I'm in a virtual posting frenzy. For me anyway.
Following up on 2 things. One is the thread down below about Beefheart and the other about some discussion that I heard took place here a while back about Ornette Coleman.
I agree with Zilla that "Clear Spot " is probably the best place to start with Beefheart, and you should then make your way back through "The Spotlight Kid" and then "Eat My Decals Off, Baby." I love Decals - if you do too - then you're ready for "Trout Mask Replica." "Willie the Pimp" from Zappa's Hot Rats is a good introduction, too. Then there's the first album, "Safe As Milk," from the mid-1960s when Ry Cooder was in the band.
But Beefheart's clearly not for everyone. I think of him as a surrealist Howlin' Wolf. His love of music was clearly rooted in delta blues and American roots music in general.
He was wild as hell - a crazed eccentric maverick of American music, fashioning his own remarkable intense musical vision unlike any other. That either turns you on or it doesn't.
Mike Barnes biography paints an extremely funny and often maddenly frustrating and achingly sad portrait for those who are really interested.
"My smile is stuck, I cannot go back to your frownland."I wasn't paying any attention to the blab when the Ornette stuff came up but I was told about it the other day. Ornette's recorded dozens and dozens of records. Many of them are quite different from one another. In my opinion, Free Jazz is a really bad place to start and is certainly atypical. Unfortunately, he's famous for it so a lot of people start there and stop immediately.
The early quartet stuff is wonderful. Great tunes and wonderful grooves abound. And, again (but in a very different way from Beefheart), Delta blues is a strong influence, especially given Ornette's very emotional and vocal sound on the sax.
Try "The Shape of Jazz to Come" or "Change of the Century" for a real taste of why Ornette is held in such high regard. It's beautiful music in my opinion.
Speaking of Willie the Pimp, by the way, it's also notable for the electric violin of the amazing Sugarcane Harris. Some British label just released Sugarcane's r&b disc from 1970 or so. What a great disc. "I'm Unconscious" indeed!
Back to work now.
Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman
Re: Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman -- AC
| Posted by Scott ® , Sep 18,2003,18:53 |
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MetroBlab
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Howdoo Mr ACMike Barnes biography paints an extremely funny and often maddenly frustrating and achingly sad portrait for those who are really interested. Would this fellow be kin to Danny Barnes just curious?
Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman
Re: Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman -- AC
| Posted by Rikki ® , Sep 18,2003,13:33 |
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The subject line refers to a Sundown in the City lineup for next year, right?Please? Pretty please?
Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman
Re: Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman -- Rikki
and then I retire.
Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman
Re: Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman -- AC
| Posted by ilyich ® , Sep 19,2003,15:30 |
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Nah, you wouldn't have to bother retiring, because the earth would already have opened up and swallowed Knoxville whole.Actually, I think what would happen is that you'd jump off the Gay Street Bridge in utter despair after 10 people showed up to the concert of the century. (yeah, I know I've ragged on Captain Beefheart repeatedly, but I'd pay serious $$ to see this show)
Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman
Re: Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman -- AC
| Posted by jfm ® , Sep 18,2003,14:53 |
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Christ, I'd make the trip down for that. Thanks for the insights, AC. I recently picked up The Shape of Jazz to Come, feeling like I might finally be ready to sample a little Ornette. I was surprised by how accessible it was -- I guess I was expecting crazy skronk stuff, which maybe comes later, but anyway I really like it. I agree, it's beautiful stuff. By golly, I think I might like this "jazz" thing.
Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman
Re: Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman -- jfm
Ornette has never really played crazy skronk stuff, if what you mean by that is screaming saxophone solos. I think people tend to expect that because of his role as a pioneer of so-called free jazz. Albert Ayler was the screamer, and, of course, a lot of latter period Coltrane. "Free Jazz" is a very atypical recording for Ornette. Overall, he's a very melodic player and his "innovation" was to develop his melodic improvisations free from the actual harmonic structures of the tune.
Later on, as Ornette espoused his "harmolodic" theory and developed his electric band, Prime Time, his music became extremely dense and multi-layered and, consequently, often difficult to listen to and comprehend. But the melodic elements and the grooves were still there - sometimes seemingly all at once.
Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman
Re: Capt. Beefheart & Ornette Coleman -- jfm
| Posted by jfm ® , Sep 18,2003,14:57 |
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Oh, and from my limited exposure to Beefheart (Safe as Milk and Doc at the Radar Station, basically) I dig 'im fine, although I admit it's not the kind of thing I put on just every day. I remember my dad played "Ice Cream for Crow" for me when I was 14 or so. It totally blew my mind. I mean, I was listening to a lot of punk at the time, but "Ice Cream for Crow" made the Sex Pistols sound like Lionel Richie. I couldn't even decide if I liked it, I just know that it changed my idea of what "music" could be.
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