point was this: to speak the honest truth in their own way, on their own terms. And they would leave us wanting more.

Back in that day, listening to an album from any of these above artists was like reading an inspirational book, in hopes that it could bring sparks of hope & joy into your life, that you would be enlightened by the overall experience. And thanks be to efforts like the aforementioned Revolver and The Byrds' Fifth Dimension, among the other releases listed earlier, 1966 turned out to be a very good year indeed.

musical musings, part two (version)

Where it all began.

It was just my luck to be venturing through my father's record collection while still a little tike; from a parental standpoint, rummaging through his albums with a relentless singleness of purpose might have seemed like the worst thing in the world for my mom (& especially pops) to deal with. For me, as I came to discover later on, it brought about a feeling of total liberation, forever changing how I would listen to music. And in the process, my trips through the old man's storehouse of vinyl opened up a world of infinite possibilities, in regards to what musical genres still strike resounding chords with me, which genres I prefer to return to from time to time.

And it turns out I wasn't alone in the search for hidden musical treasure. Let's face it: who knows how many genuine music lovers became more open-minded about music in general along the same lines as me, though at markedly different times in their lives. Where on earth did they get that newfound joy & inspiration to become such sonic aficionadoes? Naturally enough, they needed to look no further than their parents' record collection, a smorgasbord of different genres & sounds which they either a) dug with all their hearts or b) couldn't quite get after the first listen alone (but would embrace after the eighth or ninth). By sticking to the motto, "Listen & keep on listening," each album, each artist would soon leave a mark, a lasting impression on their lives, consciously or no.

As for the genres they couldn't initially relate to? For some, those very genres would become their first & foremost favorites, even to this very day. I mean, if you were raised on classic rock or progressive rock, that's what you grew up on & came to have the utmost appreciation for. With those first loves, the gateway was open for them (yours truly included) to embrace other genres like drum 'n' bass, reggae, Afro-Beat, or Krautrock. Man doesn't base his existence on one type of music alone, now does he?

Bottom line, the one place where a music lover's journey really begins is through their parents' vast assortment of vinyl. 9 times out of 10, that plethora of albums will do anyone in: that's the stuff on which true music lovers are born & made.

musical musings (remixed version)

I've always been a proud music lover at heart, always have been & always will be.

So when it comes to what genres of music I enjoy listening to, I don't really have a clear-cut favorite, whether it's new wave, reggae, classical, etc. To tell you the truth, I'm a bit eclectic when it comes to music in general. And that's a good thing, since to truly appreciate & love music, to even say that you're a bonafide music lover, one must have an open mind, open ears & an open heart as well.

Ever since I've been a toddler, that's been the case with me. I've been listening to practically anything I can get my hands on ever since I laid eyes on my father's collection of old record albums...FYI the first & foremost place anyone should start getting tuned in to their favorite artists, bands, composers, etc. So whether it's reggae, post-rock, R&B, shoegaze or IDM (for those who don't know, short for Intelligent Dance Music), I've considered myself rootless, checking out new genres as I go along. Whatever genre comes my way, I'll listen to it; I have never treated musical styles as flavors of the month or passing fads which are awesome for a short period only to get old a year or so down the line.

It comes as no surprise, then, that in order to be a genuine music lover at heart, as I am, one should not only be unbiased; one should also be adventurous as well, come to think of it, even if there is one musical genre you wouldn't pass up for anything else out there, a favorite genre which you basically grew up on. That's the stuff of true audiophiles, what makes folks such as yours truly sincere music buffs in the first place: the vibe of adventure, risk-taking, wrenching oneself free from any bias or negative opinions about certain types of music like jazz, classical, progressive rock (& better yet, keeping such biases out of your mindset).

Your favorite musical genre is metal? Fair enough, but don't be afraid to branch out to guys like Miles Davis or John Coltrane. Is it post-rock? Alright then, but check out albums from The Cure or Cocteau Twins while you're at it. You like Krautrock or post-punk? OK, but don't miss out on Fela Kuti or anything from the Nonesuch Explorer label (one of the top-notch labels in terms of field recordings). What I'm trying to say here is this: one genre alone doesn't make you a wholehearted music lover so keep your ears open. And embrace the other genres with an open mind & an open heart.

That's how I have wound up loving music to this very day: with an open mind, an open heart, & open ears.