Thursday's my day off, as much as anyone like me can have a day off. So I was enjoying a little of the legendary George Duke keyboard jazz on You Tube whilst having a leisurely brunch when I happened across the wonderful clip that follows. I kinda think of it as George Duke Rhode testing the Rhodes at a Rhodeshow.
Well since I had mentioned the Fender Rhodes during a recent post I figured that I better put this baby on the blog before it became one of the many subjects that I was gonna post about but just, well, I guess, this white boy just gets lost in the blues; he don't know where he been nor how to get back.
My daughter recently purchased one of those iPod dock thingiis that amplify your mp3 music. Man that thing makes a racket ... a criminal racket.
Which, although it has nothing to do with anything, brings us to Elisabeth Katmandoo
Well, actually, it's Elisabeth Kontomanou but I can't pronounce that name let alone remember it, so Katmandoo it's gonna be. (Con-tom-a-no?)
This lady's vocals are strong and vibrant, but it's her sense of rhythm that gets to me, she can be in and out of a whole mix of rhythms like it ain't nobody's business, and she pulls it off every time ... flawlessly.
Trouble, though, with this 'Lisbeth lady is that YouTube, which I utilise to "demonstrate my point" on certain musical topics, has like zilch Elisabeth Kontomanou clips that I can track down apart from this 12 second clip below. Well, anything's better 'n nuffin' I guess, but since my friend Gary likes the blues, and I mean like there's a whole world of blues out there like everyone is already aware of, electric, acoustic, avant g... ah forget it, but you see we's Sonic Explorers, bringin' you the best of the rest so God Hisself don't know where we likely t' end up.
Ace of Clubs
In 1965 (thereabouts) I bought one of those cheaper label Ace of Clubs blues compilation records on glorious twelve inch vinyl (no, I wasn't buying bakelite, I'm not really that old). The Ace of Clubs label was a bit obscure t' ordinary folk but all the blues fans knew it well. It's possible you might remember that John Mayall's "The Blues Alone" was first released on Ace of Clubs.
Anyhow, to cut a long rave in half, this blues compilation record had a few tracks of the unforgettable Otis Spann. Till then, I'd never really heard of the man, since then, I never forgot him.
I think you're gonna like this ...
First, the whole 12 seconds of the Kat lady ... followed by Otis Spann.
Those who, like me, are affectionados of the Bladerunner movie, will need no introduction to today's post, especially if you're already a devotee of the Greek synth master, Vangelis.
Attack ships burning off the shoulder of Orion
Everyone else, please take off your shoes, settle back, roll up a mind expanding diploma of Web Development, inhale deeply and let your mind soar to the the strains of the hauntingly beautiful, rich harmonic sweetness of Rachel's Song, closely followed by the almost bizarre, technically oriented, otherworld lament, "Tales of the Future".
Vangelis - Rachel's Song
Vangelis - Tales of the Future
Joy to all beings (including all fellow replicants) as together we explore the rich emotions rampant within the inner space of the matrix within the matrix within the matrix ... cha terrence
I love the way this song builds from madness to compounded madness. You know I once had a neighbour who had a Siamese cat. I asked her what the cat's name was and she replied "Merlin".
Well, she's a New Zealander and y'know the slightly funny way they speak. Plus the fact that I am half deaf. For months I called that cat Melon till Verity (another neighbour) called it Merlin one day and I twigged. That cat was so in and out of everybody's house it was hard to tell who actually owned it. Finally it moved away and took it's owner with it. Poor Melon fancy having a dumb name like Merlin.
I tend to find the best artists by checking out who the best bassists are playing with and my favourite bassist is ... no prizes if you guessed Lars Danielsson.
Of course there are plenty of other fine bassists, more on them later.
So, I guess after the last post, no not "The Last Post", the last post I made to this Sonic Explored blog, it is abundantly apparent that there is more to a remarkable tune than just emotion, although I do believe that emotion does play a significant role. Other things to take into account may well be skill, energy, passion, belief in oneself and one's ability to write and perform, etc.
And speaking of emotion and skill in one breath brings us to today's "victim", Yanni. Yanni has long been a favourite of mine since my ex-wife first played her Yanni record for me back in the last century. Later, it was with great delight that I watched Yanni perform the fabulous music extravaganza "Live at the Acropolis" which, incidentally is deemed to be the second best selling music video of all time.
During the concert, Yanni spoke of astronauts who have observed planet Earth whilst in orbit. He was quick to point out that the astronauts said that the Earth looked very beautiful from "up there" but that even though it was easy to see the different countries, it was difficult to tell where one country ended and another began because there were no lines drawn on the Earth like there are on a map.
Yanni's belief in the brotherhood of man and his quest to remind people that we all belong to each other regardless of the country of our birth together with his efforts toward fund raising for public broadcasting has earned him the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Minnesota, where Yanni studied as a young man.
When I see him and hear his exquisite music I wonder if he isn't some demigod sent to Earth to teach us lowly humans to be more loving and kind to each other. If the beauty of his heart is even remotely like the beauty of his music, I think that we could all learn much from Yanni's loving nature.
Yanni - One Man's Dream
From: Live at the Acropolis
If you don't have the opportunity to hear the entire Acropolis performance
also recommended:
Nostalgia
In this clip Yanni actually mentions the word emotion, albeit in Greek
Not your kettle of fish? Want something more upbeat?
The lyrics to this song are especially important to anyone involved in a personal relationship with another human being. This guy so aptly and so poetically sums up many of the pitfalls.
Try this one: unfortunately, embedding has been disabled but you can view the clip on YouTube at:
One blogger was "lamenting" the fact that music blogs all post about the musicians rather than the music. I left a comment on his blog to the effect that "It's the singer not the song".
I mean, what are we supposed to do? Nice tune. Key of Gm. Begins with a Cm7 for a couple of bars and then moves on to F7 for a while and finally to Bflat-maj7. The initial little arpeggio begins at ...
What the heck?
Nevertheless, there is some truth in what that blogger posted, so much so that I pondered it often but didn't come to any immediate conclusions till one day when I was listening to Australian virtuoso guitarist Frank Gimbale and thought to myself, "Whilst I don't dislike anything you're playing Frank, and you've tuned your guitar in such a way as to permit you new and exciting expressions, but you're still using a lot of the same old tried and true moves you normally would".
So I was prompted to wonder what it is that makes a tune truly unique, like Lennon and McCartney's Yesterday, Van Morrisson's Moondance, Page/Plant Stairway to Heaven, John Mayall's Room to Move, Gershwin's Summertime, Roland Kirk Seranade to a Cuckoo ... the list goes on. You know the kind of music I mean. Not just another song but distinctly unforgettable.
I thought long and hard and eventually came to the conclusion that it is purely the emotional content of the tune. Emotion, after all, is what music is all about. What else is being communicated?
Music can be composed "digitally" and by this I mean clinically, mathematically, but without emotion it always sounds as if it was composed by a machine, lifeless like a salt lake on a hot Sunday arvi.
This explains to me why some tunes sound as if they're played by robots using human's instruments. Of course robots should play robots instruments to capture the "soul" of the robot. (I love you R2D2, come home to the battery bank). A lot of shred and fusion guitar can fall into this trap, like a machine practicing its scales.
This brings me to the point wherein the late, great Frank Zappa enters the dialogue (you know you're getting old when lots of the acts that inspire you can be described as late, great). It's difficult for me to think of anything that Zappa wrote that is especially unique.
Hot Rats? Black Napkins? Extremely nice music. In fact all serious music written/played by Zappa is nothing short of spectacular. I saw Frank play Chunga's Revenge from about 3 metres away during an encore in Sydney the 1970s. Awesome is a serious understatement. This guy was nothing short of amazing. During that concert Zappa, talked to the audience, conducted the "orchestra", sang and played the guitar, and all somewhat simultaneously.
To add to this, Zappa was unbelievable prodigious in his writing. His discography is epic in proportion. Frank must've written in his sleep, in the shower, whilst praying (somehow I can't imagine Frank Zappa praying although anything's possible).
The Crux of the Biscuit is the Apostrophe!
So having said that music is all about emotion and then that F. V. Zappa didn't produce anything extraordinary, despite the possibility that everything he ever played was extraordinary I am left wondering just what is the soul of music?
I haven't come any closer to the truth, and remain totally undecided. That's my lack of opinion and I'm stickin' to it.
As I rest my inconclusive "case" I leave you with a virtuoso version of Stairway to Heaven that just reeks of emotion.
Perhaps there's nothing better than a dichotomous enigma, despite all of the opinionated opinionation.
Please enjoy: Stairway to Heaven live (Rodrigo y Gabriela)
Nyaa-aa didn't expect that did ya. I'll bet you thought I'd put Zappa here.
Oh alright ... the emotional sound of Frank Zappa .........
tarunkrsnadas is a sub-kanistha disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Narayana Maharaja.
Lacking in all good qualities, I struggle to become a Vaisnava devotee of Sri Sri Radhe Radha-Ramana.
Sometimes failing miserably, I can only rely on the hope and inspiration I get from my Godbrothers and Godsisters. If that's not there I fall into hell.
